{"id":25505,"date":"2019-06-16T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-16T23:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/ironman-remains-interested-in-breck-epic\/"},"modified":"2019-06-16T17:36:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-16T23:36:00","slug":"ironman-remains-interested-in-breck-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/local-news\/ironman-remains-interested-in-breck-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"Ironman remains \u2018interested\u2019 in Breck Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Breck Epic race leader Todd Wells is followed by Russell Finsterwald in August 2016. The owner and founder of the Breck Epic mountain bike race, Mike McCormack, revealed to Breckenridge Town Coucil last week that Ironman is intersted in investing in McCormack’s company, the Greenspeed Project, and its flagship event, the Breck Epic.<\/strong>
Louie Traub \/ Special to the Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Discussions appeared dead last summer, but ongoing talks between the owner and founder of the Breck Epic and the president and CEO of Ironman have renewed hopes the locally grown mountain bike race could land on the global endurance giant\u2019s lineup of world-class events.<\/p>\n

Andrew Messick<\/a>, president and chief executive officer of Ironman, confirmed on Sunday that his company, known for organizing triathlons across the world, is interested in investing in the Greenspeed Project, in its owner and founder Mike McCormack and in the company\u2019s flagship race, the Breck Epic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a secret that we\u2019ve known Mike for a long time,\u201d Messick said over the phone, adding that he likes what McCormack has done with the company and with the Breck Epic.<\/p>\n

The Greenspeed Project organizes events, like the Vail Outlier Allroad Festival and Firebird 40, with proceeds flowing to local open space organizations and initiatives. However, the company based in the High Country is best known for creating the Breck Epic, a six-day, 250-mile staged mountain bike race that crisscrosses the trails outside Breckenridge in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic destination \u2014 the riding\u2019s great,\u201d Messick said of the area. \u201cI think being able to be an investor in a company (like the Greenspeed Project) and in a race that\u2019s as good as the Breck Epic is something that\u2019s really interesting to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ironman CEO said bringing the Breck Epic under his company\u2019s umbrella would enable Ironman to continue offering \u201cgreat mountain biking experiences\u201d across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been clear that we intend to continue to build mountain biking on a global basis,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe own the Absa Cape Epic (and other well-known mountain bike races in South Africa, Australia and Europe) \u2026 and we think there\u2019s an opportunity to really capture the imagination of the global mountain biking community with great races.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Breck Epic could certainly boost Ironman\u2019s portfolio of mountain biking events, and news of a potential partnership broke when McCormack came before Breckenridge Town Council last week to tell local leaders that Ironman is interested in investing with his company, in McCormack himself and in the Breck Epic. The revelation follows last summer\u2019s discussions<\/a> between McCormack and Ironman, when Ironman courted the Breck Epic but it fell through<\/a> over concerns about the size of the race field, impacts on trails and because it came with a significant financial request of the town.<\/p>\n

Framing McCormack\u2019s return before town council, town manager Rick Holman explained it\u2019s different this time, as McCormack isn\u2019t seeking anything from the town. Rather, Holman said, McCormack was simply dropping by to keep elected leaders informed of a possible private business development and to get their feedback. In response, town leaders reiterated many of the same concerns that surfaced last summer, as they told McCormack they hope he will \u201cmaintain control\u201d of the race.<\/p>\n

Talking to McCormack and Messick, it doesn\u2019t sound like that will be a problem.<\/p>\n

In fact, both of them described last summer\u2019s talks as a helpful step in the process, one that let Ironman know where the community stands and what\u2019s expected of the Breck Epic going forward.<\/p>\n

Describing how a potential partnership might affect the race, McCormack said Ironman would provide deeper operational support while having a stake in the event, and the Breck Epic could become a North American qualifier for the Cape Epic, sometimes referred to as \u201cthe Tour de France of mountain biking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it feels like we\u2019re wandering alone out there and struggling to do some things \u2014 operational, to make ends meet, to get over the hump ideologically,\u201d McCormak said of the race. \u201cThe Ironman group would provide help, balance \u2014 and they\u2019re really, really good at what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Covering how the Breck Epic might evolve under such a partnership, McCormack said he doesn\u2019t think it would be much different from the event his company is currently producing. He sees room for a larger tech expo and heightened festival-style atmosphere, but he wants to keep race\u2019s core values where they\u2019ve always been \u2014 squarely focused on stewardship, rider responsibility and backcountry sustainability.<\/p>\n

McCormack said he believes there\u2019s a potential to boost the field of competitors, though he emphasized that number must \u201clive within a certain size\u201d and can\u2019t grow at the expense of the trail system. McCormack also said that permitting agencies, like the town of Breckenridge, Summit County government and U.S. Forest Service, have mechanisms in place to ensure the Breck Epic doesn\u2019t overwhelm the trail system, and \u201cthose open-space partners have a voice in everything that happens moving forward,\u201d as does the community.<\/p>\n

Additionally, McCormack said the Greenspeed Project puts a spotlight on responsibility and backcountry stewardship every year with the Breck Epic, and he believes a partnership with Ironman would only spread the reach of those conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can do some really good work there,\u201d McCormack said. \u201cThe proof is in the pudding and we\u2019ll see where we go with this \u2014 but if we continue on our path, I think people will like having a conscientious partner in charge of our signature event.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it sounds like Ironman is on board with that, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe operate literally hundreds of races around the world, and you can\u2019t do that without the communities that host the races,\u201d Messick said, adding that Ironman can support the Breck Epic, \u201cbut ultimately this is about Mike\u2019s relationship with the community and Mike\u2019s vision for the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Breck Epic race leader Todd Wells is followed by Russell Finsterwald in August 2016. The owner and founder of the Breck Epic mountain bike race, Mike McCormack, revealed to Breckenridge Town Coucil last week that Ironman is intersted in investing in McCormack’s company, the Greenspeed Project, and its flagship event, the Breck Epic.Louie Traub \/ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 02:44:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}