Athletes to flex this weekend for annual IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — From the beach to the Battleship, athletes will be participate in the annual IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina this weekend.

The event includes swimming, biking, and running across three courses in the Wilmington area. Because of this, traffic delays are to be expected on Saturday.

More than 2,500 athletes are expected to participate in Saturday’s event. It will begin in Wrightsville Beach, where the swimming portion will take place.

After that, competitors will hop on bikes for a ride that will take them briefly into Pender County, before returning to New Hanover County and wrapping things up with a run in Wilmington.

Sami Winter, race director, says after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic many athletes have expressed their excitement for its return.

“It’s been a super exciting year for athletes to be returning to racing. The comradery, and the communities that we’re in. we have great community partnerships, and definitely here with Wrightsville beach, Wilmington, and even Pender County. It’s just an exciting time to be back,” said Sami Winter.

The town of Wrightsville Beach says Causeway Drive will be closed beginning at 5:15 a.m. Traffic delays will particularly affect the residents and businesses in the area of Causeway Drive (Highway 76), Old Causeway Drive, Dock Street, Seacrest Drive, Keel Street, Short Street, and Marina Street. Eastbound traffic entering the island will be diverted to Highway 74 / Salisbury Street and westbound traffic exiting the beach must also use Highway 74 / Salisbury Street. Normal traffic flow should resume by 9:45 a.m.

The 56-mile bike course takes athletes from Wrightsville Beach through historical Wilmington. There will be traffic delays and road closures on portions of busy roads including MLK Parkway, Eastwood Road, US 421, and the Isabel Holmes Bridge.

The run course takes place through downtown Wilmington and around Greenfield Lake. Several roads around downtown will be closed during that time.

Visit here for a map on how traffic will be impact for this event.