Cambridge deciding to keep the Ironman and Eagleman events separate

CAMBRIDGE, Md. – The Eagleman and the Ironman are fan favorites, so business owners would like to keep them separate because the City of Cambridge may not be able to stand all that foot traffic at one time.

“We heard very clearly from the community that they’d like to keep the events separate,” says City Manager Tom Carroll.

The question on the table is whether or not Cambridge will combine the Ironman and Eagleman events that brought in 12.26 million dollars in 2022 alone. “It’s quite an elite athletic event, so the Eagleman is more attainable but there are a lot of people who do both the Eagleman and the Ironman here in Cambridge,” Carroll said.

These events include swimming, running, and biking. However, before making the decision to combine the events officials asked the community what they’d like to see. “If it’s separated now, I think they should keep it like it is because the city is building and it might be an overload for the city, too much traffic all at once for the community,” Isaac Adams, Groove City Mini Market Owner said.

Groove City Mini Market Owner Isaac Adams says if the events stay separate it will bring more customers through his doors. “Like when they come, it definitely helps my business, and I have another business downtown. They be downtown on Race Street so a lot of them come through the block and they stop in,” Adams said.

Adams says that parking and places to stay for visitors may also be a problem. Now the City of Cambridge is in talks with the Ironman Group to take the next steps, hoping to keep the fan-favorite events in the community separate. “2023 is the last year of the 5-year contract. So we’re discussing renewing a 5-year contract. Our position for the community is we want to continue to have another 5-year contract with the Ironman Group and we want to do 2 separate events just as we’ve been doing the last 5 years,” Carroll.

Cambridge City Manager Tom Carroll says that juggling both events at once would also be taxing on volunteers. And public safety could become an issue.

A decision could be made within the next 30 to 60 days if the Ironman Group accepts the proposal to keep the events separate.

Community members can get involved by coming out to public forums and council meetings. You can reach Tom Carroll at tcarroll@choosecambridge.com.