Chattanooga Becoming Popular City For Major Outdoor Sporting Events

Chattanooga-(WDEF) The Scenic City has been pulling in major outdoor sporting events in recent years.
In 2017 Chattanooga will become the first city in the world to host four Ironman’s in one year.
Philip Grymes with Outdoor Chattanooga, and Tim Morgan with the Chattanooga Sports Committee, explain why the Scenic City is so attractive for these events.
Said Morgan:”Ross’s Landing is a phenomenal amenity. It does look like it was built to host sporting events, even though I’m pretty sure that wasn’t their primary objective.”
Said Grymes:”Bringing in events like the Head of the Hooch to start, which is the country’s single site largest rowing regatta. So right there stating that we can produce a large scale event. We brought in an international cycling event the Tour de Georgia. Of course bringing it into Tennessee. So those were two large key-stone events that kind of had people’s eyes perk up a little bit about Chattanooga. It’s a huge advantage having our hotels in close proximity to our venue. That’s one of the main reasons the Head of the Hooch exploded and grew between 15 and 25 percent year-after-year. The athletes no longer have to get bused into a venue. They’re right here.”
Said Morgan:”The body of water going through a downtown package filled with hotels, attractions, and restaraunts. It made it all too attractive for Ironman. The topography and the beauty of these natural resources and the outdoors. That’s why we won the number one bike course of all of the Ironman races across the world. Ironman Chattanooga won.”
Reporter:”U.S. Cycling was here for a three year run.”
Said Morgan:”The prestige of being able to host a national championship of that caliber is phenomenal.”
Said Grymes:”Generally with an event like Ironman of U.S. Cycling, it takes over 3,000 volunteer spots. The reason Chattanooga has been successful at producing events honestly has a lot to do with our volunteer base.”