Keep Away The Ironman? No Way

In the wake of the applause and cheers that greeted competitors in the recent Los Cabos Ironman Triathlon, a loud and persistent voice can be heard saying, "Enough!"

In a front-page commentary of her latest edition, Carrie Duncan, publisher of Gringo Gazette, an English-language Los Cabos biweekly catering principally to tourists and ex-pats from the United States and Canada, lists numerous grievances concerning the Ironman Triathlon and concludes that it shouldn't be welcomed back. (Too late, next year's second running already is scheduled for March 30.)

While any observer or participant can agree with several of her points, to conclude that another Ironman Triathlon is unwarranted and unwanted is off-target.

Just one of many groups cheering the triathletes

Were tourists and ex-pats inconvenienced by the event? Yes, some streets were closed temporarily. (On the other hand, most of the potholes along the route used by competitors got filled in the days before the marathon, a blessing she doesn't mention.) Yes, the coordination of and communication with volunteers was laughable in its ineptitude. (On the other hand, if a person persisted in attempting to help, an opportunity seemed to materialize; I know by putting in shifts each of four days, the last a 10-hour stint in and about the medical tent at the finish line.) Did it take longer than usual for tourists to get to their hotels or the airport? Apparently, but was that due to the triathlon or was it the fault of hotel operators, shuttle services and taxi drivers who had plenty of warning about the impending congestion and seem not to have planned for it. Duncan claims that tourists were dumped at the Mega market in San Jose del Cabo, then had to hoof it to their hotel along the town's resort row, even though vehicle access all the way to the hotels was available; is the blame for that to be put on the organizers of the triathlon or on the shuttle and taxi drivers, quite possibly hell-bent on returning to the airport for another lucrative fare? No cold water for the press? I passed the media tent plenty of times, and can't say whether members of the press had cold water or not, but I envied the plates they were heaping with hot pasta. No publicity for Los Cabos? True, that could be a failure by the organizers, though I have heard that ESPN has or will air coverage. By the same token, the mass media generally doesn't give much coverage to triathletes, perhaps because of shrunken newsrooms, perhaps because of the heavy commercialism of the events.

A competitor gets encouragement at the plaza

Duncan wraps up her piece by claiming without any concrete evidence that the standing of Los Cabos among tourists has been critically damaged by the Ironman Triathlon. "We will be pilloried on Trip Advisor," she frets. Sorry, but even at this late date I can't find a single negative comment on Trip Advisor concerning San Jose del Cabo and the Ironman Triathlon. Furthermore, every triathlete I chatted with afterwards, and there were many, praised the course as the toughest they've endured, expressed gratitude for the support of volunteers and spectators, and gave every indication that they, their families and their friends would welcome a return engagement. Remember, this was a first, and while there were problems, they quite possibly will be corrected for next year's running.

If Carrie Duncan wants to more effectively use her time and ink, there are many more crucial issues affecting or potentially affecting the happiness and health of the tourist and ex-pat segments of Los Cabos. They include:

- Commercial encroachment and a generally benign attitude among officials concerning the environmental, historic and scenic value of the estuary of San Jose del Cabo. A good start would be an editorial campaign to relocate the town's sewage-treatment plant away from the estuary. Couple that with a call for a comprehensive umbrella organization to recruit volunteers to help preserve and enhance the estuary.

- Investigate the penchant for authorities of Los Cabos to build monstrous public works - the cultural center in Cabo San Lucas, the convention center in San Jose del Cabo - and then let them sit idle, with no apparent effort to promote and use them.

- Launch a continuing series of articles to explain to tourists and residents alike how to deal with immigration officials, how to cope with federales, how to persuade authorities to replace the stolen trash can in your neighborhood.

- Find out and explain why Carlos Slim and his telecommunications empire can't provide English-language, comprehensive, fairly priced and reliable television service to Baja California Sur.

- And most serious of all, undertake a campaign to break Grupo Modelo's lock on beer service in the restaurants of Los Cabos. Enough with the insipid beers Corona and Pacifico, let's get more Tecate and other competing brands on the beverage lists. Then just watch the tourists flock to Los Cabos.