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Ironman is here, and it’s here to stay, according to Ironman President Graham Fraser, who announced Tuesday that the headquarters for United States events will be permanently located in Lake Placid.

This means that Ironman USA officials have designated Lake Placid as the main office responsible for coordinating the three U.S. triathlons.

These triathlons will be Ironman Florida (beginning in November), Ironman California (beginning in May) and Ironman Lake Placid (beginning in August).

The Lake Placid office will be responsible for coordinating Ironman Canada, which takes place in British Columbia, about two weeks after the Lake Placid event.

The Hawaiian Ironman, however, which is considered the World Cup of Ironman competitions, so to speak, will still keep its headquarters in Florida.

Previously, the Ironman office responsible for events other than Ironman Hawaii was located in Grimsby, Ontario.

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Jim Goodwin trail

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On Aug. 3, the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society will formally dedicate the newly constructed trail to Rooster Comb Mountain in Keene Valley in honor of Jim Goodwin.

For more than 70 years, Goodwin has been instrumental in developing and maintaining area trails. A summer resident of Keene Valley since 1919, Goodwin guided his first party up Mount Marcy in 1922 and later cut several informal local trails, including one up Porter Mountain from Interbrook Road.

A school teacher by profession, Goodwin devoted most of his summers to guiding and trail maintenance and is responsible for constructing many currently popular trails, including Big Slide via Brothers, the Ridge (now Zander Scott) Trail to Giant and the Weld Trail to Gothics via Pyramid. Goodwin also played a major role from 1956 to 1984 in producing six editions of the Adirondack Mountain Club’s High Peaks trail guide and map.

Goodwin’s service to the ATIS includes trail crew chief for several years in the early 1950s, a member of the Board of Directors and Advisors since 1955 and president from 1975 to 1980 and from 1983 to 1987. In 1996, he was elected honorary lifetime director.

ATIS constructed the Jim Goodwin Trail last summer and fall using funds raised on the occasion of its centennial, which was celebrated in 1997. The new 2.5-mile trail to the 2,762-foot summit of Rooster Comb Mountain replaces two older approaches which had become difficult for hikers to use due to a lack of trailhead parking.

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Railway work

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Although the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society recently announced the running of a new train, the Remsen Extra, it will be some time before trains are stopping in Saranac Lake.

The nearly 100-mile section of track from Old Forge to Lake Placid is in need of more repair than the one from Lake Placid to Saranac Lake. It will be close to two years before that route is complete. At that time, though, people will be able to travel to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid from Remsen entirely by train.

An economic impact study prepared by the Adirondack North Country Association indicates that more than 200 jobs will be created through the renovations of the Lake Placid to Saranac Lake segment of the excursion. The travel corridor will not only provide new tourist attractions with the excursion trains, and it will also add significantly to local retail and service business, according to the study.

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Browse past issues of the Lake Placid News from 1914 to 2008 online at nyshistoricnewspapers.org.