The Ironman triathlon was held this past weekend. KSBY spoke with businesses to see how things went during the race this year compared to last year when some business owners said it was a difficult day.
“We had a line out the door," said Tony Carignan, Daisy’s Organic Coffee Tea owner. "This whole area was full of people."
Six thousand spectators watched nearly 2,000 athletes in this year’s Ironman triathlon from Morro Bay to San Simeon.
Morro Bay Police Chief Amy Watkins says the ability for the run course to go through Morro Bay State Park allowed for fewer delays and for closures to get opened up sooner this year compared to last year.
“The state park route definitely helped," said Maxwell Leage, Harbor Hut general manager. "And not looping on the Embarcadero consistently definitely allowed businesses to get a little uptick and open up more quickly."
Mark Tognazzini who owns Tognazinni’s Dockside said the changes made this year helped his business.
“They weren’t doing laps back and forth around the Embarcadero, more friendly signage, just a bunch of different things that actually helped the cause. It was a vast improvement."
Chief Watkins says the Embarcadero between Beach Street to the Rock parking lot was opened at 12:45 p.m. this year compared to 3 p.m. last year.
“Once that happened, we were able to get traffic coming back in and the groups started showing up," Leage said. "Everything was better."
“A lot of the regulars were able to get to us on Sunday afternoon, but it was dramatically earlier than last year,” Tognazzini said.
Tony Carignan celebrated his coffee shop’s one-year anniversary with record sales and opened up at 4 a.m. Sunday, two hours earlier than normal.
“We were busy by 4:15 we had people coming in the door getting some last-minute bagels right before the race,” Carignan said.
Another Ironman triathlon will be held next year as part of their three-year contract with the City of Morro Bay.
