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BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The Aquadraat Sports Ironman U.S. Championship will be leaving the New Jersey and New York area after just one year due to planning and financial difficulties.

The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. This year’s version took place on August 11.

NorthJersey.com reported that a sewage leak in Westchester County almost cancelled the event a day before it started. The event began with a 2.4-mile swim in the Hudson River after the water’s quality was determined to be safe.

A 112-mile bicycle race followed that up and down the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Bergen and Rockland counties, and then a regular 26.2-mile marathon, where runners crossed the George Washington Bridge and finished at Riverside Park in Manhattan.

Ferries took participants from Manhattan to Palisades State Park. According to the New York Times, organizers could not use amplifiers in Riverside Park after 10 p.m. due to noise ordinances. And crowd density from tourists and pedestrians made it more difficult for runners to negotiate the course.

A World Triathlon Corporation statement read, according to an Associated Press report on WSJ.com, "The combination of the ferries, transition in Palisades Interstate Park, and the difficulty for our spectators to watch much of the inaugural race combined to create an experience that needed substantial improvement."

Early registration for the 2013 event had been increased from $895 to $1,200 to recoup expenses. Days after the race, registration was suspended. The competition took seven years and about $4 million to organize in this area.