Posted: December 9, 2005

Triathlon: Emberton named race director for Ford Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene

Rematch set between Faris Al-Sultan and Chris McCormack

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho—Ironman North America, organizers of eight Ironman events in the U.S. and Canada, have named Andy Emberton as the new race director for Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene.

Emberton, a resident of Coeur d’Alene, will replace Lyle Harris who served as the race director of the Coeur d’Alene event since its inception in 2003. Harris has moved on to start an event company in his home country of Canada.

Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene will take place for the fourth time in 2006, and the event is considered one of the most popular multisport races in the Pacific Northwest.

While new to race directing, Emberton is quite familiar with Ironman events having served as the Communications Director for various Ironman North America events over the past three years.

After being named Volunteer Captain of the Year in 2003 for the inaugural Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene, Ironman North America brought Emberton on staff as Communications Director for multiple events in 2005, including Ford Ironman Arizona and Ford Ironman Wisconsin.

“I am thrilled to step up to the new challenge of race directing Ford Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene,” said Emberton. “I look forward to working with my all of the various entities, race captains and volunteers to continue to make Coeur d’Alene one of the most popular triathlon spots in the world.”

Emberton has been married for 35 years to his wife Leslie, and the couple has two daughters. Emberton is a retired Police Sergeant (Berkeley, Calif.), who worked in various assignments for 33 years including patrol, traffic, felony investigation, communications, and he also supervised a Crime Scene Unit in Detectives. Emberton received the Medal of Valor for hostage rescue in 1991 and was also a SWAT team tactical unity sniper during his tenure.

“We are very happy to have Andy on board as our new Race Director in Coeur d ’Alene,” said Ironman North America President Graham Fraser. “Lyle Harris helped to make our Coeur d’Alene event a great success over the past three years, and we wish him all the best in his new endeavor. We expect that Andy will do a great job in continuing in the tradition of great Ironman events in Coeur d’Alene.”