One and Done: IRONMAN's Bike Course Will Skip St. Johns County in 2027

IRONMAN's 112-mile bike course will not come back into St. Johns County when the race returns to Northeast Florida on May 16, 2027, the organization has confirmed, a direct result of the traffic chaos that swallowed a Saturday in Ponte Vedra Beach and Nocatee this May. For the thousands of households that spent hours stuck behind closures on Nocatee Parkway, at Davis Park, and on two-lane roads like Roscoe Boulevard and Mickler Road, it is the clearest answer yet: not again here.

IRONMAN said in a statement that the route will not return to St. Johns County in 2027, and that planning for next year's event is already underway, including a new bike course being developed with local municipalities, public safety officials and community partners. Jacksonville officials, who organized the race with IRONMAN, have said the cycling route won't dip into St. Johns County at all. The new course has not been released. Registration for 2027 opens Aug. 6.

The inaugural race drew roughly 2,000 athletes on May 16. The swim and finish sat in Duval County, but the bike leg pushed south through Nocatee and Ponte Vedra, and that is where it came apart for residents.

What went wrong in May

Sheriff Robert Hardwick laid out the problem in a letter to county commissioners. Lane shifts and overlapping activities produced significant congestion along Nocatee Parkway and near Davis Park, he wrote, and deputies were repeatedly forced to stop or redirect traffic because of wide gaps between groups of cyclists. That left conditions unpredictable for drivers and riders alike. Citing the safety risk, Hardwick said the event should not come back to his jurisdiction.

Commissioner Krista Joseph said she sat in traffic for three hours and watched close calls between cars, golf carts and bicycles. She told her colleagues she received notice of specific road closures only one day before the race, and questioned whether narrow two-lane roads were ever a fit for an event that size. Any national event of that scale, she argued, should have to come before the Board of County Commissioners for approval.

One competitor, Orlando physician Zachary Stinson, was struck by a truck during the race in Nocatee. He later called publicly for changes to the course.

The county's postmortem

At the commission meeting three days after the race, County Administrator Joy Andrews told commissioners the impacts were greater than what had been conveyed to the county by the City of Jacksonville. The route, she said, evolved over time in a way that increased the effect on St. Johns County beyond what officials had anticipated.

County officials also noted that St. Johns County did not spend taxpayer dollars directly on race operations, because organizers covered traffic control and safety costs. Joseph pointed out a different bill: businesses along the route reported lost revenue during the closures, and crews had to clean up trash left behind.

Not everyone wanted it gone. Commissioner Christian Whitehurst called the triathlon a wonderful event and suggested a future route could shift into his district if communication and planning improved. Board Chair Clay Murphy said the county and the sheriff's office were invited into Jacksonville's review of the race. Staff floated better warning next time: more digital signage, targeted social media, earlier public notice.

Two things are still open. IRONMAN has not said where the redrawn bike course will go, only that it will be announced in the coming months, and Jacksonville's review with St. Johns County and law enforcement is still running. The commission has also not acted on Joseph's push to require board approval before a national event routes through the county, so as of now no such rule is on the books. Anything formal would have to come back to the board at a future meeting.

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