Hayden cheers its first Ironman

Before Sunday, Lea Hudlet had never watched an Ironman competition.

But with the 112-mile bike course trailing – for the first time – outside her front door, Hudlet and her family went all out.

With her four kids, husband and a handful of relatives, Hudlet propped up a beach umbrella along Lancaster Drive, put out nearly half a dozen homemade signs, blasted contemporary Christian music from a boom box, and whooped and hollered as bicyclists traveled up the hill.

“We just decided to camp here for the day,” Hudlet said.

Her husband, Steve, yelled encouragement through a megaphone and rattled a coin-filled water bottle.

The Hudlets were among the droves of spectators in Hayden who turned out along the new bike course that debuted in Sunday’s fifth annual Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene competition.

The course looped through Hayden and into the Rimrock area, cutting Post Falls from the race this year after it complained that it cost too much to accommodate the route.

The city of Hayden embraced the event, moving the annual Hayden Days celebration to coincide with the competition and rallying spectators to cheer on the triathletes.

“I think it’s going extremely well,” Mayor Ron McIntire said Sunday afternoon. “We’ve had many, many more people participate.”

Along Lakeview Drive past the Avondale Golf Course, clumps of residents put out chairs and brightly colored signs. Deanna and Wayne Sorensen’s family watched the bikers from the front of their home, egging them on to the peak of a climb that ended at their driveway.

“They want us to flatten out this hill for them,” joked Deanna Sorensen.

She has volunteered at past Ironman competitions, but not this year.

“It was too hot,” she said. Plus, you can’t beat the comfort of your own driveway.