CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — Many of the key players behind the scenes of an IRONMAN event, in particular an IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, are somewhat familiar faces in the community. They serve Greater Zion as part of the police department or hospital or local park staff on a daily basis, but they step up when IRONMAN comes to town.
Each of them finds inspiration in the jobs they do, the stellar IRONMAN athletes and their performances, as well as our gorgeous surroundings. And we marvel at these legends among us … both daily and in producing these worldwide events.
Dr. Christian Millward
As IRONMAN’s top athletes from around the globe prepare to compete in the Intermountain Healthcare IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship presented by the Utah Sports Commission on Oct. 28-29, the community also is readying itself for the sport’s ultimate competition. More than 4,000 volunteers make this event a success, and for years, there have been legends among us who have played an integral role in making IRONMAN races happen by donating their time and expertise.
Dr. Christian Millward is the medical crew team lead for the upcoming race and has been volunteering for IRONMAN in St. George since 2010. He deals with musculoskeletal issues on a daily basis as a sports medicine physician.
“I love dealing with active people,” he said. “We live in such an active community. People want to feel better quickly and get out there to start moving again. IRONMAN athletes are just the same with that spirit to get out, address their aliment and get moving again.”
In addition to volunteering his time as the medical crew lead for IRONMAN races, Millward is the head team physician for Utah Tech University Athletics. His role with IRONMAN races is truly an extension of his job, but for the competition, he has to plan for thousands of athletes all in one day.
His team must anticipate various worst-case scenarios, from trauma to dehydration and cramps. He pulls together a team of more than 50 qualified medical professionals, depending on the race, to ensure athlete health needs are addressed from the medical tent to on-course happenings.
“I love the spirit of competition with athletes,” Millward said. “During a race, I’ve seen someone fall off a bike, break a clavicle and still finish the race. There’s just a drive that these athletes have to accomplish things.”
A triathlete himself, Millward also has competed in several IRONMAN races. His best IRONMAN moment was competing in the 2014 IRONMAN 70.3 in St. George.
“Finishing in my hometown was a great moment,” he said. “Having done a few triathlons, it’s tough. The work, the time and effort is a big commitment. When I’m on the medical crew, on the sidelines, it’s exciting to see other people tackle such a challenging race. Watching their enthusiasm and drive is really motivating and fun to see as a volunteer.”
There’s a sense of pride in volunteering for these races, Millward said. He also loves the visibility IRONMAN gives to the community. He noted that it’s exciting to see people discover Greater Zion and the exposure that people who’ve never been here have to the beauty of the area. He also mentioned how the world championship race in May brought a different level of visitors to the area and a level of complexity that was really fun to work within.
“It was super cool to see the shift in visitors and competitors last spring with the May world championship,” he added. “There were things we had to take into consideration that we’ve never done before, like linguistics. The international exposure and level of competition was amazing to be a part of.”
Millward finds the competitors and people the most gratifying part of volunteering for the medical team.
“I really enjoy being a part of a bigger team,” he said. “Our medical crew plays an important role in supporting the athletes, but there are so many additional volunteers and emergency personnel who make this race happen. It’s exciting to be a part of what makes our St. George races so successful.”
In addition to racing triathlons, Millward enjoys all of what the Greater Zion region has to offer. A 14-year resident of St. George, he moved here for the area’s legendary location, the outdoor lifestyle and the adventures. He’s an avid outdoorsman and enjoys camping, hiking, climbing, canyoneering, biking and running, among other pursuits.
Curtis Spragg
Greater Zion resident Curtis Spragg has competed in almost every IRONMAN race in the area. Like most athletes, he does it for love, but in his case, it’s more than just the love of the sport – it’s also for the love of his wife. When possible, Spragg and his wife, Melissa, have made it a tradition to swim, bike and run to celebrate their anniversary during IRONMAN events.
“I love living in Southern Utah,” he said. “Our area provides such a majestic landscape and wonderful recreational activities. My wife and I have competed in almost every IRONMAN event held here in St. George, along with many other cycling and running events. In fact, IRONMAN weekend falls on our wedding anniversary, and we have made it part of our marriage to enjoy competing in IRONMAN together as part of our anniversary.”
When the sporty Spraggs aren’t gearing up for IRONMAN, you might find them on the local mountain bike trails. The whole Spragg family has caught the competition bug, with the couple’s two children becoming members of their local high school mountain bike team.
“My wife and I help coach on the team,” Spragg said. “It has become a great way for our family to spend time together throughout the week and travel to events to compete as a family. I believe these experiences have brought us closer together as a family and give us a unique bond.”
As the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship draws near, Spragg is gearing up, but his work extends beyond the typical training regimen you might expect. As captain of the Administrative Services Division of the St. George Police Department, Spragg also works behind the scenes to help make IRONMAN in St. George a success. He begins by meeting with race officials to ensure a safe race route for participants and minimize the impact on residents.
Spragg continues by coordinating efforts between city officials, including law enforcement, first responders, the street department and others, to ensure everyone understands their role in keeping the venue and residents safe and mitigating any concerns. He’s motivated to support community events like IRONMAN thanks to a deep love for and pride in his community.
“I truly enjoy these large events coming to our community,” he said. “It speaks volumes about the quality of our citizens who are so willing to volunteer their time and effort to make the events as successful as they are. I have heard race directors every year mention how our local community is not only majestic to look at, but the event’s biggest success comes from the great volunteers and community support. The race directors cannot say enough good about our citizens, and that gives me a lot of pride to know I am part of that.”
When asked about the most gratifying part of supporting IRONMAN events, you might expect to hear Spragg, a consummate competitor, discuss the success of crossing the finish line. Instead, here too he speaks of his pride in the residents of the area.
“I think it all comes together when I hear how much the athletes have enjoyed interacting with our citizens,” he said. “I think that is something to be proud of as a community.”
With the approach of the third world championship-level IRONMAN to take place in Greater Zion in 13 months, Spragg is excited by the value the events continue to bring to the community he loves.
“I find it exciting to bring in thousands of good people into our community,” he said. “I don’t know of many other large events that bring this type of economic impact to a community (with participants) staying for multiple days at local hotels, eating in local restaurants, spending money at local businesses and still going to bed at a reasonable hour without drawing on the resources of our Police Department.”
Kristen Comella
Snow Canyon State Park is renowned for its stunning red rock scenery, and undoubtedly most, if not all, local residents are acquainted with many of the park’s popular stop-offs and hikes. Beyond the familiar rock faces throughout Snow Canyon, there is a human face associated with the park that may be just as familiar to many. Park manager Kristen Comella has lived in Greater Zion for 28 years and manages day-to-day operations at the well-loved local landmark.
As park manager, Comella works to deliver on the Utah State Parks’ mission to provide a quality recreation experience to the public and keep the park clean, safe and inviting for the approximately 800,000 visitors who enjoy Snow Canyon annually. This year, a few of those many visitors will include the competitors in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Although these guests are unique, their needs are familiar to Comella, who along with her team has played an integral role in readying the park for each IRONMAN event in the area.
Part of the original IRONMAN 70.3 route, Snow Canyon has been coined the “crown jewel” of the St. George course. With its striated red rock formations, the 4-mile stretch of continuous elevation gain has been called a “slog” around mile 44 of the 56-mile bike leg.
According to Triathlete magazine, “Snow Canyon is an otherworldly experience; If it weren’t for the presence of park rangers and sunburned hikers emerging from trail junctions at random intervals, one could easily be convinced they had landed on Mars – or perhaps the set of their favorite Western movie.”
For each IRONMAN event, Comella and her team start preparation up to 11 months before the race. More than 20 business partners guide hiking, biking and climbing tours in the canyon, and the race also impacts campers making reservations.
Efforts start by reaching out to all of these important stakeholders to make sure businesses book clients in other locations on race day. And, as the race approaches, her team sweeps roadways of debris and ensures the course is safe for riders. On race day, Comella and her team watch their efforts pay off by roaming the canyon to cheer on cyclists and provide race assistance and then helping clean up after the event.
Comella takes pride in Utah State Parks’ role in IRONMAN races and other community events.
“When we can accommodate special events and races, this not only strengthens our community bonds but the recreation value of the park as well,” she said. “At the end of the day, we are getting paid to work in a beautiful location, teach visitors about the amazing resources of the park and provide/maintain recreation resources for campers, hikers, bikers, climbers, nature lovers and world-class athletes!”
Seeing how much cyclists enjoy the canyon motivates her to go the extra mile for these races.
“It’s amazing to see first-time visitors who are truly blown away by the park,” she said. “Also, the fact it is an international event that not only exposes new people to Snow Canyon State Park but has such a significant economic benefit to Washington County.”
As Comella sees it, the most gratifying part of these races is the athletes.
“It’s amazing to see how tough IRONMAN athletes are – particularly as they grind their way up through the canyon,” she added. “However, the best part is seeing athletes from across the country and world, and their awe and appreciation of Snow Canyon.”
When she isn’t welcoming guests to Snow Canyon State Park, Comella also enjoys recreating on the public lands across Greater Zion. She takes advantage of all the area has to offer, including stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, biking, swimming, hiking and rollerblading. She also enjoys learning about the plants and animals found in Greater Zion.
Steve Ikuta
Steve Ikuta is a full-time health care emergency management program manager for Intermountain Healthcare, based at the hospital’s St. George location. For the last 15 years, Ikuta has been one of the legends among us who not only serves our community on a daily basis through his job but also volunteers his time to a number of causes, including working with local IRONMAN races for more than a decade.
For the upcoming world championship, he will coordinate the Transition 1 (T1) medical team at Sand Hollow State Park.
“I get to work with a great team year after year,” he said. “There are only five of us left on our team that started from the first IRONMAN event over a decade ago.”
Ikuta is motivated to go the extra mile to support community events such as IRONMAN due to his deep passion for giving back.
“Community events such as IRONMAN align with my dedication to community stewardship,” he said. “In addition, I am the chair for the American Red Cross here in Southern Utah and serve on the Central and Southern Utah board of directors.”
Ikuta is a serial plasmapheresis donor who donates plasma twice a week. To date, he has donated 478 times, which translates to 426,000 cc of plasma or 113 gallons. He was also a volunteer firefighter for a local, bedroom community fire department for 17 years.
In his role on the medical response team, Ikuta creates a punch list of tasks to be completed based on two months, one month and two weeks out from the event. The week of the event, he dedicates one or two hours each day to finalize the logistics and responsibilities for the event.
Ikuta finds gratification in seeing others succeed during IRONMAN events. With the swim completed, the competition continues and he makes his way to downtown St. George.
“After all the hours of attending planning meetings, collaborating with partners and preparing for the event, (the most rewarding part) is being at the finish line medical tent and seeing the athletes cross the finish line,” he added.
One particular IRONMAN race that sticks out in Ikuta’s memory is the 2012 competition that received international media coverage for the windstorm that unexpectedly occurred during the swim at Sand Hollow Reservoir. Ikuta recounted how the storm created whitecaps on the water that made it difficult for swimmers to finish. All athletes were accounted for, but more than 100 athletes were tended to in the medical tent in just 90 minutes.
“My expertise in critical decision-making and the training I have in responding to no-notice incidents helps our team provide immediate care when needed during the races,” he added.
The Greater Zion area is home to several large events throughout the year, including the Huntsman World Senior Games, the St. George Marathon and IRONMAN, just to name a few. Ikuta said he is proud to see how his community embraces these events through strong volunteer involvement. He said he also values the experience he has year after year being a part of an event like IRONMAN that allows athletes to enjoy the beauty of Greater Zion during each segment of the race.
The region’s scenic vistas were among the reasons that Ikuta relocated to St. George from Salt Lake City in 2007.
“I really don’t grasp the beauty of these scenic vistas until I watch IRONMAN videos of the races,” he said. “It is then I appreciate what I am blessed with and having access to on a daily basis.”
Darrell Cashin
When the unexpected occurs, everyday heroes often step up and take action to save the day. That can certainly be said of Darrell Cashin, who serves his community as the search and rescue liaison for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. In this role, Cashin is asked to think of worst-case scenarios and plan how his team will react and assist.
Cashin, who first moved to the St. George area in 1976, has watched the community grow and is likely a familiar face to area residents. Outside of his role with the Sheriff’s Office, Cashin also is committed to serving his community in other ways, including volunteering his time during local IRONMAN events for more than a decade. During the races, Cashin manages the Transition 1 (T1) water search and rescue team at Sand Hollow Reservoir by keeping the water safe and leaping into action as needed as the athletes swim a whopping 1.2 or 2.4 miles, depending on the length of the race.
While Cashin’s efforts during the events are invaluable each year, he truly became a Greater Zion IRONMAN legend during the 2012 race. During the race, Cashin and his team of kayakers, lifeguards, boat operators and divers became the heroes who were needed by swinging into action as a storm suddenly appeared above Sand Hollow, turning the water to whitecaps and making it difficult for swimmers to finish the race.
“No one saw that storm coming,” he said. “We had hundreds of people in the water, and everyone got out safely.”
Cashin’s efforts didn’t stop that day, though. Instead, he took what he learned in 2012 and applied it to future races.
“We learned a lot from that experience,” he said. “Some key takeaways included a more diligent signing in and out process for volunteers to make sure we can account for everyone in the water. We also implemented once-a-year training prior to every race, which includes surface water rescues, how to get swimmers from the water to safety boats, self-rescue technique – lots of technical elements.”
Although the IRONMAN event in 2012 made him a legend, the recent world championship in May is one of Cashin’s proudest moments volunteering with IRONMAN.
“Over the years, we’ve been given plaques of appreciation for our efforts and community grants to get new equipment, but the biggest accolade was after the world championship,” he said. “We had several organizers from other IRONMAN races reach out and compliment us on how thorough our water search and rescue efforts were. They wanted to learn from us. Hearing that from peers made my whole volunteer team incredibly proud.”
Beyond the performance of the volunteers he worked with, Cashin was also particularly inspired by the Greater Zion community during the May race.
“The community really came together to showcase the area to the world,” he said. “We really upped our game across all areas of the event. The community as a whole delivered a great event. It was inspiring to hear people comment on how well they were treated and how excited they are to come back.”
Over the years, the search and rescue volunteer group at T1 has grown, and Cashin now manages between 100 and 120 rescuers made up of lifeguards, divers and volunteers who operate boats and kayaks. The footprint of the race has grown over the years, and volunteers from search and rescue groups from all of Utah have provided resources and manpower, a situation that Cashin anticipates will only continue now that those groups see how rewarding the work is.
“For the world championship in May, we had search and rescue teams from sheriff’s departments throughout the state come to southwest Utah to be a part of our operation,” he said. “They provided manpower and additional resources like boats, kayaks and other equipment. So many volunteers got hooked and have been asking how they can help with the October race.”
For Cashin, he keeps coming back, not just for the spirit of volunteerism, but also to be inspired by the people in the water at each IRONMAN event.
“It’s about the people getting into the water,” he said. “It’s motivating to put it all together – providing the best service possible and preparing for all angles of water safety.”
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