Hononegah grad, who traveled the country with IRONMAN, returns for Rockford’s inaugural race

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Dustin Meier, a graduate of Hononegah High School, has helped set up dozens of IRONMAN competitions over the years, and now he’s working on Rockford’s inaugural triathlon.

Preparation for the event takes days of setup and hundreds of hands.

Meier graduated from Hononegah in 2009 and now lives in Colorado. In the intervening years, he has worked on IRONMAN events around the country.

“I’ve gotten to see all 50 states multiple times, setting these events up. And then for one to be right in my backyard, like, it’s it’s kind of surreal because you go to these crazy cities like Kona, Hawaii, or we were in Juneau, Alaska, a few years ago and they put Rockford, Illinois, in the same sentence to have an IRONMAN. It’s pretty special,” he said.

The 33-year-old said seeing a local city host such a big event is a proud moment for him.

“As soon as I saw was announced, I had to take off from work and come back and see it for myself for the first time,” he said.

“It gives us hope that it’s. Rockford’s getting a lot better. having something like this and Ironman having the face as Rockford, as a host city really says a lot about the angle and the trajectory we’re going to. So hopefully it’s the start of a lot more things coming here,” Meier added.

When the race kicks off on Sunday, he said it will bring his IRONMAN experiences full circle.

“Right behind us is the Embassy Suites. And a lot of people know it’s the old Amerock building. And my grandpa worked in that building for 30-plus years, you know, and to see that transformed into the Embassy and to come out here to Davis Park, where we used to hold Wing Ding back in the day and all these different little shows and everything. And to see an actual event like IRONMAN come here, it’s really special. It’s really cool to see,” he said.

The IRONMAN 70.3 competitors will meet near the Rock Guardian statues to begin their grueling competition, which will begin with a 1.2-mile swim in the Rock River. The swimming part of the race will be followed by a 56-mile cycle race, finished with a 13.1-mile marathon through the city.

For maps and road closures, click here.