AURORA — Come spring, you may be seeing some pretty big people in Aurora.
Visit Aurora, a destination marketing organization funded largely by the city, said Wednesday it has landed the International Powerlifting Federation’s 2012 World Masters Bench Press Championship.
The championship, to be held at the Red Lion Hotel, likely in April, is expected to generate $3 million in hotel and food revenues alone.
A trip by Visit Aurora to the Czech Republic last week to bid on the championship also gave Aurora the IPF World Men’s and Women’s Powerlifting Championships in 2014.
Aurora beat a handful of other communities seeking to host the event. Organizers say the bench-press event will be the first powerlifting world championship held in Colorado.
“That’s not a bad little piece of business,” said Visit Aurora president and chief executive Gary Wheat. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase our city and Colorado to international visitors who normally would not come here.”
The idea of luring a world championship was the brainchild of local powerlifter Dan Gaudreau, a nine-time world champion who runs the Rocky Mountain Lifting Club in Aurora.
Gaudreau and his wife, Jennifer, who also lifts, had long wanted to bring a world- championship event to Colorado. But to make it happen, they needed a local government partner.
Gaudreau has run national competitions but none the magnitude of a world championship, so he approached the Metro Denver Sports Commission a few years ago, he said, with no luck.
When he found out about Visit Aurora — which was just starting up about a year ago — he asked for the group’s help making a bid.
“It’s a big deal,” Gaudreau said.
About 2,000 participants, fans and delegates are expected at the event, which spans 10 days. And they have to eat, sleep and shop, and that means big bucks for Aurora.
Aurora spokeswoman Kim Stuart, who is the liaison from the city to Visit Aurora, said the trip to Europe was well worth the effort.
“These types of things are modest investments for huge returns for our city,” Stuart said. “This is going to introduce the world — and a new sport — to Aurora.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
