IM Wilmington?

I've heard whispering and rumblings about this event for a couple months. This is the first time I've seen something announced. Pardon the formatting and mark your calenders for Nov 1, 2008. Interesting that its around the same time as IMFL though.

*edit* sounds like its going to be non-IM affiliated as they are referring to it as an Iron Distance event and not an Ironman...additionally they are including a Half event with it, which I don't think any of the IM distance events do. 

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20070623/NEWS/706230388&SearchID=73285358580198

Article published Jun 23, 2007
Major triathlon slated for area
Iron-distance event will test the best

On Sunday, 500 people will descend on Pleasure Island for the Kure Beach Double Sprint Triathlon, racing through approximately half a mile of ocean swimming, three miles of running and 12 miles of biking.
A walk in the park, in other words.
At least that's how all the flapping about will appear compared to the area's newest race. This week, Set Up Events, which organizes scores of triathlons from Washington D.C. to Georgia, announced that Wilmington will be the site the sport's most brutal type of race - an iron-distance triathlon.
The legs wobble just thinking about it. On 7 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2008, organizers expect 500 elite racers to gather at the south tip of Wrightsville Beach for a long day of competition: a 2.4-mile swim to Seapath Marina, followed by a 112-mile bike ride into Bladen County and back to the U.S.S. North Carolina, followed by a full marathon, 26.2 miles.
To put it in perspective, the winner probably will take about nine hours to finish, people who are done in 12 hours will have bragging rights over most, and many won't stop moving until well after dark, even with the early morning start, said Bill Scott, head of Set Up Events, which is based in Kure Beach.
Scott is planning to bring in 30 to 40 light towers to illuminate the run course for those still going after nightfall, he said. The cut-off time is 17 hours, or midnight.
Another 500 spots will be open for a half-iron triathlon.
"It's huge for Wilmington," said Eric Vierling, a local triathlete training for his first iron-distance race this fall in Florida. "It's going to make people who never thought of doing an Ironman decide to do one."
While the appeal of such a punishing feat of endurance will be lost on many, Vierling said it's a way to test your limits. And there's a lot like him. He had to sit at his computer the day admissions opened for the Florida race to make sure he got in.
"It's to the point that for most Ironman races in the U.S., if you want to do them, you have got to sign up a year in advance," he said.
Scott said the race will be a major financial transfusion for the local economy, with participants likely to come from every state in the country for stays of several days, he said. There are only about 15 similar races in the country, none closer than Maryland, and participants don't just roll in the day before.
"If we have 1,000 people, you can just bank on 950 of them will be coming from out of town," Scott said.
From 2001 to 2005, Scott organized a similar race in Raleigh, but it was only mildly successful, he said. The difference is that Wilmington is a choice location and will attract many racers looking to combine the event with a vacation.
That's the reason the much shorter Wilmington YMCA Triathlon in September attracts 1,200 participants each year, the biggest race from Florida to Washington D.C., Scott said.