Posted: August 18, 2005

Triathlon: WTC Announces Race Calendar for Ford Ironman World Championship

World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), owners and organizers of the Ford Ironman World Championship, announces race dates through 2010 for the world’s most challenging endurance event. The event held annually in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run. Each year, more than 50,000 athletes attempt to qualify for one of the 1,800 coveted slots to the event.

The Ironman Triathlon was born on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1978 when Navy Commander, John Collins and wife Judy ensued a debate among fellow athletes. The group pondered over whether swimmers, cyclists or runners were more fit and during that debate, an idea to determine the answer to that question was born. The Collins’ proposed combining three existing races to be completed in succession: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 miles), The Around-Oahu Bike Race (112 miles, originally a two-day event and 114 miles) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). “Whoever finishes first, we’ll call the Ironman,” said Collins. Fifteen men participated in the first event on February 18 with 12 completing the race. Gordon Haller was the first Ironman to cross the finish line with a time of 11:46:58.

The Ford Ironman World Championship will be held on the second Saturday in October and race dates through 2010 are as follows:

2006 October 14 
2007 October 13 
2008 October 11 
2009 October 10 
2010 October 9 

This year’s Ford Ironman World Championship will air on NBC on Saturday, November 12 at 4:30 p.m. EST.

For more information on Ironman, please visit www.ironmanlive.com or contact Blair LaHaye at 727-942-4767 x207 or blair@ironmanlive.com.