Posted: July 10, 2007

Triathlon: Ironman 70.3 South Africa on its way to Buffalo City

Triangle South Africa, organisers of the highly successful Spec-Savers Ironman SA, in collaboration with World Triathlon Corporation will be adding a new race to the triathlon calendar in the form of Ironman 70.3 South Africa. Triangle South Africa is part of Triangle International and in the ten years since its inception, Triangle has grown into the second biggest Ironman licensee worldwide and the largest franchisee with six Ironman and Ironman 70.3 international events participating in four countries, Austria; France; Monaco and South Africa. The Triangle group served 14 000 athletes worldwide in 2006 with both Ironman and triathlon events of other distances. Race day is set for 13 January 2008 and will see this exciting new race making its debut in Buffalo City (East London). A Buffalo City delegation led by the Executive Major, Councillor Zintle Peter and a Nelson Mandela Bay delegation led by the Executive Major, Councillor Nondumiso Maphazi met with success when they arrived in Austria earlier this week to forge support for the race to be hosted in East London. Buffalo City Municipality Communications Manager, Darby Gounden, said that they welcomed the opportunity to host the Ironman 70.3 South Africa event and that the city enjoyed a challenge and was looking forward to taking up this mantel. She said they were proud to support an initiative that would without a doubt make them, together with the Nelson Mandela Metro, the Ironman Capital of Africa. Triangle South Africa spokesman Keith Bowler added that they felt extremely privileged to be able to bring this race to South Africa and that they were determined to make the Buffalo City event as successful and as professionally run as the Spec-Savers Ironman held in Port Elizabeth. The inclusion of the Ironman 70.3 South Africa in East London will mean that there are now 25 half Ironman races held around the world in what is an ever-growing sport. The half Ironman event is a firm favourite among athletes as the race is not as gruelling as a full Ironman. The 70.3 takes athletes on a 1.9km sea swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run and is a good training exercise for those interested in tackling the full Ironman later in the year. An added incentive is that there will be 50 qualifying slots for the World Championships to be held in Clearwater Florida, USA in November 2008. The Ironman 70.3 first hit the Ironman calendar in 2001 and is now the fastest growing event on their race schedule with athletes vying for a place at the World Championships. Entries will open on the 13 August on www.ironman703.co.za to what promises to be the biggest and best half Ironman distance race in the country. So start training now! Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest