Posted: August 17, 2007

Triathlon: Registration for Ironman 70.3 South Africa officially open

August 17, 2007 - Triangle South Africa, organisers of the highly successful Spec-Savers Ironman South Africa, in collaboration with World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) have added a new race to the triathlon calendar in the form of the Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 South Africa. Buffalo City will proudly be hosting this event on the 13th January 2008 in the beautiful area of East London. As Ironman continues its rapid growth within the sport, the city wanted to use the opportunity to bring together people from all walks of life but more importantly make a great impact in encouraging participation from youth in underdeveloped areas around the municipality, said Buffalo City Communications Manager, Darby Gounden. Gounden went on to say that plans are in motion and steering and technical committees are already being established. These committees will encourage broader cooperation with the relevant bodies, including business, sporting bodies, government departments, NGO’s and other partners. In addition, a plan of action has been developed to ensure the smooth running of the event. In an effort to demonstrate their commitment to the sport, Spec-Savers have agreed to sponsor the Ironman 70.3 South Africa. Spec-Savers has been associated with Ironman South Africa from its inception and their loyalty over the past four years goes a long way to ensuring the success of that event. It took foresight from Spec-Savers CEO, Bryan Dowley to see the potential of Ironman and the prestige it would bring to the Eastern Cape. With the addition of the Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 South Africa to the calendar of events, they have shown their willingness to once again bring a new and exciting event to the Province. Dowley said that they welcomed the opportunity to be linked to another Ironman event and that this would strengthen the relationship between themselves and Triangle South Africa. He went on to say that the Ironman 70.3 South Africa would be a tremendous new tourist attraction and that he was impressed with Buffalo City’s eagerness to keep the 70.3 and full-distance Ironman event in the Eastern Cape. The inclusion of the Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 South Africa in East London will mean that there are now 25 official Ironman 70.3 events held around the world in what is an ever-growing sport. The 70.3 takes athletes on a 1.9km sea swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run, a total of 70.3 miles, 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 Ford Ironman World Championship, to be held in Clearwater, Florida, USA in November 2008. The Ironman 70.3 first hit the Ironman calendar in 2005 and has grown to become the fastest growing brand on their race schedule with athletes vying for a place at the World Championship event. Triangle South Africa is part of Triangle International and in the ten years since its inception, Triangle has grown into one of the largest Ironman licensees worldwide to include six Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events, participating in four countries, Austria, France, Monaco and South Africa. The Triangle group served more than 14 000 athletes from around the world in 2006 with both Ironman and triathlon events of other distances. The inclusion of the Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 South Africa reaffirms their commitment to growing the sport and giving athletes the opportunity to participate in both a 70.3 and full Ironman on South African soil. Entries for this popular race in South Africa opened on the 13th August on www.ironman703.co.za and it promises to be the biggest and best Ironman 70.3 race in the country. So start training now! For media related inquiries on Spec-Savers Ironman 70.3 South Africa, contact Gail Faiers at imsapress@triangle.cc or Blair LaHay at . More information on Ironman can be found by visiting www.ironman.com. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest