The 11th IRONMAN Austria has been sold out in 92 minutes with 3.000 entries
on July 15th! From experience 20% will cancel so 2.400 participants will be
at the starting line in 2009.
The Kärnten IRONMAN Austria that was held on Sunday, July 13th, was full of
records. With 2.400 athletes more participants than ever were standing at
the starting line. Marino Vanhoenacker won for the third time in a row in
8:08:11 and Sandra Wallenhorst not just won for the first time in 8:47:26
but also broke the world best time that has been held for 14 years.
Europe-Record
The race is over and the records are still going on: From Monday to Tuesday
the online registration opened at midnight. In 92 minutes the IRONMAN
Austria was already fully booked which means a new Europe record. On Monday
the registration opened at the IRONMAN EXPO where athletes had the
possibility to buy a slot for next year on the spot. 1.100 athletes were
accepting this offer, online the registration opened at 0.00 am at Tuesday
night.
International Field
IRONMAN Austria 2009 will be a very international race once again. One third
of the registered athletes are Austrians, two thirds are coming from abroad.
The strongest participation comes from Germany (17%), Great Britain (16,5%).
The first athlete to have signed up lives in Miami, Florida and the athlete
gathering the last spot at 1h32 in the morning comes from Dubai. 89% are
male athletes, and 11% will be “Ironwomen”.
The 11th edition of IRONMAN Austria will take place on 5th July 2009. Like
in the past, more applications were accepted as approximately 20% of the
athletes will withdraw during the next 12 months. 3000 athletes are signed
up, there is no waiting list. IRONMAN Austria 2009 will welcome
approximately 2400 athletes at the starting line.
IRONMAN France
All of those who could not grab a spot for the race in Klagenfurt next year
can secure a spot in IRONMAN France. The race is organized by TRIANGLE, so
athletes can profit from standards they liked in Austria even on the French
Riviera. IRONMAN France takes place on 28 June 2009, just a week before
IRONMAN Austria. Registration for IRONMAN France is still open on
www.ironmanfrance.com.
Photos and Results for IRONMAN Austria 2008 are available on
www.ironmanaustria.com.
PHOTO: © Gernot Gleiss
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