Athletes from 52 countries to compete at Cebu’s Ironman

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Some 10,000 people are expected to converge on the province of Cebu for the Cobra Energy Drink IronMan 70.3 Philippines, which will kickoff in the city of Lapu-Lapu and encompass the cities of Mandaue, Cebu and Talisay beginning Sunday, August 2.

Of the 10,000, a total of 2,618 will be seeing action which includes about 20 of the world’s top triathletes. Some 1,900 participants are Filipinos with 300 coming from Cebu. The rest are coming from 52 countries across 6 continents.

This is the fourth time that the Cebu province will be hosting this event which was first held in Camarines Sur for three years from 2009 to 2011. From 583 participants in its first staging, the number of participants immediately ballooned to a thousand when it changed venue to Cebu in 2012 with the international competitors praising the swimming leg, which was held in the waters fronting Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa.

Aside from the 1.9-kilometer swim, the race will take participants from Lapu-Lapu City to the cities of Mandaue, Cebu and Talisay for the 90-kilometer bike ride and back in Lapu-Lapu for the 21-kilometer run, the route of which will me lined by some 28,000 Lapu-Lapu students who will be cheering each participant on. 

Worsening road conditions 

The 2013 edition was ranked second best in the world by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) which promotes and issues licenses to all IronMan events, after earning the mark of 97.60 points based on the feedback from 2,150 participants.

Last year, however, the event did not get ranked because of road conditions, which seem to have worsened even as other areas of this international event progresses.

The organizers are hoping that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with whom the Cebu Province is working with to improve the road conditions will do its part as this international event will benefit the whole country in terms of Sports tourism and tourism in general.

Despite the problems with the road condition, the slots for this year’s edition sold out in just minutes. Last year, the slots sold out in hours.

Sunrise Events Inc.’s Princess Galura said that they did not expect that it would grow this big when they first started, “we just do our best every year.”

In the past, this half IronMan contest not only attracted the top professionals of the sport but it also saw the participation of the Formula One 2009 World Champion Jenson Button, who uses triathlon as part of his cross training, and popular American Group Black Eyed Peas’ Filipino member Apl. De Ap.

During the media briefing last July 30 at the Laguna Garden Cafe in Ayala Center Cebu, Galura said that the 90-Kilometer bike route will be returning to the “M” loop format which was used during the world-acclaimed 2013 edition.

All is set for this Sunday’s big race except for about 100-meter portion of the bike route in Plaridel St. in Mandaue City which still needs to be worked on. The DPWH’s job is also not made easy by the intermittent rains the past couple of days.

Organizers have also addressed what they term as the washing machine effect in the swim leg when they release a number of swimmers at a time by adapting the rolling start this year. Galura explained that with the rolling start, participants will self-seed themselves according to their swim times. The releasing of swimmers will be done at six persons at the same time. According to Galura, this move is also seen to solve the drafting problem in the bike leg.

This Sunday’s race will also offer 40 age-group qualifying slots to the 2016 IronMan 70.3 World Championships in Sunshine Coast, Australia.

Galura was also candid in admitting that should the SEI win the bid for the 2016 Asia-Pacific Championships 70.3, they would definitely choose Cebu as the venue.

With its success in hosting the Cobra Energy Drink IronMan 70.3 Philippines, SEI was invited to bid for the prestigious event and Galura is hoping that the outcome will be announced this afternoon during the Meet the Pros to be held in Shangri-La.

– Rappler.com