Cebu to host 2016 Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Jubilation erupted at the Marquee of the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa as Cebu was announced as the host of the 2016 Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship as the event heads to Asia for the first time on August 7, 2016.

The announcement was made during the Meet the Pros press conference for August 2’s Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines by the chief executive officer for Ironman Asia-Pacific, Geoff Meyer, who stood up alongside Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI) president and chairman Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, and unbuttoned their shirts to show a red t-shirt under imprinted with the words Ironman 70.3 Philippines Asia-Pacific Championship.

The rest of the professional triathletes, who were in attendance, then stood up to also don the same shirt in celebration of Cebu winning the bid as host for the prestigious event, which will kickoff an annual rotation of the championship throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

“We had a lot of contenders, we had a lot of interest to host the event but from my point of view, what is happening in the Philippines and what Fred (Uytengsu) and Princess (SEI project director) have done for the last 6 years is just fantastic, phenomenal,” said Meyer, who adds that the Philippines “has always been my first choice.”

Previous Asia-Pacific Championships had taken place off the Asian continent, with the last 3 being held in Auckland, New Zealand.

“They (the Philippines) deserve it, how it’s grown, the whole atmosphere of what we’ve got here, we want to showcase that to the world and bring in a championship event like the Asia-Pacific,” Meyer says.

The Philippines has organized the half Ironman event annually since 2009 with the first 3 years being held in Camarines Sur before the event moved to Cebu in 2012.

Road conditions still a concern

In a statement issued, Meyer said that having successfully hosted the Ironman 70.3 Philippines for the past 4 years, Cebu will provide the athletes with a beautiful and challenging championship course.

Earlier, Galura said that should they win the hosting bid, they want the race in Cebu.

Meyer said that they were a bit disappointed last year with the road conditions but was impressed with the cooperation that the government has given to address the problem.

“Last year was a little bit of a let down. We can’t run this event without the government’s support, and they’ve been fully on board, made sure that the athletes had a safe and quality race. And we’ve seen that the roads from the airport to here basically have all been redone, and that’s fantastic,” Meyer added.

According to Meyer, the government’s cooperation was a big part in their decision to award the hosting to Cebu, “we needed their involvement to make sure that we will be able to pull off a very much world class standard event.”

For next year’s event, there will be no more changes done to the organization except to fine tune what is already on hand, said Meyer, who added that what SEI is having here right now is already a world class event, “this event has such a special atmosphere, we don’t want to change that.”

As for Uytengsu, he said that his expectations have been exceeded beyond his wildest dreams.

“Remember, all I wanted to do was hold an Ironman event here to give Filipinos a chance to race in an an Ionman event, to have that opportunity, to have that privilege, that was the dream. I think it just goes to show that with the vision, hard work and the cooperation of partners, anything is possible,” Uytengsu said.

Cebu to earn $8-10 million from Asia-Pacific Championship – Uytengsu

Uytengsu expressed no worries over next year being an election year because with the economic impact that the event will have, he believes that who ever will win will support the event.

Uytengsu said that in his conservative estimate, the event can earn Cebu an income of about $8 million which could go up as high as $10 million.

Asked if having the event in Cebu also added to the plus factor in getting the hosting chores of the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship, Uytengsu demurred.

“Being Cebuano, I don’t know if that’s it but the hospitality here from the governors to the mayors, everything has been very welcoming,” Uytengsu said.

The SEI president and chairman said that with the championship, the pro cast will increase significantly and there will be a congregation of the world’s best triathletes hanging out in this region, so they will look into increasing the number of participants to maybe a 100.

“We are still looking into that but one thing I can say, people who want to race will have to register right on time because I think we will sell out very quickly,” Uytengsu said.

Uytengsu also threw out a challenge to world renowned furniture designer, Cebuano Kenneth Cobonpue, who has been designing the medals and trophies since the event was brought here four years ago.

The unveiling of the Cobonpue-designed medals and trophies has long been one of the highlights of the Meet the Pros presscon.

“When I first asked Kenneth to design the medals, he told me he would give the job a try because he is tired of designing furnitures, and to hear him say that the pressure has been mounting since he took on the job…I say the pressure is on because next year we will have a championship,” Uytengsu told Cobonpue to the raucous applause of the spectators.

Cobonpue said that designing this year’s medals and trophies has become a difficult task because of the mounting pressure to come up with a design that is worthy of the efforts of the athletes.

This year, the world-renowned designer designed a medal depicting a man on top of a hill. – Rappler.com