Women for Tri Announces 20 Races That Will Provide a Total of 500 Additional Opportunities to Compete in the 2019 70.3 World Championship

Women For Tri, a program of the IRONMAN Foundation, today announced that a total of 500 additional women will earn an invitation to race in the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship taking place in Nice, France on September 7-8, 2019. Slots will be awarded to top finishing female athletes at 20 select races worldwide. The additional slots will be utilized by Women For Tri, which was launched in 2015 by IRONMAN, to welcome and empower new female triathletes to be a part of the sport’s continued growth in high-level competition.“With the introduction of our two-day world championship format, there is an opportunity for more high achieving female triathletes to earn a spot to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship,” said Andrew Messick, President and Chief Executive Officer of IRONMAN. “The athletes that represent the Women For Tri team will help continue to grow the sport.”Following the standard IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship rolldown ceremony at the 20 select races, 25 additional slots will be awarded to the next most qualified women, proportional by age group creating a deeper field of female athletes while maintaining the integrity and prestige of an IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship event. The program launches in France at IRONMAN 70.3 Nice on September 16.IRONMAN 70.3 Nice 9/16/2018 FranceIRONMAN 70.3 Atlantic City 9/23/2018 United StatesIRONMAN 70.3 Middle East Championship Bahrain 12/8/2018 BahrainIRONMAN 70.3 Taupo 12/8/2018 New ZealandIRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells 12/9/2018 United StatesIRONMAN 70.3 South Africa 1/27/2019 South AfricaIRONMAN 70.3 Dubai 1/27/2019 United Arab EmiratesIRONMAN 70.3 Geelong 2/17/2019 AustraliaIRONMAN 70.3 Colombo 2/24/2019 Sri LankaIRONMAN 70.3 Oman 3/1/2019 OmanIRONMAN 70.3 Puerto Rico 3/17/2019 Puerto RicoIRONMAN 70.3 Texas 4/7/2019 United StatesIRONMAN 70.3 Peru 4/14/2019 PeruIRONMAN 70.3 Gulf Coast 5/11/2019 United StatesIRONMAN 70.3 Pays D’Aix 5/12/2019 FranceIRONMAN 70.3 Barcelona 5/19/2019 SpainIRONMAN 70.3 Victoria 6/2/2019 CanadaIRONMAN 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne 6/9/2019 FranceIRONMAN 70.3 Wisconsin 6/9/2019 United StatesIRONMAN 70.3 Staffordshire 6/9/2019 United KingdomAll net proceeds from the registration revenue of the 500 additional slots will go towards supporting Women For Tri’s TriClub grant program. To date, nearly $250,000 has been awarded by this program to TriClubs around the world to support women’s engagement initiatives, including bringing first-timers into the sport. Since its inception in 2015, Women For Tri has seen an 18% increase in female participation in IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events, totalling more than 66,000 female athletes globally.The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is the pinnacle event in the global IRONMAN 70.3 series. The 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship race will be a two-day event with the professional and age-group women racing on Saturday, September 7 and the professional and age-group men racing on Sunday, September 8. Throughout the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 qualifying season, nearly 5,000 athletes will qualify to race in the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship from among over 100 IRONMAN 70.3 races around the world.