First day of racing sees Jocelyn McCauley wins first Ironman VR Pro Challenge

In what has been a historic day of racing, the inaugural IRONMAN VR Pro Challenge women’s race hit the virtual pavement with four professional women going head-to-head on the 90km bike portion, and Jocelyn McCauley (USA) taking the first ever victory.

Utilising Official Virtual Training partner ROUVY’s augmented reality to race, the four professional women of McCauley, Angela Naeth (CAN), Jeanni Seymour (RSA) and Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) tackled the virtual IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder bike course. McCauley completed the 90km bike portion in 2:39:48 while Naeth (CAN) came in second with a time of 2:41:53, and Seymour finishing third with a time of 2:55:08. Three-time IRONMAN World Champion, Mirinda Carfrae, was pacing well with the other three women but suffered a “virtual” mechanical failure when her husband, Timothy O’Donnell accidentally tripped over the chord of her smart trainer disconnecting the unit from the outlet and her from the race.

Professional women’s results:

In total, over 11,000 other athletes from more than 115 nations and all 50 states are participating in the inaugural IRONMAN Virtual Racing Series event, which began Friday, April 3 at 6 p.m. GMT (2 p.m. ET). The race requires athletes to complete three segments, including a 5km run, 90km bike and 21km run by the race close on Sunday, April 5 at 11:59 p.m. GMT (7:59 p.m. ET). Competitors can complete the segments in any order and are not required to do the segments consecutively. Athletes are able to compete anywhere, indoors or outdoors.

LOOKING FORWARD

On Sunday, the professional men take to the virtual IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder bike course using ROUVY’s augmented reality beginning at 3 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. MT). The professional field will feature, Joe Gambles (AUS), who has garnered more than a dozen IRONMAN 70.3 podium finishes, including a win at IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman in 2019; Patrick Lange (DEU), a two-time IRONMAN World Champion (2017 & 2018) who has set some of the fastest times ever in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i; Justin Metzler (USA), who has earned numerous IRONMAN 70.3 podium finishes since he began racing professionally in 2014; and Bradley Weiss, (RSA), the two-time XTERRA off-road world champion who has recently found much success on the IRONMAN 70.3 circuit., including five IRONMAN 70.3 podium finishes with wins at IRONMAN 70.3 Taiwan and IRONMAN 70.3 South Africa.

The live coverage, hosted by Michael Lovato and Dede Griesbauer, will include check-ins on the age-group VR1 race, and special guests including top pros Skyping in from around the globe. During the professional live coverage, the IRONMAN Foundation will also match all donations made to IRONAID COVID-19 Support Fund at www.ironmanfoundation.org/ironaid up to $10,000 USD.

Bringing the IRONMAN community together­ virtually, the IRONMAN® Virtual Club™ continues to grow and now has over 30,000 athletes who have joined the platform with thousands completing IRONMAN Virtual Club Challenges since launch two days ago.