South Africa to host 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship

IRONMAN SELECTS NELSON MANDELA BAY, SOUTH AFRICA TO HOST 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Finally I have an excuse to visit my partner’s family in South Africa! Luckily many of them are already racing Ironman and have been to this venue before. I wonder if the executive mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Athol Trollip, will be able to put myself and my lady Christy ‘Trollip’ (originally from South Africa and surely a relation.. ) up for the event?

This latest Ironman announcement will be a boost for the sport in South Africa. It will be an opportunity to showcase Port Elizabeth and Nelson Mandela Bay. This stunning part of the world has in fact hosted the Ironman African Championship before, but the addition of the World 70.3 Championship will bring it into sharp new focus on the part of Ironman’s global participants.

This year, Australian Tim Berkel was second at Ironman South Africa, generating huge interest from the Australian triathlon community around the possibility of South Africa as a destination race. Australian Annabel Luxford also figured prominently in the race, leading until the late stages.

Trizone believes that the 2018 World 70.3 Championship will surely prove to be a ‘must do’ destination race.

Read more below…

Media Release

TAMPA/FRANKFURT (6 October 2016) – IRONMAN, a Wanda Sports Holding company, has today announced that the 2018 IRONMAN® 70.3® World Championship has been awarded to Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. The event will take place on Saturday, 1 September  and Sunday, 2 September 2018, and will be the first time IRONMAN has held a World Championship event in Africa.

Located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, Nelson Mandela Bay first hosted an IRONMAN® event in 2004 and since 2015 has been the site of the Standard Bank IRONMAN African Championship. The World Championship is the pinnacle event in the global IRONMAN 70.3 calendar.

“We are delighted to bring the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship to Nelson Mandela Bay,” said IRONMAN CEO Andrew Messick. “Tens of thousands of athletes have enjoyed racing in our events in South Africa over the past 12 years and we are excited to welcome some of the world’s most elite triathletes to the African continent.”

The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship event is expected to attract some 6,000 athletes from over 100 global qualifying events in locations including Austria, Australia, China, France, Spain, South Africa, Sweden and the Americas.

Nicknamed ‘The Friendly City’, Port Elizabeth was founded in 1820 and has steadily grown into an economic hub of more than 300,000 inhabitants. In 2010, it played host to eight games of the FIFA World Cup which was held in the country and is considered to be the southernmost large city on the continent – just south of Cape Town.

“Nelson Mandela Bay is delighted to have been chosen to host the 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship,” said Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor Trollip. “We are proud of our excellent track record in hosting the Standard Bank IRONMAN African Championship. It’s on the strength of this, our climate, our beautiful beaches and our tourism potential that we are now in a position to host this prestigious international event [and] we look forward to welcoming the world’s athletes to the Bay.”

The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is part of a week-long festival that will include a range of lifestyle events for both the local community and visitors to enjoy. “We are excited to welcome triathletes from throughout our region and around the world and show them true South African hospitality,” added IRONMAN Europe, Middle East and Africa managing director Hans-Peter Zurbruegg. “For more than a decade, IRONMAN has had the privilege of working with Nelson Mandela Bay and the city of Port Elizabeth to put up world-class events.”

The 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship will take place on 9 and 10 September 2017 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.