Sam Long Victorious During The Men’s Ironman VR2 Pro Challenge

Four professional men capped off the second edition of the IRONMAN® VR™ Pro Challenge by taking to the virtual bike course and going head-to-head in a 5150® Olympic distance race simulation. It was American Sam Long taking the top spot on the podium in a closely contested race.

Utilizing Official Virtual Cycling partner ROUVY’s augmented reality to race, the four professional men of Long, Sam Appleton (USA), David McNamee (GBR) and Tim O’Donnell (USA) all conquered the 40km bike on IRONMAN 5150 Boulder’s virtual bike course. Long completed the 5150-race simulation in a time of 1:02:13 while Appleton finished in second place with a time of 1:02:53. O’Donnell took third position with a finishing time of 1:03:44 as McNamee rounded out the four, clocking a time of 1:04:22.

Professional men’s results:

In total, over 23,000 other athletes from 130 nations and all 50 states set out to participate in the IRONMAN Virtual Racing Series event, which began Friday, April 10 at 6 p.m. GMT (2 p.m. ET). The race requires athletes to complete three segments, including a 3km Run, 40km Ride, then 10km Run by the race close this evening, Sunday, April 12 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. Bringing the IRONMAN community together virtually, the IRONMAN® Virtual Club™ continues to grow and now has 50,000 members on the platform with thousands completing IRONMAN Virtual Club Challenges since its recent launch.