Two-time Ironman world champion Patrick Lange crowned champion of first men’s Ironman VR pro challenge

Following the professional women’s historic day of racing on Saturday, it was the men’s turn Sunday with two-time IRONMAN World Champion, Patrick Lange (DEU) taking the title in the inaugural IRONMAN VR Pro Challenge race.

Utilizing Official Virtual Training partner ROUVY’s augmented reality to race, four professional men, including Lange, Joe Gambles (AUS), Justin Metzler (USA) and Bradley Weiss (RSA) embarked through the virtual IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder bike course. It was 2017 and 2018 IRONMAN World Champion, Lange completing the 90km bike portion in 2:21:06 while Justin Metzler came in second with a time of 2:25:52, and Weiss finishing third with a time of 2:28:05. Joe Gambles of Australia rounded out the field of four with a time of 2:42:04.

Professional men’s results:

In total, over 12,000 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 this evening, 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.

During the two professional live broadcasts, the IRONMAN Foundation committed to matching all donations made to IRONAID COVID-19 Support Fund at www.ironmanfoundation.org/ironaid up to $10,000 USD. In total since the launch of the IRONAID program, over $95,000 has been pledged.

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.