• An oversubscription for Sri Lanka ‘Wonder of Asia’ Ironman 70.3 Colombo, with over 850 registrations two months prior to the main event

Ironman is an iconic high-profile international triathlon event, which has been chosen to be staged in Sri Lanka on 25 February 2018.

There are over 850 athletes representing 63 nations who have signed up for the Sri Lanka ‘Wonder of Asia’ Ironman 70.3 Colombo organised by Pro-Am Serendib, the official licensee of the Ironman global triathlon brand in Sri Lanka.

This challenging race will start with a 1.9 km open water swim in the waters of the Indian Ocean near Galle Face Green. This will be followed by a three-lap, flat and fast 90 km bike leg that takes the competitors through the Colombo Port and Marine Drive. The final leg will be a 21.1 km run before finishing at Galle Face.Registrations have officially been closed now, with an oversubscription from both local and international athletes two months prior to the event. This is a significant achievement for an inaugural event demonstrating the confidence in Sri Lanka as a destination for multi-sports and endurance events.

The event organiser, Pro-Am Serendib, is all geared to hold this prestigious international sporting event in Sri Lanka, which will be the only Ironman event in the South Asian region, thereby putting Sri Lanka on the map as a sporting destination. With a goal of attracting a global audience of over 3,000 people to the country for this event, Pro-Am Serendib is ready to make Sri Lanka the destination of choice to compete and travel while also giving participants and their families a uniquely Sri Lankan experience.

The Sri Lanka ‘Wonder of Asia’ Ironman 70.3 Colombo, International Triathlon will form a qualifying round for the triathletes to participate at the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championships to be held in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa in September 2018.

There are 30 world championship qualifying slots up for grabs and the event organisers expect high quality competition amongst the athletes to win one of those slots to secure their place at the world championship start-line. The Ironman triathlon is a global phenomenon with a 40-year history. The birth of it can be traced back to Hawaii. During an awards banquet, a few athletes began debating which athletes were the fittest: swimmers, bikers or runners. Later, US Naval Commander John Collins and his wife Judy decided to combine three toughest endurance races in Hawaii—the 2.4 mile (3.8 km) Waikiki Rough Water Swim, 112 miles (180 km) of the Around-O’ahu Bike Race and the 26.2 mile (42.2 km) Honolulu Marathon—into one event.

On 18 February 1978, 15 competitors, including Collins, came to the shores of Waikiki to take on the first-ever Ironman challenge. Since the first ever race, the Ironman World Championship race is held in Hawaii in October each year.

It is the number one user-based sports brand in the world with 15 billion media impressions for the Ironman World Championship, a global audience of over 6,000,000 spectators and over 250,000 athletes representing 200 countries participating in over 250 Ironman branded events globally, which include the Ironman and the Ironman 70.3 series.

Source: http://www.ft.lk/sports/Ironman-70-3-Colombo-International-Triathlon-sold-out/23-647126