Ironman, a Wanda Sports Holdings Company, announced that 50 additional female slots for the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship taking place in Nelson Mandela Bay in September have been added to the 2018 Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban race as part of the Women For Tri™ initiative.
Women For Tri, an Ironman Foundation program launched by Ironman in 2015, works to welcome and empower new female triathletes to be part of the sport’s continued exponential growth.
These 50 slots come as an addition to the 100 slots already available at this year’s Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban race. Out of all the Ironman South Africa races, the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban now offers the most slots for the upcoming Ironman 70.3 World Championship, with 150 slots available in total. The allocation of these additional slots will be done after the 100 standard age group slots have been allocated based on performance in each women’s age group category.
“This is a great way for us to acknowledge the growing presence of women in our sport. We will also be supporting Women For Tri activities over the race weekend of the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban event.
There is no doubt in my mind that those slots will all be gladly taken. Our South African women are full of drive and passion for the sport,” said Keith Bowler, Ironman South Africa Managing Director.
Since 2015, Women For Tri has helped increase female participation in Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events by 12 percent, increasing participation to 68 000 female triathletes. The Women For Tri online Facebook community now has more than 42 000 female triathletes worldwide.
The Ironman 70.3 World Championship triathlon is taking place in Africa for the very first time, and expects to attract approximately 5 000 athletes from over 100 global qualifying events in locations such as Australia, China, Spain, England and the Americas. The Ironman 70.3 World Championship is the pinnacle event in the global Ironman 70.3 triathlon series. The 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship race in Nelson Mandela Bay will be a two-day event with the professional and age-group women racing on Saturday, 1 September, and the professional and age-group men racing on Sunday, 2 September. The championship is part of a week-long festival, which will include a range of lifestyle events for the community and visitors to enjoy.
For more information on the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban and Ironman 70.3 World Championship, visit https://www.ironman.com/southafrica. For media enquiries contact mediasa@ironman.com.
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