140.6 DISTANCE IRONMAN RACE COMING TO THE PHILIPPINES NEXT YEAR
10 August 2017
Manila, Philippines (August 1, 2017)–On June 3, 2018, the Philippines will finally host its first full IRONMAN and coming in as the proud title sponsor is Century Tuna, a title sponsor of the IRONMAN 70.3 since 2015. For this special edition, one time only race marking the 10th anniversary of Sunrise Events Inc. and the first IRONMAN 70.3 event in the Philippines —an event of 583 athletes that has grown to a triathlon community of thousands— Sunrise Events saw Century Tuna as the perfect partner in hosting this milestone.
The Century Tuna IRONMAN Philippines brings a new challenge for Filipino triathletes and a rare opportunity for them to accomplish what only 0.01% of the population can. Finally, Filipino triathletes can proudly experience becoming certified IRONMAN finishers in their own country as they triumph in the most grueling endurance sport in the world.
The IRONMAN triathlon is deemed as the most physically demanding sport in the world because of the physical and mental toughness required to endure the 3.86 km swim, 180.2 km bike ride, and 42.2 km run on race day. To put things in perspective, it’s like swimming from Manila Bay to Makati CBD, then biking from Makati CBD to Dagupan City, and running up to the foot of Baguio. The immensity of this challenge is something that not all triathletes are able to handle. To date, there are only about 300 Filipinos who have completed a full IRONMAN, and they have had to travel around the world in pursuit of these races.
Greg Banzon, Vice President and General Manager of Century Pacific Food Inc., understands what it takes to complete this rare feat. Banzon himself has successfully completed his first IRONMAN triathlon in Korea in 2011, a journey that took him nearly four years to complete. To get into proper physical and mental state, he trained twice a day for 20 weeks. He’s had to rotate hours of swimming, biking, running and strengthening workouts while balancing family and social obligations and running one of the largest brands in the country.
“Challenging yourself to push your physical and mental limits to the extreme will seem like a painful task. Despite training hard, anything can still go wrong on race day. It was really the mental toughness and the resolve to finish the full distance that kept me going despite my body being at the brink of shutting down. But, you forget all that once you cross the finish line and hear the announcer call out your name and say ‘You are an IRONMAN!’ The feeling of crossing the finish line is indescribable,” shared Banzon.
With the dramatic growth of the triathlon community and the success of the Century Tuna IRONMAN 70.3, Century Tuna strongly believes that Filipinos are ready for the challenge that the full IRONMAN brings.
“The last three years, we saw our Century Tuna IRONMAN 70.3 races sold to almost full capacity, proving that the Philippine triathlon community has grown and progressed. More and more Filipino triathletes from all over the country are traveling around the world to experience a full IRONMAN. We believe it’s time to do the race in the Philippines and for Filipinos to witness first-hand the drama, glory and spectacle of a full distance triathlon,” said Banzon.
As it hosts and challenges Filipino triathletes anew with the Century Tuna IRONMAN Philippines in 2018, Century Tuna also hopes to inspire more Filipino to pursue their own fitness journey and bring the brand closer to its vision of making the Philippines among the healthiest and fittest nations in the world.
Follow the writer on Twitter: [social link=”https://twitter.com/burnsports” icon=”62218″]
