9 August 2019
CEBU CITY—Rain or shine, the Regent Aguila Ironman 70.3 Philippines will push through on Sunday in Lapu-Lapu City.
Princess Galura, general manager of Sunrise Events, said that contingency plans are in place in case the weather won’t be cooperative on race day.
“According to the weather forecast, the weather will be fine on Sunday. But even if it will rain or the waters will be choppy, we will push through,” said Galura.
Galura said that if the situation calls for it, the event may be reduced to a duathlon.
“We can cancel the swim or we can cancel the bike or the run portion. It will really depend on the situation but whatever happens, the IronMan will push through,” Galura said.
As of Friday, a total of 2,190 athletes have signed up for the 1.9-kilometer swim, 90-kilometer bike and 21-kilometer run.
Galura said this year’s IronMan is the biggest in terms of countries represented with 57.
“The number of participants this year is almost the same as last year. But we have 57 countries this year while we only had about 35 to 40 last year,” said Galura.
At stake this year are 60 slots for the world championships in Taupo, New Zealand in 2020.
The bulk of participants are from the Philippines with 1,404 participants. Japan has the secont most number of participants with 129 followed by Singapore (80), Malaysia (66), Thailand (62) and United States (53).
Out to reclaim his men’s pro division defending champion Mauricio Mendez of Mexico. Challenging Mendez are Australians Tim Van Berkel and Tim Reed; Eric Watson of Bahrain, Jakob Langhammer of Czech Republic, and returning athlete Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand.
In the women’s pro division, defending champion Caroline Steffen of Switzerland will go up against Dimity Lee Duke of Australia, Beth McKenzie of the United States, Frankie Sanjana of Great Britain.
The five-kilometer run Herbalife IronGirl will be kicking off the IronMan weekend at the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.
At least 1,400 girls will be competing in the event scheduled August 9.
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