This Sunday, over 1 700 athletes will line up at Kings Beach in
Nelson Mandela Bay, ready to race in the 17th edition of the Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship and the inaugural Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson
Mandela Bay.
Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship
has taken place in Nelson Mandela Bay since 2005, and each year welcomes a
strong International PRO field, all with the aim of battling it out for the
title of African Champion and a piece of the $100 000 prize pot.
In addition to the pro lineup, the
city of Gqeberha will welcome athletes from 44
different countries across both races, with a quarter of the IRONMAN African
Championship field made up of international athletes, flying in from the likes
of Germany (16%), UK (15%), and Netherlands (5%),
cementing the city as iconic and ‘bucket list’ triathlon destination.
Whilst
the 2021 edition of the IRONMAN African Championship took place, this will be
the first time since 2019 that the event will take place with the incredible
spectators allowed on-route and at the race village.
This year also marks the first ever Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson
Mandela Bay, which launched in response to the growing triathlon culture in
South Africa. With the Isuzu Corporate Triathlon Challenge taking place the day
before, this is set to be an exciting festival weekend of racing.
Athletes:
In the absence of last year’s
defending champions, Maurice Clavel (GER) and Ruth Astle (GBR), a new Isuzu IRONMAN African Champion will be crowned this year in Nelson Mandela Bay. The
male category will be tightly contested with a strong PRO field featuring the
likes of Kyle Buckingham (ZAF), Nils Frommhold (GER), Joe Skipper (GBR), Jesper
Svensson (SWE) and Bradley Weiss (ZAF).
The
women’s field may be smaller but promises to be just as exciting with the likes
of Susie Cheetham (GBR) making a return to the course she loves, Daniela
Bleymehl (GER) looking to make a comeback after giving birth last year, and
Kylie Simpson (AUS) who finished
first at both the Cairns Airport IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns in
June and GWM IRONMAN Western Australia in December last year.
South African athletes will be
hoping to make a big statement on home ground in the form of Natia van Heerden,
Mariella Swayer, Magda Nieuwoudt and Jade Nicole Roberts. This strong South
African presence in the women’s lineup will undoubtedly be looking to stop the
recent British dominance in the women’s field, with Brits Ruth Astle (2021) and
Lucy Charles-Barclay (2019; 2018) having held the bragging rights since
2018.
A further 840 athletes will also be
racing, some with the dream of securing IRONMAN World Championship
qualification slots to race in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i.
Alongside the Isuzu IRONMAN African
Championship field, there will be 834 age group athletes who will be racing at
the inaugural Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay hoping to grab a
qualification slot to race the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in St. George,
Utah this year.
Amongst these age-groupers, will be seven
athletes who will be completing their 17th IRONMAN South Africa
event. This means these athletes have raced every single IRONMAN South Africa
in Nelson Mandela Bay, leading them to be collectively coined by locals as
‘IRONMAN Legends.’
- 21% of the Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship field are women, a 3% increase on the 18% South African IRONMAN race average
- 10% of Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship athletes and a quarter of Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay are Nelson Mandela Bay based
- Almost half of athletes (47%) are first timers to IRONMAN African Championship, and 27% are IRONMAN first timers
- 43% of the South African residents taking part in the Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship participants hail from Gauteng.
- 44 countries will be represented at the Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship
“It is an exciting year for us, we just
recently announced Isuzu as our title partner for both the IRONMAN African
Championship and inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay. This makes them the
title partner for all three of our races this weekend – including the Isuzu
Corporate Triathlon Challenge, powered by Algoa FM taking place the day before”
said Keith Bowler, Regional Managing Director of IRONMAN South Africa.
“We’re
also really proud to see an incredible growth in women participants in our
events, with 21 percent of the Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship field being
women this year as opposed to the average usually being between 16 and 18
percent.”
With the updated South African
governmental COVID-19 regulations to outdoor events, the Isuzu IRONMAN African
Championship welcomes back spectators. “The Nelson Mandela Bay spectators are
what make this event so memorable for the athletes, we are known for one of the
best spectator events on the whole IRONMAN circuit,” says Bowler.
Spectators wishing to enter the IRONMAN Race Village at Hobie
Beach must produce either a valid Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate or a
negative Covid-19 test not done earlier than 48 hours prior to the event as per
new local governmental regulations.
Race timings and course details:
The PRO men will start their race at 06:30 (SAST) and PRO women
will start at 06:35 (SAST).
Athletes at the 2022 Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship will take
on a 3.8km swim at Kings Beach, going past the blue flag beach, Humewood Beach
all the way to Hobie Beach before turning and heading back towards Kings Beach.
This will be followed by a 180.2km
bike through the suburbs of Nelson Mandela Bay towards Seaview.
Athletes will then continue over the iconic Maitlands, before
turning on De Stades Road. They will then continue back to transition along
Marine Drive, completing this loop twice to make up 180.2kms.
The run will take athletes along
the beach fronts of Summerstrand and Humewood to Flat Rocks. Athletes will
complete a 42.2km run lined with spectators, before heading down the magic red
carpet to the finish line.
The Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson
Mandela Bay athletes will take on the same course, however, completing half the
distance. These athletes will swim 1.9km’s at Kings Beach; bike 90.1km’s and
run 21.1km’s before finishing on the red carpet at Hobie Beach.
Watch it live
Isuzu IRONMAN African Championship will be broadcast live on IRONMAN
Now’s Facebook. Broadcast
to start at 06h00 am (SAST).
For more information about the ISUZU IRONMAN African Championship
and ISUZU IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay, please visit www.ironman.com/im-south-africa.
