The Ironman Australia is an annual in April Triathlon -Sportveranstaltung about the Ironman as distance (3.86 km swim, 180.2 km cycling and 42.195 km running) on the Australian east coast.
On April 20, 1985, the same year as Ironman New Zealand and Ironman Japan, the first qualifying competitions outside the USA for Ironman Hawaii took place, the Tooheys Great Lakes International Triathlon started in Forster / Tuncurry - albeit without a license from the Hawaii Triathlon Corporation , the owner of the rights to the Ironman brand at the time . Among the 165 starters were the two Americans Mark Allen and Scott Tinley , who had to admit defeat on the swim course due to hypothermia.
The follow-up event planned for 1986 was canceled due to the lack of a sponsor. On March 28, 1987, the year in which Ironman Canada became the third qualifier outside the USA for Ironman Hawaii, the second edition of the competition took place with 197 participants. Among the spectators was Valerie Silk , then CEO of the Hawaii Triathlon Corporation , who then signed a contract with the organizer to host the event as the fourth qualifier outside the USA with initially 54 qualifying places for the Ironman Hawaii.
In 1988 there were 289 athletes at the start of the Nutri-Metics Ironman Australian Triathlon as well as over 334 participants in 1989, 400 in 1990, 583 in 1991, 687 in 1992, 736 in 1993, 776 in 1994 and 809 a year 1995 (with the number of qualification places increased to 70 slots).
In 1993, Schweppes replaced Nutri-Metics as the title sponsor. On April 3, 2005 the last Ironman Australia was held in Forster and since April 2, 2006 a triathlon competition has been held in Port Macquarie under the name Ironman Australia . Since 2013, a triathlon under license from the Challenge World Series has been held in Forster under the name "Challenge Forster".
At Ironman Australia, forty starting places for the individual age groups at the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona will be awarded to amateurs .
Professional triathletes competing for the $ 50,000 prize money in Port Macquarie can qualify for the $ 650,000 competition in Hawaii using the Kona Pro Ranking System (KPR). In Port Macquarie, the winner and winner will each receive 2000 points, and those placed will receive a correspondingly reduced number of points. For comparison: The winner in Hawaii receives 8,000 points, the winners in Frankfurt , Texas , Florianópolis and Port Elizabeth each receive 4,000, and in the other Ironman races either 1,000 or 2,000 points.
The Australian Chris McCormack and the Canadian Lisa Bentley both won the Forster race four times and the Port Macquarie race once. In 2010, the future Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was one of the finishers.
Although the history of the Ironman Australia in Port Macquarie 2015 is only ten years old and the use of the “Ironman” trademark in all of Australia only began 27 years earlier, the WTC celebrated on May 3rd, 2015 with reference to the first edition of the forerunner that took place in Forster the Ironman Australia, the Toohey's Great Lakes International Triathlon 1985, the thirtieth anniversary event and awarded ten additional qualification places for the Ironman Hawaii in that year.
Route
The swimming distance runs over two laps at the mouth of the Hastings River and the cycling or running route consists of three laps along the east coast.
Ironman Australia
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