Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne kicks off the new ironman regional championship series

By Wires March 20, 2015

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Beginning with this weekend’s IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne, IRONMAN will be kicking off its 2015 regional championship series. The series will also include IRONMAN Regional Championships in North America (The Woodlands, Texas), Latin America (Florianopolis, Brazil), Europe (Frankfurt, Germany) and Africa (Port Elizabeth, South Africa).

2014 Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfree is racing in Melbourne

“We are proud of the advancements made in creating a true ‘Road to Kona,’” said Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer for IRONMAN. “The added technology components, live show and strong pro fields will further grow the sport and provide for an exciting season throughout the regions.”

Headlining the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship is current IRONMAN World Champion Mirinda Carfrae. Already proven to be one of the top female IRONMAN triathletes to ever compete, Carfrae has been crowned IRONMAN World Champion three-times (2010, 2013, 2014) to go with a third-place finish in 2012 and two second-place finishes in 2009 and 2011 at the IRONMAN World Championship.

An automatic bid to the 2015 IRONMAN World Championship will be on the line as all professional winners of each IRONMAN Regional Championship race will receive automatic qualification to the IRONMAN World Championship held in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i on October 10. Each IRONMAN Regional Championship will also offer a $150,000 prize purse to male and female professionals which will be distributed amongst the first through tenth place finishers.

Also new for the 2015 IRONMAN Regional Championship series, IRONMAN will produce IRONMAN Live, a hosted online show with extensive, in-depth coverage of the professional race. The coverage will include live GPS tracking for all professional athletes. In addition, professional athletes will be given the opportunity to opt-in to transmit biometric and power data to further enhance the live production.

2015 IRONMAN Regional Championships in 2015: