It is all systems go for Davao City’s second hosting of the Philippine version of Ironman 703, an international triathlon event to be held on March 24 at the Azuela Cove in Lanang.
Princess Galura, the general manager of Sunrise Events – the official organizer of the Alveo Ironman 70.3, said a total of 2,200 athletes from 38 countries will be participating in said event.
The participants will also include celebrities Piolo Pascual, Kim Atienza, Zoren Legaspi, and Matteo Guidicelli. Last year’s champions, Mauricio Mendez and Radka Kahlefeldt, are also coming back to defend their titles.
“This is 400 participants more than last year’s 1,800. We can attribute this to Davao City getting a 90 percent rating last year,” Galura said.
Recalled that Davao City’s first hosting of the Ironman 703 got an overwhelming rating from last year’s participants at 90.2 percent.
The rating, Galura said, is 2.77 higher than the present global standards.
City Sports Development Division officer-in-charge, Mikey Aportadera, is confident of another successful year for the city after a good start in 2018 when the organizers brought for the first time the Ironman 703 outside of Luzon and the Visayas.
“This time, we made sure that the areas where we need to improve are covered,” Aportadera said.
He said the city is also fixing every minor detail for the second run using the evaluation of the participants last year, particularly on the road conditions and the on-course nutrition for the athletes.
“We have already made our necessary coordination meetings with the local government units of the cities and the municipality, where the race will happen, namely Panabo, Carmen and Tagum. We are on top of the necessary repairs to be done, especially the Bincungan road in Tagum, where the bike course will be held,” Aportadera added. CIO
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