IRONMAN announced today that Victoria, British Columbia, Canada will become the 31st race in the IRONMAN 70.3 North American Series after acquiring Lifesport Properties Inc., owners of the Subaru Western Triathlon Series. IRONMAN will now own and operate all five races of the Subaru Western Triathlon Series, including the Victoria Triathlon which will become the Saunders Subaru IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria and will take place on Sunday, June 15, 2014.
"Lifesport has created a fantastic triathlon race series that IRONMAN is proud to now own," said Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer of IRONMAN. "We are excited to expand our race offerings in Canada for our athletes. The Saunders Subaru IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria is the perfect preparation race for IRONMAN Canada taking place at the end of July."
The Saunders Subaru IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria Triathlon will take athletes through a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run on a course that has become a sentimental favorite during its 19 years. The race starts at Elk Lake with a single loop course. Athletes will then begin the bike course at Hamsterly Beach, heading out onto the scenic rolling roads of the Saanich Peninsula. From there runners will take on a scenic run course around the Elk Lake trail.
"Our excitement for this partnership with IRONMAN could not be higher," said Paul Regensberg, Owner of Lifesport. "We built a great series of races and now IRONMAN will be able to take these races to the next level. We will remain intimately involved for years to come as Lifesport will continue as the Official Coaching Partner of IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria and the entire Western Triathlon Series. We look forward to continuing to work with athletes as they reach their athletic goals at all these races."
Saunders Subaru IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria will offer 75 age group slots to the 2014 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship taking place on September 7, in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada.
General registration for Saunders Subaru IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria is now open at Ironman.com/victoria70.3. Athlete inquiries may be directed to victoria70.3@ironman.com.
The Subaru Western Triathlon Series also consists of:
Subaru Shawnigan Lake Triathlon, on May 25
Subaru Saskatoon Triathlon, on June 15
Subaru Vancouver Triathlon, presented by BlueShore Financial, on July 13
Subaru Banff Triathlon, on September 6.
General registration is also now open for those races at the above links. All existing registrations for every race in the Subaru Western Triathlon Series will be honored.