This weekend in downtown Raleigh, if you live nearby, you inevitably noticed the arrival of the IRONMAN race. To our surprise, most of the roads leading into the heart of downtown were blocked off, although for a good reason. The IRONMAN race is the most iconic triathlon in recent years. I would say, it's safe to assume most of us know that a triathlon is a long distance based marathon-like race which involves swimming, biking and running. There are two main IRONMAN races, a half (70.3 miles) and a full (140.6 miles).
The IRONMAN race that takes place in downtown is usually scheduled for the last weekend in May, but IRONMAN has races that are conducted all over the globe. Last years 70.3 championship race was held in Hawaii.
The IRONMAN race that takes place every year here in Raleigh is a half IRONMAN. A half race is 70.3 miles long, which is broken into a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run.
The course that the participants had to follow began in Jordan Lake in Chatham County. The bike ride began in Chatham and through many other counties, ending right before entering downtown, where the run begins. The run this year was one filled with sights, starting near the Capitol Building, down Hillsborough Street, through our beautiful NC State campus, down Fayetteville Street, and finishing in City Plaza.
The winner for the men this year is Andreas Dreitz, a young man from Germany. He had an astounding time of 3:50:41. Last years incumbent, Matt Chrabot, followed shortly behind at just under four hours.
As for the women, Meredith Kessler, from California, won with a time of 4:14:00.
Now, I know the next question we all have in mind is how much do the winners get? Well, first place for men's/women's both received $10,000, second place received $5,000 each. All prize money given out for both men's and women's totaled a whopping $50k!
Most of the pro athletes bounce around from race to race during race season, but don't let that fool you, many of these athletes have daytime jobs such as lawyers, doctors and engineers, using the race for exercise and fun.
After the athletes finish the race, they are warmly welcomed with ice cold water and hot fresh pizza, obviously to help load up on the carbs after all that sweating.
This years 70.3 world championship race will take place in Austria, on August 29.
