TRYING TO GET BIGGER

Ironman aiming to lure Asian competitors

IRONMAN organisers will look to capitalise on Geelong’s more direct links to Asia and nearby world championships to lure an even bigger crowd of athletes and spectators in 2020.

Geelong put on another picture perfect weekend for the event, which culminated in the exciting 70.3km men’s and women’s races to start the Ironman season.

The city has long held a great track record of welcoming visitors from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in recent years, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed as the multi-sport brand looks to expand.

Ironman regional director Ben Herbert said an influx of competitors was already expected for next year with places in the 2020 Ironman 70.3 World Championships, to be held in Taupo, New Zealand, on the line for competitors.

“I think we’ll see an even bigger increase next year when the world championships come back in our region just across the ditch in New Zealand, so I think this year will be an enticer for next year where I think we’ll see some big numbers,” he said.

Mr Herbert expected participation to swell in Geelong, as it did when the 2016 world titles were held on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, and backed plenty of them to come from Asian ports.

“We have a really strong Ironman community in Malayasia, our Ironman 70.3 Langkawi, so there’s already some great athletes up there and hopefully by having that up there we can entice people to come down to Geelong,” he said. “We always see a great contingent from those southeast Asian countries and Indonesia in particular has a great contingent down here as well as Malaysia and the Philippines so now (the flights) have happened, hopefully we can tap into that market and bring some of those.”

While the local multi-sport community has called for Geelong to be upgraded to full ironman status, Mr Herbert said organisers would need to see consistent growth.

“We have a really good group of Ironman races in our region. We’re always trying to expand and it’s definitely an option here, but we need to look further before we can commit to anything,” he said.

“We need to see some more consistent growth in our market and move from there.”

Australia’s current full ironman destinations are Cairns, Port Macquarie and Busselton.

“I think we’ll see an even bigger increase next year when the world championships come back in our region just across the ditch in New Zealand.” I RONMAN REGIONAL DIRECTOR BEN HERBERT