THE organizers of the Cobra Ironman got a huge boost as the Asia-Pacific 70.3 was praised as one of the best and grandest among the previous eight editions.
“Yes, this one was the best. It was fantastic what the Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI) had done here to culminate and do the things today. It’s been a fantastic race, it’s the first time we take this outside of Australia and New Zealand, and it’s worth it,” said Geoff Meyer, CEO of Ironman Asia-Pacific.
The race in Cebu attracted around 3,000 triathletes from 43 countries, the most number of participants in any Asia-Pacific 70.3 Championships.
The general manager of SEI, Princess Galura, confirmed that they will return to Cebu next year for their sixth year.
“Actually, we have no contract (on how many years). The tradition is we did it for three straight years and it’s now the second year of second three years in Cebu. We will be back next year for our sixth year and will think of something special for that race,” said Galura.
Galura said all people who are part of the process in yesterday’s race have contributed on to making of an epic race, which is the first in Asia.
“We’ve had no major accidents. The professional athletes said many Thank You to Cebu for one great race,” she said.
SEI has special plans for next year but right now they will enjoy the success of the race before going back to the drawing board for 2017.
“We have more things to offer, we have to think about how to make it special for next year it so hard to beat this year because we really exerted so much effort and so far we are reaping the fruits of our labor,” said Galura.
The race next year, however, won’t be a Asia-Pacific 70.3 Championships since Western Australia has got the rights to host the 2017 edition. SEI will get another chance in 2018.
“Differently there’s a chance that it will return to the Philippines. And maybe the country can host the World Championships down the line, because you deserve it,” said Meyer.
Galura said that the World Championships is on 2018 and will be bidding and won’t stop until they get the rights.
The World Championships usually has around 5,000 participants which is almost twice higher than yesterday’s number.
Race manager Neville Manaois said that it was a perfect race and they were able to pull it off with the support of Cebuanos and the local government units.
“It was not the perfect race but we are content with the result this year. Everyone was very happy with the result,” he said.
Pro triathletes like Caroline Steffen and Tim Reed praised the crowd and the atmosphere in Cebu, which is above any other races.