An expo on health and fitness, along with the athletes’ registration both in triathlon and Sunrise Sprint events, take place Friday at the WREC, Hijo Resorts Davao, marking the busy weekend culminating in Penong’s 5150 Davao in Tagum City, Davao del Norte on Sunday.
A merry mix of bidders, from beginners to weekend runners and those building up to reach IRONMAN level, including 10 foreign entries, are all geared up for the Olympic distance 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run event that will cut across the Hijo Resorts Davao beach (swim) to the Daang Maharlika to Tagum City (bike) and back to Hijo Resorts (run).
This is the first IRONMAN Group/Sunrise Events, Inc.’s endurance race in Mindanao after the pandemic with the upcoming race to be held after the successful staging of the full IRONMAN in Subic, the Sun Life 5150 in Bohol and the IRONMAN 70.3 Philippines in Cebu.
“We’re all set. It’s been a long wait to hold this event here in Tagum City but it’s all worth it,” said Princess Galura, general manager of the organizing IRONMAN Group/Sunrise Events, Inc.
Meanwhile, the 5150 and sprint athletes’ check-in starts at 2 p.m. alongside the opening of the official IRONMAN store and the Expo Open with the press conference set at 11 a.m. tomorrow to be followed by race briefing along with 5150 and spring bike and gear check-in.
Sunday’s race will kick off at 6:20 a.m. for Penong’s 5150 rolling start to be followed by the Go for Gold Sunrise Sprint wave start for all-male and all-female.
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Davao del Norte was set to hold the event in 2019 but concerns over the swim venue on race week forced the organizers to reduce it to a duathlon format. It was then postponed due to the global health crisis the past two years.
“But everything is okay through the all-out support of the local government. We also made sure that the Olympic-style racecourse will conform to international standards,” added Galura, citing the backing of Chad Regis, president of the sponsoring Penong’s Barbecue Seafood and Grill, along with Powerball/ Go for Gold’s Jeremy Go, Davao del Norte Gov. Edwin Jubahib, Hijo Resorts Davao president Rosanna Tuason Fores and Tagum City Mayor Rey Uy.
Aside from the individual competitions for overall and age-group levels, also on tap in the event, backed by Finis, Rudy Project Sante (Barley), Manila Bulletin and Tempo, are the Go for Gold Sprint, the relay all-male and relay all-female and the relay mixed.