Hundreds of registrants for the Ironman Asia Pacific Championship gather at the Social Hall of the Cebu Provincial Capitol.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
As expected, slots for the Cobra Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships were gobbled up in a flash.
All 2,900 allocated slots for the international triathlon event slated Aug. 7, 2016 were filled up in just 28 minutes after registration opened Thursday morning.
Around 200 Cebuano triathletes also trooped to the Social Hall of the Cebu Provincial Capitol to sign up in the onsite registration site put up by Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI), the organizing crew in charge of the prestigious triathlon race.
Yesterday’s feat eclipsed last year’s first day of registration, wherein it took 40 minutes before all slots were sold out with around 500 triathletes still on the waiting list.
“All of the available slots have been filled out in 28 minutes so it’s a record despite the system glitch that we encountered,” SEI general manager and project director Princess Galura said. “We expect that there will be a lot of people on the waiting list but for sure the 2,900 slots are already filled out.”
The onsite registration encountered a system glitch that stalled registration for more than 10 minutes. When everything was restored, registration continued, paving the way for all slots to be filled up.
The Asia-Pacific Championship will be held outside of Australia for the first time. Starting and finishing line is set at the posh Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.
The race features distances of 1.9-kilometer swim, 90k bike and the 21k run.
Meanwhile, Galura revealed they will be holding a series of activities en route to the big race.
Promotional activities with former pro Belinda Granger of Australia and Cebuano celebrity and Cobra Energy drink endorser Matteo Guidecilli will be lined up.
“We have a lot of activities lined up including a camp for the first timers, which focuses on etiquette for the race. We want to let the world know that Cebu is the best place to hold a triathlon event,” Galura said.
SEI’s next event, dubbed the Safeguard 5150, is slated Nov. 8 at the Bellevue Resort in Panglao Island, Bohol. Around 700 triathletes are expected to take part in this race.