Durban Ironman route changes
The Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban will take place on 18 June 2017.
Around 2 800 athletes have already entered the race this year.
Changes have been made to the course for the 2017 event.
Race director, Colleen Durant, has revealed that the swimming leg will take place at uShaka Marine World.
"We have finally managed to get the city council to let us swim in the uShaka area. The challenge from that was obviously the bike exit. We now have prominade access for the bike exit. So we will swim at uShaka. Basically this will be around uShaka Pier and the swimming distance will be 1.9-kilometres. We will transition there at the uShaka area. We will then cycle along the prominade for around two kilometres. The cyclists will then join the M4 and cycle to the under-pass at Moses Mabhida Stadium," Durant said.
There are further changes to the cycling route as Durant explained.
"We will go the Zimbali north gate second circle turn this year and we have full road closure of the M4. This is great from an athlete perspective. We also have a drafting rule and we will obviously have less drafting challenges on the bike section. So this gives us a greater cycling course. There will be a slight change to the running course as we clash with the SA Open of Surfing. So we will have just a little detour on the run loop just to keep things a little bit more interesting in the Dairy Beach area," Durant added.
Durant has also shared advice for athletes preparing for the 2017 edition of Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban.
"Firstly just a reminder to cyclists to be careful when out training. I think this is our major challenge at the moment. There have been several incidents both in South Africa and elsewhere in the world involving cyclists on the road. On race day it is important not to draft and to obey the rules. It is important to listen to the marshals and volunteers out on the course. I think people have done the bulk of their training. This if they have been sensible in preparing for the race. They just need to keep ticking over now. They should be ready then and enjoy a great race. We as organisers have done most of our preparations and are just doing the final ticks and checks," Durant concluded.
Changes have been made to the course for the 2017 event.
Race director, Colleen Durant, has revealed that the swimming leg will take place at uShaka Marine World.
"We have finally managed to get the city council to let us swim in the uShaka area. The challenge from that was obviously the bike exit. We now have prominade access for the bike exit. So we will swim at uShaka. Basically this will be around uShaka Pier and the swimming distance will be 1.9-kilometres. We will transition there at the uShaka area. We will then cycle along the prominade for around two kilometres. The cyclists will then join the M4 and cycle to the under-pass at Moses Mabhida Stadium," Durant said.
There are further changes to the cycling route as Durant explained.
"We will go the Zimbali north gate second circle turn this year and we have full road closure of the M4. This is great from an athlete perspective. We also have a drafting rule and we will obviously have less drafting challenges on the bike section. So this gives us a greater cycling course. There will be a slight change to the running course as we clash with the SA Open of Surfing. So we will have just a little detour on the run loop just to keep things a little bit more interesting in the Dairy Beach area," Durant added.
Durant has also shared advice for athletes preparing for the 2017 edition of Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban.
"Firstly just a reminder to cyclists to be careful when out training. I think this is our major challenge at the moment. There have been several incidents both in South Africa and elsewhere in the world involving cyclists on the road. On race day it is important not to draft and to obey the rules. It is important to listen to the marshals and volunteers out on the course. I think people have done the bulk of their training. This if they have been sensible in preparing for the race. They just need to keep ticking over now. They should be ready then and enjoy a great race. We as organisers have done most of our preparations and are just doing the final ticks and checks," Durant concluded.
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