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Des Moines, Iowa to host Ironman North American Championship in 2022

Iowa city has a long history of hosting major triathlon races

Photo by: Kyle Rivas/Getty Images for Ironman

Shortly after Ironman announced that it will be moving Ironman Wisconsin back to it’s original September slot on the calendar, the company announced that it’s newest full-distance race will take place in Des Moines, Iowa. The event, slated for June 12, will serve as the Ironman North American Championship. The regional championship events typically offer more qualifying spots for the Ironman World Championship – the race will serve as a qualifier for the 2022 event in Kona.

Des Moines has a long (and rich) history of hosting big triathlon events. In 2007 it hosted the first edition of the Hy-Vee Triathlon, an Olympic-distance race that featured the world’s largest prize purse with a $200,000 prize purse for the winning man and woman. The 2011 race served as Ironman’s 5150 Series U.S. Championships with a US$1 million prize purse, which was raised to $1.1 million in 2012. The last edition of the event took place in 2014.

Ironman hosted a 70.3 event this year, where Canada’s Jackson Laundry finished third.

“We’ve developed a fantastic partnership here in Des Moines since we first announced an event in 2019 and could not be more proud to announce this new full-distance Ironman race here in Iowa’s capital city,” said Keats McGonigal, Vice President of Operations, North America for The Ironman Group. “There isn’t a better venue to host this race than Des Moines, and we know that having this city as the host for the 2022 Ironman North American Championship will showcase this region of the country. We look forward to building the foundation for a long-lasting legacy of Ironman events in Des Moines.”

Registration for the race will open on Nov. 1, 2021. You can find out more about the race here.