Ironman New Zealand postponed

After the cancellation of Challenge Wanaka last month, it comes as no surprise that Ironman New Zealand has been “postponed” due to the ongoing issues with COVID-19 in New Zealand. Today event organizers announced that the event won’t be taking place in March and the most likely option for a new date will be in conjunction with Ironman 70.3 New Zealand in December.

Here’s the official announcement from the Ironman New Zealand website:

The Nutri-Grain IRONMAN New Zealand team has been working hard behind the scenes to explore every possible option to hold the event as planned on Saturday 5 March. Sadly, we have been unable to find a way to deliver the event under the restrictions of the red setting and still guarantee the safety of our athletes, supporters, staff, volunteers and the local community in Taupō.

We are now in the disappointing position where we can confirm that Nutri-Grain IRONMAN New Zealand will not be taking place on 5 March.

We understand just how frustrating this news will be for all athletes. An immense amount of time, energy and sacrifice goes into preparing for an IRONMAN, and to have the opportunity to complete your journey taken away this close to event day is a real kick in the guts. We are so sorry, and we feel just as frustrated and disappointed as you.

With no clear indication on when we might move to the orange setting, and with winter approaching, our best option is for the 2022 Nutri-Grain IRONMAN New Zealand to integrate with IRONMAN 70.3 Taupō event on Saturday 10 December 2022. This will make for a very exciting and unique race weekend to finish the year.

Ironman New Zealand is the original Ironman qualifying event – it started offering slots to the world championship in 1985, a year before Ironman Canada became an official qualifying event for Kona. The race took place in Auckland until 1998, then moved to its current venue of Taupo.