Ironman and the PTO are vying for their claim on pro racing. Will Ironman Texas signal who’s ahead?
As the first full-distance race in the new Ironman Pro Series, tomorrow’s Ironman Texas race could very well signal just how competitive Ironman’s go at pro racing will be against the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) T100 Triathlon World Tour.
Ironman announced its pro series last October, signalling that it was looking to offer pro athletes a viable option other than the PTO. While Ironman’s new Pro Series won’t offer quite as much prize money and bonuses (just under $6 million vs $7 million), the bonus pool does reward athletes down to 50th place in the series.
Live coverage
All the pro series races will feature live coverage on Outside TV and for international audiences, proseries.ironman.com. Tomorrow’s race in Texas starts at 6:25 am Central Time (pro men) with the women hitting the water at 6:30 local time. The live coverage begins at 6 am local time, 7 am EST.
You’ll be able to track the pro and age group athletes through the Ironman Tracker App.
Pro series standings
The pro series is weighted heavily towards full-distance races, so a win or a top finish in Texas will be a huge start towards a top finish in the series. While most athletes have chosen to focus on either the Ironman Pro Series or the T100 Triathlon World Tour, the defending women’s champ and favourite for tomorrow’s race, Kat Matthews, is looking to try and compete in both. Matthews is coming off a torn calf sustained at T100 Miami, which also meant she was forced to miss T100 Singapore, which will make her road to a top T100 finish a bit trickier.
Matthews will be taking on the other two women who joined her on the podium last year – Jocelyn McCauley and Maja Stage Nielsen. The 40-woman field also includes one of the Ironman Pro Series favourites, Fenella Langridge, along with Ironman champs Lauren Brandon and Rebecca Clarke.
For the men the race serves as an important race for two-time Kona champ Patrick Lange (pictured above on his way to second at last year’s Ironman World Championship Nice). The German is coming off a poor showing at the first race of the pro series in Oceanside, so a strong showing in Texas will be important if he’s going to live up to his favoured status for the pro series. Other pre-race favourites include New Zealand’s Braden Currie, three-time Texas champ Matt Hanson and multiple Ironman champ Joe Skipper.
You can see the full pro field here.
Strength in numbers?
While it remains to be seen whether Ironman or the PTO will top the ratings numbers for triathlon coverage this year, there’s no doubt that this new pro series has dramatically boosted pro participation at Ironman events. Ironman Texas filled so fast that it’s been reported that two-time Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee missed out on getting into the event. All told there are 105 pros (65 men and 40 women) registered for the race.
