Ironman announces full-distance race in Israel

The first Ironman Middle East Championship will take place on Nov. 25, 2022 in conjunction with Ironman 70.3 Tiberias, which debuted last fall.

Canadian Sylvan Adams, the man who helped bring the opening of the 2018 Giro d’Italia to Israel and co-owner of the Israel Start-Up Nation World Tour cycling team, is the Honorary President of the Middle East Championship.

“After the success of the Ironman 70.3 event last year, I am pleased to announce that the follow-up will see Israel host the full distance Ironman Middle East Championship in Tiberias, overlooking the spectacular and historically significant Sea of Galilee,” Adams said. “As it is a regional championship, Ironman Israel will attract the finest athletes from all across our region and beyond. We are looking forward to welcoming thousands of athletes from neighbouring countries to the beautiful Galilee for what will surely be an historic event.”

The race starts and finishes in Tiberias, in northern Israel. The athletes do the 3.8 km swim in the Sea of Galilee, then complete a two-loop, 180-km bike course around the sea. The four-loop run course follows the western shore of the Sea of Galilee from Tiberias to Migdal.

The press release for the event says that there will be 75 qualifying slots for the 2023 Ironman World Championship and that “elite level pros battling it out to be crowned the first ever Middle East Ironman champion,” but there’s no information on the prize purse for the event as of yet. Other regional championships including the African and Asia Pacific championship events offer US$150,000 in prize money.