Ironman – Sri Lanka on Sunday

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Category: Other-sports

Published on Friday, 17 February 2012 21:29

Written by Sankha DLT

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The organisers of the world renowned Ironman triathlon held a press conference today in Colombo to launch this mega event which will take place this Sunday.

Addressing the media, the Shanon Kurak the race director stated that after organising 23 races around the world it will be the first in Asia and will benefit immensely to the local athletes.

The head table was shared by many stakeholders of the race which included DIG of Colombo traffic Ajith Wickramasekera, Fariq Carder, Neil Samarasinghe and Prema Pinnawela (Vice president of the Sri Lanka Athletic association)

Speaking to the media DIG Wickramasekera stated that, “The Ironman coming to Sri Lanka really signifies PEACE coming to Sri Lanka”, and ended by saying that he will make sure that the Sri Lanka Police will give all the backing to make it a roaring success.

The vice president of the national Athletic association Prema Pinnawela a stalwart in Sri Lanka said, “The Ironman will have a big impact on national athletes”. He also stated that it will be a new experience and he hopes that the national Athletes embrace this world renowned event.

The media also had the privilege of meeting one of the big guns of the Ironman, Faris Al-Sultan who was the winner of the 2005 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii which according to the organisers is the Mecca of Ironman. “It’s pretty different from other events which I have participated in and I hope that Sri Lanka embraces triathlon and triathlon embraces Sri Lanka”, stated the champion.

The others present were Bryan Rhodes from New Zealand, Christy Sym from Australia, Dana Wagner from Germany and Lucie Zelenkova from the Czech Republic.

Race director Kurak stated that almost a dozen Sri Lankans have enrolled for the race where participants from more than 30 countries come together.

Ironman 70.3 Sri Lanka is one of nearly 60 events in the global Ironman series offering 25 age group qualifying slots for the 2012 Ironman World Championship to be held in September 2012.

 

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