The sixth edition of the IRONMAN VR Pro Challenge saw some of Australia and New Zealand’s leading professional triathletes go ‘head-to-head-to-head-to-head’ for trans-Tasman glory. In total, four professional women and four professional men battled on a 40km portion of the newly offered IRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells-La Quinta bike course utilizing Official Virtual Cycling partner ROUVY’s platform.
For age group athletes, over 90,000 people have now joined the IRONMAN Virtual Club platform. This is up from 85,000 members on the platform in the previous weekend.
The IRONMAN VR6 age group virtual race saw athletes participating from all 50 US states and 129 countries, regions and territories.
IRONMAN VR6 offered up an IRONMAN 5150 Olympics distance simulation. It required competitors to complete three segments – 3 km run, 40 km ride, and 10 km run by race close at 19:59 ET (23:59 GMT) on Sunday, May 10.
Following a week-on-week drop in participants for more recent IRONMAN Virtual Racing Series events, the latest event shows a pick-up in finisher numbers (results as at time of writing):
- IRONMAN VR6 – 12,704 finishers (21,250 registered); 5150 simulation
- IRONMAN VR5 – 8,250 finishers (14,890 registered); IRONMAN 70.3 simulation
- IRONMAN VR4 – 14,553 finishers (23,762 registered); 5150 simulation
- IRONMAN VR3 – 20,271 finishers (33,222 registered); Sprint distance simulation
- IRONMAN VR2 –16,380 finishers (22,997 registered); 5150 simulation
- IRONMAN VR1 – 6,697 finishers (11,045 registered); IRONMAN 70.3 simulation
Sixth IRONMAN VR Pro Challenge
In the pro athlete event, Kiwi’s Teresa Adam and Mike Phillips took the top honours in the women’s and men’s race, respectively. Live coverage was available exclusively through the IRONMAN Now Facebook Watch Page.
For the women’s professional race Saturday, Teresa Adam claimed the victory with a time of 54:47, while fellow countrymate Hannah Wells (NZL) finished in second place with a time of 56:34. Radka Kahlefeldt (CZE) who is now based in New South Wales took third position with a finishing time of 59:50 as Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) rounded out the group clocking a time of 1:00:36.
Mike Phillips (NZL) claimed the bragging rights as the victor of the men’s IRONMAN VR6 Pro Challenge, completing the 40 km ride in a time of 48:42. Braden Currie (NZL) kept things close and came up just six-seconds shy ultimately taking a second-place time of 48:48. Josh Amberger (AUS) finished third in a time of 53:51.
www.ironmanvirtualclub.com
www.ironman.com
