Following the completion of the first round of the IRONMAN VR Team Challenge featuring teams from North America, the competition is now heading to Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) bringing a new region into the mix.
The new live broadcast racing format focuses on three teams of age-group athletes that will compete and be broadcast exclusively on the IRONMAN Now Facebook Watch page. The three-month-long IRONMAN VR Team Challenge consists of three, three-week competition cycles which first began on March 17, 2021, pitting athletes from the North American region, before moving to EMEA and then Asia-Pacific.
All eyes are now on EMEA as the region showcases its three teams who will battle it out for bragging rights over three weeks beginning on Thursday, April 8. A preview show to introduce the team captains will air on Wednesday, April 7 at 20:00. GMT (15:00 ET).
The EMEA competition cycle will consist of three teams of age-group athletes who will race in Sprint, Olympic, and Half Distance virtual duathlons.
The teams will be captained by former Welsh international professional rugby union player Shane Williams; heart transplant and motivational speaker Elmar Sprink; and IRONMAN World Champion, IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion and IRONMAN African Championship age-group winner Michelle Enslin from South Africa.
Professional triathletes will also be featured each week providing the teams an opportunity to bolster their scoring with Pro Wild Card Lifelines while engaging with the teams on the broadcast. Following the EMEA IRONMAN VR Team Challenge, the competition will continue with three teams from Asia-Pacific in subsequent weeks.
“We are extremely excited to showcase the EMEA region in the next instalment of the IRONMAN VR Team Challenge, we have a great line up of team captains and look forward to following their progress as they battle it out for the regional bragging rights,” said Stefan Petschnig, Managing Director of IRONMAN EMEA.
“Each team captain brings a wealth of experience in different aspects, from dealing with the pressures of playing international rugby in front of thousands of spectators on the world stage, to conquering the IRONMAN World Championship and winning her age group, to an athlete with an incredible story of overcoming obstacles and inspiring people every day. We are in for a thrilling and entertaining IRONMAN VR Team Challenge. We look forward to the next three weeks.”
EMEA team competition
The three-week EMEA competition cycle features three age-group team captains who will be required to complete the respective virtual events for that week (Sprint, Olympic, Half Distance). Additionally, each week, the captain will be tasked with forming a team of two athletes to join them for the weekend duathlon competition with the identified team members completing one of the disciplines (i.e., one biker and one runner).
There will be no swim portion for the EMEA competition. There will also be two professional athletes joining the EMEA regional showcase as part of the challenge. The professional athletes will join in the competition by posting a single sport split for either the bike or run segments. Team captains will have one opportunity during their three-week competition to swap one of their split times with a coordinating split time from their pro ambassador athlete, prior to the time being unveiled, allowing them to better their overall team time and performance.
Team Captains for Asia Pacific IRONMAN VR Team Challenge triathlon will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
North American final results
Following the three weeks of North American competition, Team Morgon Latimore, a US Marine Corps veteran and IRONMAN U Certified Coach, prevailed earning the top spot with a combined final score of 265 points.
Team Ryan Kinder, a Nashville based singer and songwriter, followed in second with a combined score of 240 points. Team Shannon Spake, veteran sportscaster, rounded out the competition with a combined score of 210 points.
Rules and process
Each region competes in its own three-week-long competition and consists of a Sprint, Olympic and Half-Distance virtual triathlon simulation. The teams from North America competed during round one in a triathlon format on March 18; EMEA will take part in round two in a duathlon format starting April 8 and Asia Pacific will begin their portion of the competition on May 6.
In addition to watching the live racing unfold, viewers of the broadcast on Facebook Watch are able to engage through live interaction consisting of challenges, Q&A, and voting polls.
At the end of each three-week regional challenge, the Champion Team Captain is announced. The winner is decided by whichever captain has the most cumulative points at the end of the three-weeks of competition.
Team captains set up IRONMAN Foundation Your Journey, Your Cause fundraising campaigns where they are be able to collect donations for a charity and cause that is important to them. The winning team from each regional showcase will receive a US$5,000 donation from the IRONMAN Foundation to further grow their fundraising campaigns.
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