The second week of the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) leg of the IRONMAN VR Team Challenge is taking place on Thursday, April 15 at 19:00 GMT (14:00 ET). Three teams will be facing-off in a sprint distance virtual duathlon.
Professional triathlete, Jesper Svenson, will join this week’s competition providing the teams an opportunity to bolster their bike scoring with pro wild card lifelines. Nikki Bartlett provided the pro wild card for the run in week one.
IRONMAN VR Team Challenge can be viewed on the IRONMAN Now on Facebook Watch page: www.facebook.com/IRONMANnow.
Three regional team captains and their respective age-group teammates will continue to compete in their own three-week-long competition cycles covering Sprint, Olympic and Half-Distance virtual duathlons.
Each teammate is tasked with competing in either the bike or run segments to help build a total score for the team captains. The region’s team captain with the most cumulative points at the end of the three-week-long competition will receive a US$5,000 donation to the charity of their choice from the IRONMAN Foundation Your Journey, Your Cause fundraising campaign.
EMEA Team Captains include Former Welsh international professional rugby union player Shane Williams (UK), heart transplant athlete and keynote speaker Elmar Sprink (Germany) and IRONMAN World Champion, IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion and IRONMAN African Championship age-group winner Michelle Enslin (South Africa).
Upcoming schedule
- Thursday, April 15 – 19:00 GMT (14:00 ET) – EMEA week two: Sprint Distance duathlon
- Thursday, April 22 – 19:00 GMT (14:00 ET) – EMEA week three: Half-Distance duathlon
- Thursday, April 29 – 04:00 AEST (19:00 ET) – IRONMAN VR Team Challenge Preview show and introduction of team captains from Asia Pacific
- Thursday, May 6 – 04:00 AEST (19:00ET) – Asia Pacific week one: Olympic Distance triathlon
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.
