Ironman Triathlon Weekend

Nearly 2,000 athletes will descend on Nelson Mandela Bay over the weekend of 20 and 21 April 2024 to compete in The Corporate Triathlon Challenge, ISUZU IRONMAN® 70.3® Nelson Mandela Bay and the 19th edition of ISUZU IRONMAN ® African Championship.

As usual, the race is expected to attract a strong local crowd, with the majority of the field being South African. Athletes will also be flying in from the likes of Germany, Brazil and the UK. 

This early season event offers men’s and women’s Age Group Qualifying slots to the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship Men and Women’s Races and 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in New Zealand. 

Around 1,200 local volunteers will be working all over Nelson Mandela Bay in areas including registration, media, road closure, finish line and transition.

The field will also include 10-time IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, Daniela Ryf who has already announced that she will be racing ISUZU IRONMAN African Championship as part of her retirement tour.

Having won the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay in 2018, as well as the ISUZU IRONMAN African Championship in 2017, she is no stranger to racing in the Eastern Cape.

This race makes up one of her final 8 races around the world to cap off an incredible career. The full male and female professional start-list for ISUZU IRONMAN African Championship will be announced in due course. ISUZU IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay is an age-group only race.

The weekend’s action starts off with the Corporate Triathlon Challenge on Saturday, 20 April at 7:40am and comprises 10% of the IRONMAN event distance – a 380m swim, 18km bike and 4.2km run. 

The action-packed Sunday then features both ISUZU IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay and ISUZU IRONMAN African Championship. The morning kicks off at Hobie Beach with pro men at 6:40am, pro women at 6:45am, IRONMAN age group athletes at 6:55am followed by IRONMAN 70.3 age group athletes at 7:20am. 

ISUZU IRONMAN African Championship and ISUZU IRONMAN 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay Race Director, Michele Bronkhorst, said: “We can’t wait to be back in Nelson Mandela Bay for these brilliant races. The local support is known to be some of the best in the world and we encourage everyone to come out to support the athletes and have a great day out in the process! It’s also the last opportunity to see one of the greatest triathletes of all time in Daniela Ryf racing an IRONMAN live outside of the IRONMAN World Championship.”

This year, the IRONMAN run course has been slightly adapted by including a new bridge section which eliminates the crossovers from previous years. 

When exiting transition, athletes will run around the outside perimeter of transition, along the pedestrian pathway towards Humewood, taking on the new IRONMAN bridge section along the beach and through the iconic Happy Valley entrance, turning left onto Marine Drive in the direction of Humerail, running on the landside lane, keeping left. Continuing along the beachfront roads of Marine Drive, past Kings Beach, they will turn left into Driftsands Drive where they will find the first turning point.