Davao gearing up for the Ironman 70.3

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The city government of Davao in coordination with the organizers of the upcoming Iron Man 70.3 triathlon is now on thick of its preparation for the international triathlon event in the March.

Al Ryan Alejandre, chair of the City Council Committee on Tourism, said the city is now 80 percent ready for the hosting of triathlon event which is expected to draw local and foreign athletes.

In the weekly program, Pulong Pulong Ni  Pulong, Aljandre said “We are finalizing and we (are) ironing out the smooth flow of the traffic and the coordination with the participants.”

The city government already held coordination meeting last week with the local governments of Panabo City, Tagum City and the town of Carmen in Davao del Norte for the bike routes.

He said there would be a series of traffic re-routing due to road closures from Azuela Cove in Lanang to Tagum City.

“We are also coordinating with DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) that all of the road constructions before March 25, should be done,” he said.

He said there were also changes in the swimming event effected by the organizer of the event, to avoid untoward incidents like the previous IronMan.

“Naay mga divers sa ilalom nga nakaatang sa ilaha, naa puy ibabaw to see to it nga kung naa may malunod, naay mga divers nga mo-respond (There will be divers on the water stage who will watch after the participants for an immediate response to any untoward incident),” he said.

Alejandre added that the participants would swim on the water stage by batch and by seconds interval to avoid crowding.

“Dili sila magsabay og dumog sa dagat kay lisod. Imagine, 1,800, unsaon nimo na pagtan-aw (They should not swim together because it is really hard for the organizer. Imagine 1,800 participants, how will you take care of that),” he said.

He said the organizer had already hit the 1,800 target participants who would join the most prestigious triathlon event.

The event is a first time in the city but it has the highest turn-out because most first-time events in other places draw an average of 500 registered participants.

With the turn-out, Alejandre said the city might expect about 2,000 participants or more. He said the event was one of the good venues to promote the city since there would be foreign players who are known in the world of triathlon who would participate.

The Ironman 70.3 Davao is a special event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ironman in the Philippines.

Other events like Alaska iron kids will be a triathlon for the youths. It will be supported by Alveo Land.

The “70.3” refers to the total distance in miles (113 kilometers) covered in the race – including the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike race, and the 13.1-mile run. -Armando Fenequito Jr/PNA