A Half-IRONMAN race with a total distance of 113 kilometers, or 70.3 miles, will take place for the first time in Austria in 2007. After a long period of negotiations, the chosen venue will be the Lower-Austrian capital St. Polten.

The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) gives license for 20 IRONMAN 70.3 races worldwide. The races cover a total distance of 113 kilometers, of which 1,9 km is swimming, 90 km cycling and 21,1 km running. The second biggest IRONMAN licensee worldwide, TRIANGLE, organises two of the five European races that are all part of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Series. The venue for the Austrian race was recently decided. The capital of Lower-Austria, St. Polten, will have the honour of hosting the event from 2007 onwards.

St. Polten distinguished itself by being centrally located with excellent infrastructure. The Vienna international airport facilitates the arrival of international athletes, which makes the venue easily reachable.

The Viehofener See and Ratzerdorfer See lakes offer two opportunities for the starting area. The bike course offers the athletes the sight of the beautiful Wachau landscape and the half-marathon will go through from the ATP tour well-known Tennis center in St.Polten. The city offers everything that is necessary for a triathlon event of this stature.

The Austria IRONMAN 70.3, taking place on the 2nd of June 2007, offers 75 qualifying slots for the Ford IRONMAN World Championships 70.3, which take place in Clearwater, Florida in November every year. The registration fee for the race is 160 € and registration will be opened on the 23rd of November at 9.00 am. The maximum allowed number of participants will be 1.500 athletes. To avoid drafting, the start will take place in waves. That is, the Pro athletes will start 10 minutes before the age-groupers. The suggested start time is 1.00 pm.

The Austria IRONMAN 70.3 should bring about a calculated 12.000 over night stays in the region in its first year of existence. The calculated added value to the region will be around 5.2 Million Euros. The budget of the event is one Million Euros. The race will be broadcasted worldwide by Austrian television station ORF.

The website of the race will be completed during the next few days. Because the decision to organise the race in St. Polten was taken yesterday, not all the information is available at this moment. The information about the exact race course will be added in the coming days.

Austria IRONMAN 70.3 website: www.ironman703.at