CEBU, Philippines - The deep field of PROs led by defending champions Brent McMahon of Canada and Caroline Steffen, the Swiss Miss from Switzerland, are all pumped up and ready to do whatever it takes to win the crown of the highly anticipated 2015 Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines this Sunday at Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.
With the most number of PROs ever in a Philippine triathlon race, it’s definitely going to be a very tough battle to take.
Aside from McMahon and Steffen, the stellar cast who will battle it out for supremacy in Cebu’s fourth year of hosting the most sought-after race in the Asia Pacific region include Ironman champions Craig Alexander and Pete Jacobs, and this year’s Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 Philippines champion Tim Reed.
The other top guns in men’s division are Cameron Brown, Luke McKenzi, Tim Van Berkel, the world’s youngest three-time Ironman champion, Justin Granger, Clayton Fettel, Mitch Robins, Matt Franklin, and Wai Kit Lam.
The equally star-studded women’s side is bannered by two-time defending champion Steffen, whose grandslam bid will be seriously challenged by the likes of 15-time Ironman champion Belinda Granger, Ironman 70.3 Switzerland champion Beth Gerdes, Dimity Lee-Duke, Carole Fuchs, and Kathryn Haesner.
“Getting to defend a title adds motivation, and adds to the fun everytime. It’s great that the people here cheers for us and that makes me come back,” said McMahon
Aside from defending his thone, McMahon is looking for all the cheers he can with Alexander, the King of Kona, also joining in the race that drew a record number 2,616 entries from 53 countries across six continents.
This is the first time for Alexander to be here and he does not want to miss it again especially with such a “ good lineup in any 70.3 event”.
Steffen, for her part, is just as ready to claim another tiara even as she had been out on a two-week vacation with her family before this event. Her victory in the Sunrise Events, Inc. organized IM 70.3 Vietnam earlier is keeping her in a good shape.
Not to be underestimated are real-life couple Justin and Belinda Granger, who announced that this Sunday’s battle will be their last.
And speaking of being the last, they want it to be their best.
“There’s no other place I can think of as my last race but here,” said Belinda Granger. (FREEMAN)