One qualifies for World Championship 2020 to be held in New Zealand

Five Mysureans — Veera Manikanta, Abdul Hannan Khan, Dr. Sujeeth Shetty, B.N. Sudindra and Manju Ganesh — participated  and successfully completed ‘Ironman 70.3,’ India’s first triathlon race held in Goa on Oct.20.

An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The ‘70.3’ refers to the total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. Each distance of the swim, bike, and run segments is half the distance of that segment in an Ironman Triathlon.

The Ironman 70.3 series culminates each year with a World Championship competition for which competitors qualify during the 70.3 series in the 12 months prior to the Championship race. In addition to the World Championship race, Ironman 70.3 Championship competitions are also held for the European, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America regions.

The event where Mysureans participated took place at Miramar Beach in Panaji, Goa. Over 1,000 participants including 800 Indians took part in this race. Participants from 27 countries including Singapore, France, Germany, Australia, Qatar and Japan also marked their presence in the triathlon race.

As per the set norms, this Ironman 70.3 Race also comprised 1.9-km swim, 90-km bicycling and a 21.1-km run where the participants had to complete the feat in 8.5 hours.

Veera Manikanta, Proprietor of Ambaari Suites, completed the race in 6 hours and 16 minutes and stood 9th in his age category. Based on his time and overall position, Manikanta has qualified to represent India in the 2020 Ironman World Championship to be held on Nov.28 and 29, 2020 in Taupo, New Zealand. He will be competing with more than 5,000 Ironman champions from across the world.

While Abdul Hannan Khan, Proprietor of Sunpure Oil, completed the event in 6 hours 29 minutes, Dr. Sujeeth Shetty, Professor, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, JSS Dental College took 7 hours and 5 minutes to complete the race. B.N. Sudindra, Partner of Bharat Auto Space took 7 hours 20 minutes and Manju Ganesh, Mechanical Engineer working for Setty Mech Engineers Pvt. Ltd., took 8 hours 30 minutes to complete the triathlon.