My Spanish is not very good but I do see a lot of 70.3s in there. If so, it probably does not kill off Challenge in that town.

"Tendremos la versión 70.3 y la codiciada LD este mismo año 2014" - We will have the 70.3 version and the coveted long distance [Ironman] this year, 2014.

"el aterrizaje de IRONMAN en territorio peninsular con las dos pruebas IM70.3BARCELONA e IRONMAN BARCELONA, ambas puntuables para el campeonato del mundo en Kona." The arrival of ironman in the peninsula with two tests, IM70.3 and IM Barcelona, both with eligible slots for the world championship in Kona.

Seems like there is an error in the article (or my translation) as I doubt the 70.3 Barcelona is a feeder for IM Kona world champs. Certainly seems to suggest to me that both distances will be available in Barcelona (assuming the veracity of the article itself!)

Yes, both distances will in Barcelona, full and 70.3. Ironman is taking over the current races, and there will be no more Challenge in Barcelona. It will be announced tomorrow morning in Calella... as that is the town where the race actually is, not Barcelona.

Wow! And this year? Same dates Challenge had? That has to be a blow to Challenge.


Edit: The Challenge website is still showing these as Challenge races. The half is only a month away. That's a pretty short time to change the ownership if they are really doing these in 2014.

Was it announced?

Personally I did not hear a press release or anything this morning. But EuroTri is now reporting it...

http://eurotri.com/...s-pruebas-este-2014/

According to the article, both races this year will be run under the Ironman brand name... including next months race. I know the Challenge website is still up... but this is Spain, it will take a while to sort everything out and probably be a bit of a mess.

Here you go... officially announced in Calella this morning..

http://triatletasenred.com/actualidad/el-ironman-barcelona-calella-ya-es-una-realidad/

Challenge Barcelona was my first ironman distance race in 2012. I would have preferred Ironman to organize their own race somewhere in Southern Spain during the cold winter months, but I guess taking over races is easier. Hopefully the Challenge Family will strike back by offering a nice alternative, like they did with Challenge Legoland.

Thank you. Even thought this was rumored years ago, I always had Challenge Barcelona on my bucket list. I simply love Spain. I think it is one of the worlds most vibrant and interesting countries, and Barcelona is one of my favorites cities on earth. The Challenge races always seemed to be successful, so I was looking forward to doing one or both of them in a few years when the kids are out of house and I have more freedom to travel for races. I personally do not care if the races are now Ironman, but I suppose that the chances they will still be held in 4-5 years when I will be able to do them is now increased with WTC backing.

Now with Lanzarote, Mallorca and Barcelona, Spain has what could be three iconic Ironman races.

Interestingly in his recent interview, Messick mentioned the potential for a full Iron on the Iberian pennisula. Clearly he was talking about this. He also mentioned Eastern Europe as a potential growth area. There was a thread a while ago about an Ironman Yalta. The thread died on the back pages when nothing was announced. I wonder if we will see that announced soon.
This was the thread. Of course, no Russians were invading Ukraine then. I guess things change:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...t_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

especially since you can literally still register for Challenge Barcelona on their website. Since there is nothing on either the IM site or the Challenge site about this change, it will be really interesting how this sorts out. Good thing its not happening in the US of A or someone would be suing someone.

edit:

Its official: on the WTC website. It looks like WTC gutted Challenge in Spain since the press release also mentions a future race Peguera, Mallorca race, which is now a Challenge location. WTC is going to have THREE races on the island of Mallorca?

Well the flip side of that expansion is races with 30 Kona slots... Win the age group or you can't go. As seen for IM Maryland. Wouldn't be surprised if the WTC switches to a point system for the AG to qualify as well. Brings more money into the pockets, too.

Its 50 kona slots. 30 70.3 slots, which I think is pretty typical.

Nope, this was in the olden days: http://www.ironman.com/...d.aspx#axzz2z06Cv24b

They cannot keep expanding and stick with 50 slots/race. Kona hits a max capacity at some point as well.

Dude, Barcelona has 50 slots. Seriously. Look it up. IMMD is probably light because they are going to have a small field. Cambridge cannot take a field of 3000.

Also, those 50 kona slots in Barcelona? That is 50 more slots than Spain had yesterday. Those 30 kona slots at IMMD? That is 30 more slots than the mid atlantic had last week.

If you look at the ironmanwebsite, it seems that Challenge Taiwan may have also been bought out by WTC, it is scheduled for 2015? Crazy!

I've heard this every year for the last 15 years. There is only so much room on the pier, BUT the pier is attached to land and the transition area can be extended a lot. They can also move the transition to behind the King Kam hotel and just make the run out of the water longer. The limit to Kona slots is not what a lot of people think. And since it's $875 this year and people are still paying it, WTC has very little reason to limit the field. They can go to wave starts or even just pro men, pro women, AG men, AG women and that takes care of the crowding on the swim. Kona town would probably allow the race to go past midnight if they did waves.

Does anyone know how it works if I still register on the Challenge website today to avoid the higher Ironman's label price ?

I assume it was the same for the Denmark KMD races but I'd like to be sure...

Well, Messick kind of telegraphed this punch too in his interview on xtri. He said there was room for expansion in Spain (check), Asia (check) and Eastern Europe. Of course maybe he meant the eastern US :)

Gotta ask...

Is Challenge at risk here? Isn't this the fourth or fifth race they have lost to WTC in the last three years or so? They're doing awesome in Germany though.

I understand how they license their races where they're not all in like WTC is but this just doesn't look good. Their only strength is in Europe and Asia and they're losing those races too. Let's not forget the North American market where, in my estimation, they will be gone from by 2015 or 2016. Penticton is done. That race committed suicide. Challenge AC is about to get completely squeezed by IMMary and nobody gives a shit about the Challenge Rancho Whatevero race in Cali. That's going to pull HITS numbers at best.

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As far as I can tell, they just scheduled a race on the same day just down the road... about 150km?

I'm pretty sure Challenge AC still has spots open. That would not be the case if it was IMAC. Just speaks to your Challenge concerns.

At least they lucked out with their refund policy this time. Full refunds had to be requested by April 1. Had that deadline been two weeks later they would've had a mass exodus to IMMary (like what happened in Penticton last year).

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I think it's more likely that they will implement the point system for age groupers. This would likely require most if not all to do more than one event to KQ. That's going to generate a lot more revenue than trying to kloodge together a new transition setupin Kona so they can add a few more bikes.

I doubt that the AWA program was rolled out in order to give people luggage tags. They are testing the point system and getting people used to it so they can implement it for AG.

It's a smart business move that will piss off some people but will lead to larger revenues. Right now, someone can lock in their slot at an early season race, do a Challenge or HITS event and head off to Kona in October. With the new system, there will be more incentive to do another Ironman 70.3 or 140.6. I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen as early as 2015.