State College, PA Selected as New Home for IM 70.3 North American Championship

Triathlon Forum
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Originally published at: State College, PA Selected as New Home for IM 70.3 North American Championship - Slowtwitch News

The North American 70.3 Championships are headed 2000 miles east across the United States.

IRONMAN today selected State College, Pennsylvania as the new home for the IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championship, with the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley race to take place on June 14, 2026.

IRONMAN first came to the home of Penn State in 2023 and has seen steady interest in the event across its initial three years. Happy Valley replaces St. George, Utah as the host of the 70.3 North American Championship, with St. George no longer on the IRONMAN race calendar.

In a statement, IRONMAN’s Northeast Regional Director AJ Sills said, “We are thrilled to bring the IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championship race to State College and the Happy Valley Community to showcase this beautiful venue.”

“We are thrilled that the IRONMAN 70.3 Series is returning to Happy Valley in a big way,” said Fritz Smith, President and CEO of The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. “From a visitation perspective, hosting the North American Championship is of course wonderful news. But it means more than that. For the past three years, the community has fully embraced the event – from turning out in large numbers to volunteer or to simply cheer on these elite athletes. This announcement is equally fantastic news for residents, whom I am confident will be ready to show competitors and their families true Happy Valley hospitality.”

The 2026 event, as the North American Championship, will feature what IRONMAN calls “increased age group qualifying opportunities” for the 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France. It will also feature an “elevated” professional prize purse. Given that prior iterations of the North American Championship have been a part of the IRONMAN Pro Series, it is likely that Happy Valley will join the Series for 2026, marking the first time it has been selected for that honor as well.

The race course features a swim at Bald Eagle State Park, a challenging ride through rolling terrain, and a run course on the campus of Penn State University that finishes alongside Beaver Stadium.

Registration for the event will open on this Thursday for athletes with priority registration honors. General registration will open the following week on September 2nd.

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Lets see, “has seen steady interest in the event across its initial three years.”

Here is the data

IRONMAN 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley Finishers

2023 - 1899
2024 - 979
2025 - 803

I thought there was only USAT math, I guess there also IM math and Slowtwitch math :slight_smile:

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Wow. Didn’t see this one coming as SG’s replacement. Yes, a little biased because I live in UT and raced SG 70.3 a bunch of times (was born in PA if that counts for anything), but I guess I thought there might be other venues before this one. Ok, I have no idea what to think…however, similar to other discussions on ST regarding revolving WC’s…would it ever make sense to revolve the NA Championships throughout NA? Sorry if this has already been discussed…

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To be honest, I doubt it – see, for example, Texas has held the NA Championship race for forever now.

It’s an easy way to ensure more turnout, at a race date that also aligns with getting people tuned up for IM Lake Placid (if that’s their summer schedule). The question will be whether it drives additional registration, or if it pulls from the existing pool of Eagleman / Western MA / Musselman athletes instead.

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It’s also not an easy course, something I imagine IM might take into consideration? Great way to increase the registration numbers for the race though, and being born and raised in PA just outside State College I’m happy about the news.

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Somewhat agree – there is a preference for more challenging courses for championship level events, although there are outliers.

But yes: it’s a good way to boost numbers at an event that had steady, not spectacular, registration data.

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Are they trying to kill off Eagleman? 75-90% of the same athlete pool for both races.

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Geographically there is overlap but they are wildly different courses. Eagleman is a fantastic course that is so flat it’s almost downhill the entire ride. It’s perfectly suited for first timers or people who just hate hills. College Station is mostly uphill with a significant uphill on the back end. Based on the published elevations (take those with a grain of salt) it’s got more elevation than St George. The people who go to EM be at the front of the race will likely go chase a WC slot at CS but those not interested in a WC (90% of people on course) aren’t gonna consider making the switch.

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I’m pretty sure they used the Kona adjusted score to calculate that improvement :wink:

But actually, I was coming here to say I’m glad to see they did this. Ironman is doing it’s part to try to give some prestige to this event. I have to say, I’m a little tempted to give this race a try after looking at the results. I’ve got a reasonable shot at become an Age Group North American Champion™ next year. Hah.

Did anyone else notice the video at the header on the event page on IM’s site showing people marching out of T2 through the forest? It’s probably just the crop, but it looks like you’re taking your bike on a hike :slight_smile:

Looking closer at the course, I do like the fact that it’s a split transition. I know people don’t like the extra logistics, but the day before the race I’m usually just hanging around anyway. I like a bike race that forces you to cover some ground and not just hit several loops. I’m actually kind of digging this one.

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It’s been a while, but I’ve been to the State College area many times growing up, and I remember these roads to be beautiful and in excellent condition. It’s a very nice area of the state and the amount of spectators the event could draw next year probably pales in comparison to a home game at Beaver Stadium.

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At a minimum this means Eagleman not part of Pro series next year? I already signed up for Eagleman 2026. Am interested to see how the turnout changes from last years

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I’ve done this event and you definitely do take you bike on a little hike out of T1 :laughing:

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Done this race the past two years, and I’m super pumped about this. Might have to give it a third go around! The course is fantastic, challenging on both the bike and run. Swim is very nice lake course as well.

There’s also a lot of crowd support throughout. Believe it or not, the Amish really come out on the bike course!