This year the Ironman World Championship 70.3 triathlon race will take place in Henderson, Nevada on September 11, 2011. The inaugural location at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson is located just minutes away from the Las Vegas Strip and is set to offer the pros and age group triathletes a heck of a challenge for the world championship event. The 2011 Ironman World Championship 70.3 race will have a prize purse of $100,000 for distribution among the top professional male and female finishers.
This year with the new Ironman Pro Membership program comes the new qualifying procedure for the Ironman World Championship 70.3 race. Now the Top 40 male and Top 25 female pros in the 70.3 Pro Rankings as of July 18, 2011 (July Qualifiers) will be qualified to race. Then the highest ranking 10 male and 5 female pros in the 70.3 Pro Rankings, not including the July Qualifiers, as of August 15, 2011 (August Qualifiers) will also qualify to race in the world championship triathlon. In the end that means we will see the Top 50 men and Top 30 females in Henderson, NV.
The first official listing, the Top 40 Men and Top 25 Women qualifiers as of the July 70.3 Pro Rankings for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Las Vegas are below. Timothy O'Donnell who was third last year and Leanda Cave who was the runner up are the top 70.3 PR Qualifiers on the list. The final 70.3 PR will be published no later than August 16, 2011, which will include the additional 10 Men and 5 Women.
2011 Ironman World Championship 70.3 PR July Qualifiers
| Pro Men | From | Points | Rank |
Pro Women | From | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy O’Donnell | USA | 5170 | 1 |
Leanda Cave | GBR | 4655 |
| Richie Cunningham | AUS | 3295 | 2 |
Angela Naeth | CAN | 3760 |
| Paul Amey | GBR | 3090 | 3 |
Magali Tisseyre | CAN | 3610 |
| Filip Ospaly | CZE | 2750 | 4 |
Kelly Williamson | USA | 2960 |
| Paul Matthews | AUS | 2585 | 5 |
Melissa Rollison | AUS | 2700 |
| Maxim Kriat | UKR | 2555 | 6 |
Heather Jackson | USA | 2670 |
| Joe Gambles | AUS | 2535 | 7 |
Michelle Wu | AUS | 2565 |
| Alessandro Degasperi | ITA | 2450 | 8 |
Karin Thuerig | CHE | 2410 |
| David Kahn | USA | 2435 | 9 |
Lesley Paterson | GBR | 2345 |
| Paul Ambrose | GBR | 2360 | 10 |
Belinda Granger | AUS | 2315 |
| Chris Lieto | USA | 2330 | 11 |
Sonja Tajsich | DEU | 2315 |
| Rasmus Henning | DEN | 1860 | 12 |
Nina Kraft | DEU | 2295 |
| Daniel Fontana | ITA | 1800 | 13 |
Samantha Warriner | NZL | 2295 |
| Massimo Cigana | ITA | 1795 | 14 |
Catriona Morrison | GBR | 2250 |
| Luke Bell | AUS | 1745 | 15 |
Caroline Steffen | CHE | 2250 |
| Joe McDaniel | USA | 1740 | 16 |
Christie Sym | AUS | 2015 |
| Hideo Fukui | JPN | 1670 | 17 |
Erika Csomor | HUN | 2000 |
| Ronnie Schildknecht | CHE | 1665 | 18 |
Joanna Lawn | NZL | 2000 |
| Tim Berkel | AUS | 1600 | 19 |
Emma-Kate Lidbury | GBR | 1960 |
| James Cunnama | ZAF | 1600 | 20 |
Melanie McQuaid | CAN | 1945 |
| Matt Lieto | USA | 1600 | 21 |
Madeleine Oldfield | AUS | 1935 |
| Frederik Van Lierde | BEL | 1590 | 22 |
Margaret Shapiro | USA | 1885 |
| Chris Legh | AUS | 1560 | 23 |
Desiree Ficker | USA | 1670 |
| Matt Reed | USA | 1535 | 24 |
Amanda Stevens | USA | 1650 |
| Bryan Rhodes | NZL | 1500 | 25 |
Heather Leiggi | USA | 1640 |
| Romain Guillaume | FRA | 1480 | 26 |
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| Ben Hoffman | USA | 1460 | 27 |
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| Brent Poulsen | CAN | 1460 | 28 |
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| Swen Sundberg | DEU | 1430 | 29 |
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| Jeff Symonds | CAN | 1380 | 30 |
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| Guy Crawford | NZL | 1360 | 31 |
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| Cameron Brown | NZL | 1335 | 32 |
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| Oscar Galindez | ARG | 1335 | 33 |
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| Luke Mckenzie | AUS | 1315 | 34 |
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| Andres Castillo Latorre | COL | 1310 | 35 |
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| Patrick Evoe | USA | 1305 | 36 |
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| Sebastian Kienle | DEU | 1270 | 37 |
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| Mario De Elias | ARG | 1250 | 38 |
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| Fredrik Croneborg | SWE | 1245 | 39 |
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| Michael Weiss | AUT | 1245 | 40 |
All of the pro athletes will be notified and asked to accept or decline their slot in for the race. Any declined slots will then be rolled down to the next ranked athlete based on the standings of 70.3 PR as of July 17th. Athletes on the roll down list on both sides include Annie Gervais (CAN), Jessica Meyers (USA), Caitlin Snow (USA) and
Stanislav Krylov (RUS), Tony White (USA), Joshua Rix (AUS).
Past Ironman 70.3 world champions will receive an invitation/exemption to enter the pro division in the Ironman World Championship 70.3 for a period of five years after their last championship. Here are this year's Automatic Qualifiers.
| Automatic Qualifiers | Automatic Qualifiers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Raelert | DEU | 3000 | Jodie Swallow | GBR | 3750 | |
| Andy Potts | USA | 2000 | Mirinda Carfrae | AUS | 2670 | |
| Terenzo Bozzone | NZL | 1480 | Julie Dibens | GBR | 1500 | |
| Craig Alexander | AUS | 240 | Samantha McGlone | CAN | 600 |
For more information on the qualifying procedures for this years pro race visit:
www.ironmanpromembership.com/ironman-70-3-qualifying-information
The race begins with a 1.2-mile swim in Lake Las Vegas followed by a challenging 56-mile bike through Lake Mead National Recreation Area and then a 13.1-mile run through Henderson's scenic residential areas with views of the Las Vegas Strip.
The link below shows a listing of the 2011 Age Group Ironman 70.3 Qualified Athletes
www.ironmanllv.com/athletes/2011-qualified-athletes
Each age group winner at the 2011 Ironman World Championship 70.3 will automatically qualify for the 2012 event.
