Win An Ironman World Championship 70.3 slot Racing Virtually

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Ironman Triathlon has announced a "revolution" that allow you to earn a spot in the Ironman World Championship 70.3 (IMWC70.3) by taking part in their Virtual Race. As you may be aware, Ironman has started a "Virtual Club" where they run challenges (bike, run, and bike+run)  and virtual races (called VR) on their website called Ironman Virtual Club. The official press statement sent to the Virtual Club subscriber read as such.

EARN IRONMAN 70.3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SLOTS WITH IRONMAN VR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Train. Compete. Earn. Connect. QUALIFY! The next evolution of the IRONMAN Virtual Racing Series has arrived with the IRONMAN VR Championship Series. This four-week long regulated age-group competition designed to identify and reward top-performing athletes with the opportunity to earn IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship qualifying slots. The IRONMAN VR Championship Series is automatically open to IRONMAN Virtual Club subscribers with an IRONMAN, IRONMAN 70.3 or IRONMAN VR race history. The IRONMAN VR Championship Series format will be three (3) IRONMAN VR 5150 distance races and one (1) IRONMAN VR 70.3 simulation distance during a 4-week long series. June 5-7- VR10: 3 km run, 40 km bike, 10 km run June 12-14- VR11: 3 km run, 40 km bike, 10 km run June 19-21- VR12: 5 km run, 90 km bike, 21 km run June 26-28- VR13: 3 km run, 40 km bike, 10 km run Note: All running activities must be completed outdoors (not on a treadmill) and all bike activities must be completed on ROUVY. VR12 is REQUIRED to be eligible for Championship Series point allocation and placement in standings. An athlete's best two (2) Olympic distance scores and required IRONMAN 70.3 simulation distance race will be scored. Now is the time to join the 100,000+ athletes that have already become members of IRONMAN Virtual Club. Get started today and register for this weekend's IRONMAN VR for free! We look forward to having you race with us in the coming weeks.

How It Has Been Since VR1

Those of you that has been following me on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Page would know I've taken part in all the VR races from VR1 to last weekend's VR9. As recent as VR8 two weeks ago, Ironman VC has provided two division of the same distance - one is the "Classic" where you can partake in the VR indoor or outdoor, or combination of both, using any means that can record your activities to be sync-ed into the Ironman VC page to complete the race. Fairly straight forward. 

Numbers in yellow circle denotes how many times I've completed the challenge within the same week

Then in VR8 (Olympic Distance or 5150, 3km run, 40km bike, 10km run), they added on the "Challenger" division where the timing of each section will be checked. For the Challenger, all runs must be completed outside and must have GPX/FIT data (or in another word, you need a tracking device). For cycling, you can do it outside with same tracking devices, OR you can use the approved Augmented Reality (AR) cycling app called Rouvy. By approved, it really meant only Rouvy will be accepted to be counted for the Challenger. For data completeness, I signed up for both VR8 and VR9, on both category of Classic and Challenger. Only one reason for this which is basically to see how the data turns up against those that does the Challenger with time scrutinsed, vs Classic where "Anywhere Is Possible" spirit. Obviously there has been plentiful of super strong and super fast triathletes with many since VR1 breaking world records for running and biking. 

Ready For The VR10-VR13 to Potentially Get A Slot in IMWC70.3?    

I was of course excited. In January, I knew I won't have any real races this year with the last being Port Dickson Triathlon, and not being able to race the Ironman Langkawi in November this years due to work travel. Then Covid19 happened and the signed up Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon is not postponed to 2021. Having the opportunity to do the Ironman VR races, may I add NO ENTRANCE FEES needed, was a luxury that I can only thank Ironman Triathlon. I was ready to sign up and commit to VR10, and subsequently VR11, 12 and 13 in the Championship Series only to find out there are more rules and regulations being put in place to ensure a fair and level playing field. I am all for a fair race. However, I soon found out the biggest blocker would be the requirement for the athlete to only do the biking section via Rouvy, AND only with selected approved Smart Trainers. I have no issues with the other requirements (like setting profile to public to share and allow checking by Ironman, or having to follow the order of the race aka Run 1 - Bike - Run 2). So, if you are like me, and want to know the regulations - I've posted a thread on my Twitter, simplying it so you don't need to read through the whole document. Click here to access it.

Thread on Ironman Virtual Racing Championship Series 

Meanwhile, I'll revert back to the "Classic" and race it in my best athletic capability without any digital doping. There won't be any record being broken with me ;-) But I will race honourably!