There are only a few days left before the start one of the greatest sporting events of Nice: Ironman France. Months of preparation and hard work are necessary to accommodate athletes, volunteers, journalists and spectators around this single event.The event filled up this year on February 11th, four months before the race. Each year, the number of athletes taking up this amazing challenge has grown. On race day that record sized field will compete in front more than 80.000 spectators, over a staggering 226km course.
This fifth edition boasts 2,500 athletes from 18 to 71 years old from five continents. The United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Italy and the United States are the most-represented of the 61 countries that have athletes competing this weekend. Many have traveled across the continents to be a part of this event! Two New Zealanders, an Egyptian, a Vietnamese and an athlete from the land of the Rising Sun (Japan) will come together on the starting line.
During the days which precede and follow this race nearly 10,000 people come to the French Riviera. It represents nearly 30,000 hotel-nights, triple the amount of meals and important potential visits for the local tradesmen, by the athletes and their average of 2.25 family and friends who join them for the race. The economic value of this event is estimated to be worth more than four million euros. Added to that is the national, European and international media value the event brings to Nice.
There are 1,500 volunteers who will help and encourage the athletes on Sunday. Some of those volunteers will hand out 1,500 kilos of bananas, 42,000 liters of water, 15,000 liters of cola and 12,000 energy bars. Thatnks to the 4vita program almost all of this waste will be collected and recycled.
Race day should include 16 hours of exciting, non-stop entertainment to the folks watching the race here in Nice. The day will end with a wonderful fireworks display, but throughout the day there’s 6000 m² of Expo Village which hosts nearly 80 exhibitors and 400 happy Ironkids who will participate on the morning of the race.
We’ll have a full weekend of coverage right here on Ironman.com, starting with text updates and pictures tomorrow.
Source: Ironman.com
