Boulder is about to make history with Ironman Boulder: the world’s largest triathlon. How large is this triathlon, you ask? Well, let’s look at the numbers:

-There are more than 3,000 athletes competing in the triathlon, exceeding the number of athletes who competed at Sochi’s 2014 Winter Olympics (2,873).

-It’s a 140.6 mile race, which is considerably longer than the distance from Boulder to Aspen (99 miles).

-There are also more than 3,000 volunteers, which is roughly 3% of Boulder’s population.

-There will be 15,000 feet of fencing which, if measured vertically, would be taller than the average skydiving jump height (12,500 ft).

-There will be 400,000 cups of water at the event, which is many more cups of water than I could personally drink in one sitting (roughly 9 cups).
That should give you a pretty good idea just how large this triathlon is.

The race itself will begin at 7 a.m on Sunday, August 3rd. It starts at Boulder Reservoir with a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike loop that weaves through the city and ends at Boulder High School. The final two-loop running course is then held almost entirely along the Boulder Creek Trail, eventually leading athletes up to Pearl Street for the last stretch of the race. For anyone who has interest in spectating the event, you can find information on how to get to all three of these events on Ironman’s website.

In addition to bringing the world’s largest triathlon to Boulder, Ironman is going to be giving its profits back to Boulder as well. The Ironman Foundation (IMF) will be giving $100,000 back to Boulder in grants, benefiting organizations such as the police force as well as Boulder High School. The IMF has given more than $28 million to nonprofit organizations since 2003. That’s a lot of money going to the right places.

It’s all very exciting news for Boulder, and it will be even more exciting to see the results on Sunday.

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