IronMan Westfriesland: Over 2000 athletes conquer the harbor!

IronMan Westfriesland: Over 2000 athletes conquer the harbor!

The sixth edition of IRONMAN West-Friesland took place on Sunday, June 22, 2025, and the event attracted over 2000 participants, including both professional triathletes and recreational athletes. The starting line was set up on the Oude Doelenkade and the atmosphere was great at a pleasant 21 degrees. What was particularly pleasing was that a heat protocol was not necessary, which made the competition conditions pleasant for everyone involved. Loud Streekomroep West Friesland things went extremely smoothly.

The participants prepared for various challenges, including a 1.9-kilometer swim in the picturesque harbor, a 90-kilometer bike ride through the surrounding communities and finally a 21.1-kilometer run. Mathias Lyngsø Petersen from Denmark secured first place among the men with an impressive time of 3:44 hours. Marlène de Boer was the fastest among the women and crossed the finish line in 4:12 hours. The event was also an opportunity for many other athletes to achieve personal best times, such as 23-year-old Clement Pichon from Bordeaux, who took over five hours.

Competition conditions and organization

The event was not without incident: some participants had to be taken out of the race during the swim due to wave warnings. In addition, several athletes were issued blue cards for rule violations such as slipstreaming. One participant even went wrong, but was ultimately not disqualified. Despite these challenges, the organization of the event was consistently rated positively, particularly due to the flat and pleasant route profile.

The awards ceremony took place at 5:30 p.m. and the fastest participants and winners in various age categories were honored. The organizers are optimistic about the future: They plan to organize another edition of the IRONMAN West-Friesland next year and hope for another sold-out event. This high demand is also reflected in the general trends in triathlon IRONMAN recently published.

Growth of the sport of triathlon

The number of participants shows that interest in triathlons continues to increase. Over the last five years there has been a notable increase in first-time participants under the age of 30, indicating a growing interest in the sport. Last year, over 200,000 athletes worldwide registered for IRONMAN events. It is also pleasing that the 30 to 34 year old age group represents the largest group of participants.

In order to increase the proportion of women in triathlon, IRONMAN is planning new programs and initiatives to promote female participants, as the current participation rate of 18% in IRONMAN events and 26% in IRONMAN 70.3 triathlons still has room for improvement. Given these positive developments, it remains to be seen how the sport will develop in the future, especially with the support of young athletes.