Is half an Ironman better than no Ironman at all? That remains to be seen as Nelson Mandela Bay prepares for the shortened version of the endurance race in 2027, after more than two decades of hosting the full event.
Ironman South Africa is set to downscale the 226.3km African Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay to a 70.3-mile (113km) middle-distance triathlon .
The organisation claims the international event’s economic impact on the city is set to remain the same despite it coming with shorter stays by the athletes and visitors. But those in the hospitality and tourism industries have their doubts.
Rumours of the event’s relocation started circulating in May, when Mossel Bay Mayor Dirk Kotzé posted on social media that his municipality was in talks with the event organisers about changing their half-Ironman event to the longer format.
Spectators at the Ironman in Gqeberha on 19 April. (Photo: Deon Ferreira) These rumours were confirmed last week when Ironman SA operations director Michele Bronkhorst gave a presentation on the revised event at a municipal sport, recreation, arts and culture committee meeting in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The transition aims to drive growth, accessibility and long-term sustainability after the full-distance triathlon had seen a steady decline in athlete participation numbers over the years, said Bronkhorst.
The full event consists of a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run, while the reduced event covers half these distances.
When Ironman was introduced to the city more than two decades ago, the full-distance race attracted more than 2,000 athletes, but participation dropped to less than 900 this year.
During her presentation, Bronkhorst said the estimated direct spend of the shorter event was between R60-million and R70-million, which was achieved this year.
Ironman SA operations director Michele Bronkhorst presents new plans for Ironman SA in Nelson Mandela Bay. (Photo: Andisa Bonani) According to her, switching to the 70.3 course will allow them to grow the field from 900 starters to 2,500.
“If in SA that 1,000-athlete full distance is all that we have, and we move it to another location, we’re diverting the 70.3 athletes from that location back into Nelson Mandela Bay,” she said.
“So the hope for us is that we continue to drive the tourism and economic impact, and build a sustainable growth model in Nelson Mandela Bay by getting the development of our sport back up and running, and get our athletes back into 70.3 distances, which for the average triathlete is something they will do about three times in a year, for multiple years.”
Highlighting the event’s economic impact, Bronkhorst said the 2,500 expected athletes would each bring 2.5 to three supporters, driving average hotel stays of three to four nights over the Ironman weekend.
Festival weekend
“Because we would still maintain an Iron Kids, the 5150 race and all the side events on Saturday, so it would still be a festival weekend of events.
“We would still be looking at that same average economic impact, a similar average of bed nights across the weekend, and a slightly shorter stay in Nelson Mandela Bay ... but your total economic impact increases because the number of athletes is increasing.”
Daisy Davies of the UK on her way to winning the women's event of the 2026 Ironman in Gqeberha on 19 April. (Photo: Deon Ferreira) The breakdown to realising peak economic impact:
Visitor numbers: 2,500 athletes and approximately 6,250 supporters equates to 8,750 total visitors;
Bed nights created : 8,750 visitors multiplied by 3.5 nights equates to 30,625 bed nights (excludes staff, sponsors, suppliers and technical teams); and
Direct visitor spend: 8,750 visitors multiplied by 3.5 days multiplied by R2,200 average daily spend equates t R67-million in direct economic impact.
Avid Ironman participant Alec Riddle said introducing the 70.3 race made sense as the numbers had been dwindling over the years.
Riddle recalled one year when 2,700 athletes took part, while last year’s race only attracted about 30% of that.
“There’s a lot of emotion among the athletes about the fact that [full-distance] Ironman is potentially leaving the city. All the people who have benefited over the years, such as Airbnbs, hotels and restaurants, are concerned, but we’ve got to look at the facts,” he said.
“What Michele is saying does make sense because we have seen a decline in Ironman numbers. Between 2005 and 2008, there were about 2,700 athletes, and now we have dropped to 700, which is less than 30% of that number, so it’s not economically viable to run Ironman with those numbers.”
Riddle said the 70.3 race would serve the city better.
“When we look at Mossel Bay’s 70.3, it attracted between 15,000 and 18,000 visitors, and Durban had roughly the same numbers. This means the metro will get double the amount of numbers in its 70.3.”
He said if the 70.3 had a professional division, this would attract more numbers, media coverage and publicity for the city…
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