Oceanside CA— Nearly 3,000 world-class athletes, from around the globe, are in Oceanside this weekend for the Ironman 70.3 triathlon. The athletes, from 25 countries and representing 45 states, California with 2,104 registered participants, will take on the 70.3 mile, swim, bike and run course. At stake is a share of the $60,000 professional prize purse and 30 age group qualifying slots for the 2015 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship taking place in Zell am See-Kaprun, SalzburgerLand, Austria on August 30, 2015.
The IRONMAN 70.3 begins, 6:40 a.m., Saturday March 28, at the Oceanside Harbor with 1.2-mile swim, transitions to a 56 mile bike ride through Camp Pendleton and ends with a 13.1 run which traverses streets around the pier. Competitors have 8 hours and 30 minutes after the final swim wave to complete the course.

Defending 2014 Accenture IRONMAN 70.3 California Champions are Jan Frodeno (DEU) with a time of 3:49:25 and Heather Wurtele (CAN) who completed the course in 4:13:12. Other professional athletes to watch are; Heather Jackson, 30 years-old from Bend Oregon and Andy Potts 38 years-old from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The age range for the participants is from 18–74 years old with occupations that include Airline Pilot, Business Executive, Computer Engineer, Culinary Arts Professional and Physician.
Notable competitors include:

• IRONMAN Foundation athletes Eric McElvenny 31 years-old, San Diego and Douglas Kimes 40 years-old from Aurora, Colorado
• Jon Robins, of San Diego, is the oldest athlete in the event at 75 years-old
• Emily Puckett is the youngest at 18 years-old
• Vincent “Sunny” Garcia, professional surfer, ASP World Tour Champion in 2000
• Mario Samora In May 2012, Mario, who weighed 452 pounds, decided to change his life for better health and fitness. He has since lost more than 200 pounds. He has also been blogging about his transformation at SheddingOunces.com.
• Rebecca Green– In August 2014, Rebecca was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a double mastectomy and seven weeks of radiation, she is cancer free as of December 20th, 2014. Rebecca has always been a runner, but she has left the triathlons to her dad – until now.
• Rob Verheist– Rob races for the Fireman Rob Foundation in full fire fighter gear which weighs about 50 pounds. He has completed many IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events and races to help raise awareness and show people that they are able to do more than they think if they just take the first steps.

A lot of support people arrive with the almost three thousand competing athletes and there are many community projects going on. To ease race day morning anxiety of where to park, officials will be handing out parking passes that will be color coded to specific parking lots, at Athlete Check-In. On the back of the passes will be the directions. There will be parking enforcement
and volunteers to guide you where you need to be.
Race morning shuttles for spectators:
There will be three shuttle stops near the pier area:

• Regal Theatres at Mission Ave. and Tremont St.
• Oceanside High School on Mission Ave.
• Endurance House on Coast Highway just north of Civic Center Dr.

The shuttles will drop off at Lot #1 in Oceanside Harbor and a volunteer will guide you to proceed thru the tunnel at the south end of the lot that will bring you by Joe’s Crab Shack and the Harborside Village. Follow sidewalk to the Transition area, grabbing a cup of joe from Nautical Bean.
The shuttle will operate from 4:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., picking you up from the east side of the tunnel and the shuttle will take you to one of the three stops listed above. The volunteers at each of these stops can guide you down to the pier area for the finish line.

NOTE: Athletes staying in hotels near the pier, please decline the provided parking passes and use the shuttle (no bikes allowed on the shuttle).Those with bike racks behind their car are asked to use the two parking structures so as to leave the parking lot and street parking to those with roof racks. Atheletes are asked decline the parking pass at Athlete Check-In and park in one of the two parking structures. Take I-5 to Mission Ave, exit and head West. Then choose the following:

1. Turn Right onto Horne St, then Left onto Civic Center Dr. Parking structure will be on your left.
2. Turn Left onto Cleveland. Parking structure is on your right, just past Seagaze Dr.

There will be an information booth by the Official IRONMAN Store, located on the Strand just south of the Pier, during race week. Course information, a schedule of events and details about the shuttle bus service and parking will be available at the information booth. On race day, an additional information booth will be located on the corner of S. Harbor Dr. and N. Pacific St.