{"id":271264,"date":"2026-05-14T19:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T19:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/271264\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T19:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T19:07:10","slug":"ironman-jacksonville-joins-two-florida-cities-in-grueling-debut-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/271264\/","title":{"rendered":"Ironman Jacksonville joins two Florida cities in grueling debut race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacksonville is hosting its first-ever Ironman race<\/a> Saturday, May 16, joining two other Florida cities with races slated for 2026, and bringing thousands of athletes and spectators to the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

The first Ironman Triathlon single-day endurance event, created by Judy and John Collins,<\/a> was held in Hawaii in 1978, where 15 competitors took up the arduous test.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Now, Ironman and its half-distance companion race, the Ironman 70.3, are the world\u2019s premier triathlon series spanning across over 50 countries<\/a>, regions and territories across the world, according to Ironman.<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know about the races in Florida.<\/p>\n

What’s an Ironman?<\/p>\n

An Ironman is a long-distance triathlon organized by the World Triathlon Corporation that includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon run completed consecutively in a single day.<\/p>\n

Widely regarded as one of the toughest endurance events in the world, athletes have up to 17 hours to finish all three segments of the race.<\/p>\n

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Where is the Ironman in Florida?\"An<\/p>\n

An athlete runs towards the final 26.2-mile running stage of the Visit Panama City Beach IRONMAN Florida triathlon Nov. 1, 2025. (Tyler Orsburn\/News Herald)<\/p>\n

There are three Ironman Florida races<\/a> slated for 2026, according to the official race locator:<\/p>\n

Full-Distance Races (140.6 miles)<\/p>\n

IRONMAN Jacksonville: Making its debut on Saturday, May 16, 2026.<\/p>\n

IRONMAN Florida (Panama City Beach): Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026.<\/p>\n

Half-Distance Races (70.3 miles)<\/p>\n

IRONMAN 70.3 Florida (Haines City): Sunday, Dec. 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

Ironman full distance vs. 70.3<\/p>\n

A full Ironman is a total of 140.6 miles \u2014 athletes swim 2.4 miles, bike for 112, and then run for 26.2 miles.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a half distance Ironman, also known as an Ironman 70.3, athletes swim for 1.2 miles, bike for 56, and run 13.1 miles.<\/p>\n

How long does Ironman, Ironman 70.3 take?<\/p>\n

Triathletes have up to 17 hours to complete an Ironman triathlon.<\/p>\n

For the Ironman 70.3, competitors have up to 8 hours and 30 mins.<\/p>\n

See Ironman Jacksonville course map<\/p>\n

Ironman Jacksonville will bring a full-on athlete takeover<\/a> to the North Florida city, with competitors racing across the city for up to 17 hours.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The course begins with a 2.4-mile swim in the St. Johns River at 7:30 a.m. from Metropolitan Park, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run through downtown Jacksonville and Riverside.<\/p>\n

\"Swim<\/p>\n

Swim Course Ironman2026<\/p>\n

\"Running<\/p>\n

Running Course Ironman2026<\/p>\n

\"Bike<\/p>\n

Bike Route Ironman2026<\/p>\n

Ironman near me: How to find nearest race<\/p>\n

To find the nearest Ironman race near you, visit ironman.com\/races<\/a> and search your city or use the map locator.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Ironman Florida 2026 races in Panama City, Jacksonville draw athletes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacksonville is hosting its first-ever Ironman race Saturday, May 16, joining two other Florida cities with races slated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,101259,116214,37287,116,116215],"class_list":["post-271264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-ironman-70-3","tag-ironman-race","tag-ironman-triathlon","tag-jacksonville","tag-world-triathlon-corporation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}