Qualify no more!

As of next year, anyone who wants to enter Port Mac can do so, as long as they complete a half ironman, eliminating the need to meet a qualifying standard.

There will be places for 1800 athletes and entries will be open on July 1. Multifinishers will be able to enter as of June 1st though they will still have to complete a half ironman to ``validate'' their spot. Legends can just enter!

This is the news letter sent on Monday:

New Ironman Australia Entry Procedure:

Entries open July 1, 2007. Enter and pay online at www.ironmanoz.com

Entries will close when the field limit of 1,800 competitors is reached. A waiting list will be put in place if required.

Multi Finishers (5 times to 9 times) entries will open on June 1st 2007, giving ‘one month head start’ to enter before the general entries commence. Note - Multi Finishers (5-9 finishes) will still be required to validate their Ironman entry.

Ironman Australia Legends (10-times or more Ironman Australia finishers) will be exempt from validating their Ironman entry.

International entries will be exempt from validating in the Snap Australian Half Ironman Series but will continue to be asked to have completed a Half Ironman in the proceeding 12 months.

After entering Ironman Australia, competitors will need to compete in one or more of the Half Ironman races to validate their entry. Once an athlete completes a Half Ironman race their name will automatically go into the confirmed entry list.

The confirmed entry list will be continually updated after each validation race. The final Ironman race field will be confirmed after the final race of the Series i.e. Ironman 70.3 event in February 2008. If a waiting list is necessary this will be updated progressively and these competitors put into the field as withdrawals occur.

Withdrawals from Ironman Australia received before the last event in the Series (Ironman 70.3) will receive a refund of their entry fee less an administration fee of $160.

Failure to validate by the final race of the Series will mean an automatic withdrawal from the 2008 Ironman Australia. In these cases, athletes will be withdrawn and will receive 50% refund of entry fee.