IRONMAN CHINA 2008 CAST IN STONE WITH HAIKOU SET TO HOST APRIL RACE

    /24-7PressRelease/ - DENVER, CO, July 30, 2007 - Ironman China Ltd. (ICL), announced today that it has entered into a hosting agreement with the City of Haikou, Hainan for the staging of the inaugural Ironman China triathlon. This first-ever Ironman in China will take place on April 20, 2008 in Haikou, the capital city of Hainan Province.

"After several years of planning, including two postponements, we're extremely pleased to announce that Ironman China will at last be staged next year on April 20," said Robert D. Vernon, president of ICL. "We have cemented our relationships with both the World Triathlon Corporation and the China Triathlon Sports Association, and we've moved the event to Haikou where we have the enthusiastic support of the City and Provincial governments. Everything is signed, sealed and delivered, and we are already months into the preparation of what we expect will be an extraordinary Ironman experience."

"The race course is 100% world-class," said Murphy Reinschreiber of PCH Sports, a partner in ICL. "The City is re-designing a beach front area to host the swim start and transition area. The two-loop bike course provides athletes with at least two full lanes available to cyclists at all times, and the run course, which traverses Haikou's beach front, city parks and downtown city streets, is flat with the exception of two crossings of Haikou's signature New Century Bridge. While the weather is expected to be hot, a good deal of the run course will be shaded by palms."

Hainan Island, known as the Hawaii of China, is a beautiful tropical island located in the South China Sea about an hour by air from Hong Kong. Haikou, the island's principal city and capital, has a population of 1,700,000 and features world-class resort hotels, sandy beaches, and a vibrant city life.

The Ironman China website (www.IronmanChina.com) will begin accepting registration by August 3, 2007, and links to the event may be found at www.ironman.com, the website of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).

Ironman China has been in the planning since March of 2004, and in 2005 it signed a hosting agreement with Sanya for an April 2006 race. That race had to be postponed, however, due to the efforts of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) to prevent Chinese officials from sanctioning Ironman events. ITU interference was successfully challenged by WTC, and in May of 2006, ITU acknowledged that it would honor a previous settlement agreement with WTC which had barred ITU from engaging in such interference. However, the late date of the ITU settlement, combined with a lack of cooperation by local Sanya officials, eventually forced ICL to postpone its planned 2007 Ironman race.

Ironman China Ltd. is a Hong Kong corporation that has been licensed by the World Triathlon Corporation to stage Ironman triathlons in China.

# # #