How Much Does It Cost To Do An IRONMAN 70.3 For Your First Time?

The single-day endurance event, known as IRONMAN was the brainchild of Judy and John Collins, a couple who moved from California to Hawaii in 1975. It comprises an absurd distance of a 3.9km swim, 180km bike and a 42km run (a full marathon).

A IRONMAN 70.3 is also known as a half Ironman, where distances are halved, would be often recommended for individuals who would want to push themselves via one of the world’s hardest endurance races beyond any normal individual sport.

Why do something like this to yourself?

Back when I was preparing to do this it was mid 2022 when I had just planned on moving on from Seedly, a company I had co-founded for 7 years and taking a break.

Innately I’ve always believed that health and wealth habits often came hand in hand.

Thus I had this desire to push my fitness and body towards a higher order. What could I prepare for in the next 6 months that could be meaningful to work on before my next venture?

So I went shopping for a key race I could accomplish before my 30th birthday at the end of the year.

My first call to action was to head over to the race page to look for races which were happening and back in full swing after the COVID pandemic.

I saw that there was an ideal race after some research in Busselton, Western Australia which is highly recommended for first-timer IRONMAN athletes as the race was generally simpler to do, flat bike, flat run and also generally calmer waves.

Next, came a very important question beyond the race fees…

How much money do you really need in total?

The difference with IRONMAN triathlons and other races like Marathons in particular, is the incredible need to understand three disciplines of the sport - Swimming, Biking and Running.

Hence, along with the added weight of more training, there was consequently also going to be an increase in spending required both in the training and the lead up to race day.

I found that resources and documentation surrounding the local Singapore context in SGD were missing for local athletes.

Here’s a breakdown of the total costs you would need to get started to attempt and finish one of these races in a calendar year. I hope that this might be relevant for someone who might be looking to get started!

You’d need a rough total of around $9,400

As far as possible, I was always looking to get things secondhand on Carousell. For the items which were more key to finishing the race (THE KEY GOAL), I wanted to make sure to get equipment in prime condition.

At the end of the day, I did not want to have lousy excuses or reasons to not finish or even more critically, if safety was a key concern.

Amounts are rounded to the nearest hundred below.

Swim Gear - $300

• Wet Suit from Amazon ($100)

• Swim Goggles, Training fins, snorkel, Pool Buoy ($200)

Bike Gear - $3,200

• 2nd Hand Cervelo P2 TT Bike ($1,800)
• Full Service & Bike Fitting ($800)
• Bike Shoes ($200)
• Helmet, Pump and other equipment ($300)

• Bike box rental ($100)

Run Gear - $1,200

• GARMIN Forerunner 955 ($600)
• Tri Suit ($400)

• Running shoes ($200)

Training Coach & Sessions- $1,700

• An IRONMAN Coach over 4 months (Highly recommended with ELEVATE Arthur Tong, though he can be quite strict at times for good reason - $1,180)
• Track Squad Sessions (ELEVATE Performance Coaching - $150)

• Swim Squad Sessions (ELEVATE Performance Coaching - $365)

Travel - $2,200

• Return Air Tickets to Perth via Scoot & Qantas ($1,200)
• Car Rental Perth Busselton ($300)
• Stay in Busselton ($300)

• Bintan Training Camp (Optional but recommended, to get used to cycling longer distances and swimming in open waters - $400)

Race Admin & Miscellaneous - $800

• IRONMAN 70.3 WA Race Fees ($600)

• Gels & other nutrition ($200)

The commitment is well beyond the money

Beyond the money spent on this sport, another big factor to consider would be the time and dedication put into the training to ensure that you’re fit enough to take on the big day.

And most importantly, there is a huge commitment to the people who are training alongside with you as well if you are fortunate enough to be part of a tri-club.

Dedicating a huge shoutout to the ELEVATE Performance training team who has a huge passionate bunch of individuals training for various races all around the world from Singapore.

Conclusion: It is ALL worth it at the Finish Line

If you’ve read all the way and are still sitting on the fence. I’d urge you to cross that line both figuratively and literally.

I’d like to give a huge appreciation to my family, and wife in particular, Elaine, who has had to put up with my training schedules, and immense worry about me swimming in the sea, biking on the roads and running in the sweltering heat.

If you have that fire burning in your tummy, then I'd urge you to light it on fire with endless 10 hour per week training sessions and the adrenaline rush of competing.

And as my coach Arthur had also shared with me in days leading up to the big race day - that not everyone has the health, time, and money to train up to race an IRONMAN.

That makes you less than 0.01% of the world’s population that has ever completed the world’s premier endurance sport.

So just do it and commit yourself, because anything’s possible.