Ironman Acquires Competitor Group

IRONMAN has announced the acquisition of the Competitor Group Holdings (CGI), owner of Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, extending IRONMAN’s portfolio.

Since the first Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in 1998, CGI has expanded to host events across 22 major markets in the US and eight international races from the UK to China with more than 30 world-class events including the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series

IRONMAN already owns or operates more than 20 running races worldwide, including the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, ASB Auckland Marathon, Marathon Bordeaux and Across the Bay 10k. In recent years, IRONMAN has moved into road cycling events including the UCI Velothon Majors Series, mountain bike races such as the Absa Cape Epic, and premier marathons.

Andrew Messick, chief executive officer for IRONMAN said: “This is an important step in the growth IRONMAN has seen over the last decade. As a globally-recognized endurance brand, the acquisition of the world’s largest running platform puts us in an exciting position for the future growth of running worldwide.

“The ability to help globalize the successful Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series brings about many opportunities to demonstrate our leadership in this industry.

“We are committed to providing our athletes with consistent, high-quality experiences across each of our events. Our distinct expertise in event operations will allow us to ensure that athletes across the entire endurance life cycle are able to achieve their goals at any stage in their endurance journey-from 5k to IRONMAN.”

Josh Furlow, President of CGI said: “This is a game changing development for the future of CGI and a clear signal into the investment being made in the global running community. IRONMAN is a tremendous organization with incredible brand strength and I look forward to working with Andrew to bring together two of the world’s greatest event producers collectively as one team.”