IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside: Date, start time and how to watch star-studded line-ups battle for glory

The third race of the IRONMAN Pro Series takes place on Saturday April 5 as a plethora of the world’s best swim, bike, run superstars head to California for IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside, the first event of the year in the United States.

Two mammoth fields are to set to do battle across the middle-distance with plenty of star names, particularly on the men’s side, tickling the tastebuds of triathlon enthusiasts across the globe.

Few races will rival the men’s start list which includes three-time IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside champion Lionel Sanders, 2021 IRONMAN World Champion and 2022 70.3 World Champion Kristian Blummenfelt, 2022 IRONMAN World Champion and two-time 70.3 World Champion Gustav Iden as well as reigning IRONMAN World Champion Patrick Lange.

They’ll be challenged by the likes of Rudy Von Burg, Ben Kanute and Joe Skipper as well as Cam Wurf, Braden Currie and Jacob Birtwhistle, who already have IRONMAN Pro Series points in the bank.

While the women’s event may not boast an array of world champions, there is still an abundance of talent gunning for top spot. Canada’s Paula Findlay and Tamara Jewett are the highest ranked athletes on show according to the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) world ratings.

However, a strong US contingent headed by Jackie Hering, Danielle Lewis, Alice Alberts and Grace Alexander will be keen to impress on home soil.

Start time and how to watch live

IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside gets underway on Saturday April 5 at 06:40 local time (PST) with the professional men setting off first slightly ahead of the women.

In Europe, this corresponds to 15:40 CET, with the race starting at 14:40 in the UK. Professional racing begins at 09:40 on the eastern seaboard of the United States.

The race will be broadcast live and for free across multiple platforms for viewers around the world including proseries.ironman.com, Outside TV for US and Canada viewers, DAZN, iQIYI, L’Equipe Live, and YouTube among others. 

Nearer the time, we will embed the YouTube coverage below so you don’t have to leave this page.

As always, the ever reliable IRONMAN Tracker is the perfect data addition to support your viewing.

Pro Men’s Race

Canadian star Sanders goes in search of a fourth IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside victory – and a seventh podium in seven starts at the race.

Wins in 2016, 2017 and 2024 cement this race as one of his favourites, with second-place finishes in 2018 and 2022 adding to his bronze on debut as a professional in 2015. To add a fourth winner’s medal to his trophy cabinet, however, he will have to defeat a trio of world champions.

The formidable Norwegian partnership of Blummenfelt and Iden have been training hard ahead of the new campaign and will both will be eager to fire a warning shot to the rest of the sport. Blummenfelt won the 70.3 World Championship in 2022 but has won just two middle-distance races over the past couple of seasons while he focussed on the Paris Olympics.

Iden, meanwhile, was injured throughout 2023 and struggled to showcase his undoubted talents through a challenging 2024. A win at Challenge Turku is his lone victory since the Kona success in 2022. Short-course star Casper Stones has been training with his fellow Norwegians and will also be at the race.

German Lange, who won in Kona in October last year, is another who’s best performances have come at distances outside of the 70.3 format – his last win over the middle-distance came in 2019.

American Kanute will certainly expect to throw his name into the mix – he is a two-time Oceanside race victor in 2019 and 2021. He is another, however, who has failed to win a 70.3 race in approaching four years.

Another US star to consider is 25-year-old Trevor Foley who won both 70.3 Maine and 70.3 Boulder during the 2024 season. He appears to be from the Sam Long school of performance – outstanding on the bike and the run, but a straggler in the water.

So early in the season, it may be worth considering those triathletes who already have a race under their belts in 2025.

Australia’s Birtwhistle ran current 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens close in Geelong on March 23 and could be battle hardened heading into the California race. He bested fellow Oceanside contenders Currie and Wurf by a considerable distance in the race Down Under and has finished top five in all four of his middle-distance starts.

Britain’s Skipper has also made an appearance this season, finishing second at IRONMAN New Zealand. He is certainly a full-distance merchant – his 10 career victories have all come over the 140.6 Ironman distance – so the switch to 70.3 may not be in his favour.

Pro Women’s Race

IRONMAN Pro Series runner-up in 2024 Hering will be eager to go one better this term. A third-place at 70.3 St. George coupled with second at 70.3 Chattanooga earned the American valuable points last term, as did a pair of podiums over the full-distance. However, her last 70.3 success came back in 2022.

Canadian Findlay beat Hering in St. George last year, one of her two victories on the circuit in 2024. She also boasts a trio of top six finishes at the 70.3 World Championships over the past three years in addition to six race victories in total. The 35-year-old won this race back in 2021 when the event was held in October.

Compatriot Jewett will also be a threat for the top step of the podium. She spent the 2024 season competing in the T100 Triathlon World Tour where she recorded four top 10 finishes. She will, however, have to hope her DNF issues – she had four last term – have been ironed out.

Estonia’s Kaidi Kivioja may not have the results to her name following a solid season in 2024, but the 32-year-old is statistically solid across swim, bike and run. She ranks in the PTOs top five in all disciplines where it comes to the race and certainly has experience racing against high quality fields – she raced all six T100 races last year.

Many others will also fancy their chances on the day: Dutchwoman Maya Kingma makes the step-up in distance after finishing seventh at the Paris Olympics, American Lewis is sharp on the bike and run, while Britain’s Steph Clutterbuck ranks in the PTO’s top 50 in the world when it comes to swimming and biking.

Oceanside 70.3 course

A rolling start corral, triathletes will venture out onto the single loop 1.9km saltwater swim course that take competitors into Oceanside Harbour.

Following T1. the bike course takes athletes through the Oceanside Harbour towards Camp Pendleton – an active military base – as competitors get site of California’s countryside. Following a 32km jaunt along the coastline, athletes will venture inland facing a trio of climbs including San Mateo Hill. The single loop ends with T2 in the vicinity of the harbour.

A two loop, out-and-back style run, along the harbour front ends proceedings – a relatively fast and frenetic end to the race.

IRONMAN Pro Series 2025

Oceanside is the third stop on an 18-race schedule at 17 locations which will venture to Australasia, Europe, North America and Africa. The Series has an end-of-year bonus pool totalling $1.7m, that is on top of the prize money awarded for each race.

Winners of full-distance events will be allocated a maximum of 5000 points for winning, with 2,500 awarded in 70.3 races.

Points for all remaining professional finishers will diminish based on the time deficit to first place at a rate of 1 point per 1 second to the first place finish time.  There is no points minimum, or “floor”. Points will accumulate throughout the season.

The male and female pro with the most points at the end of the Pro Series will be crowned IRONMAN Pro Series Champions. A competitor’s best five events will determine their points total.

A cool $200,000 is on offer for the series winner on both the men’s and women’s side, with second earning €130,000 and third receiving $85,000. The cumulative payout for the 2025 season is €2,450,000.