TAMPA, Fla. & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IRONMAN, a Wanda Sports Holdings company, announced today a multi-year global partnership that expands its relationship with ROKA, the Austin-based performance multisport brand. This new partnership makes ROKA the Official Global Wetsuit and Swim Partner of IRONMAN® and the IRONMAN World Championship and IRONMAN 70.3® World Championship events.
The partnership between IRONMAN and ROKA will further a relationship that began in 2014. Besides an expanded physical presence at IRONMAN events across the globe, ROKA and IRONMAN are collaborating on IRONMAN World Championship swim products this October in honor of IRONMAN’s 40th Anniversary. Additionally, ROKA will now sell co-branded swim products online via www.ironmanstore.com and roka.com, and will continue to give out the ROKA Fastest Swimmer Award to congratulate the fastest age group athlete during each event’s swim.
“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with IRONMAN,” said ROKA CEO and Co-Founder Rob Canales. “IRONMAN is the best in the world at providing the ultimate endurance race experience, and ROKA is the best in the world at supporting those athletes with technical products that meet the demands of the day. We’re excited to collaborate with IRONMAN on new products and services and to immediately bring our existing ones to more athletes around the world.”
In the last six years, ROKA has designed the world’s most advanced high-performance wetsuits, goggles, eyewear, swimskins and race apparel, which have been worn to numerous world titles and over 50 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 wins by the world’s best triathletes, including Javier Gómez Noya, Lucy Charles, Tim Reed, Melissa Hauschildt, Luke McKenzie, Meredith Kessler, Linsey Corbin, Jesse Thomas and more. With this new partnership, IRONMAN athletes will be able to sample ROKA’s groundbreaking technology before they buy at each IRONMAN event in the IRONMAN Village and have exclusive access to new products during the lead up to their races.
“I first tried ROKA’s Maverick wetsuit and Viper swimskin in 2014 and have been using both ever since, however the products have at times been difficult to find outside the U.S.” said Javier Gómez Noya, two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion who splits time between Spain and New Zealand. “With this expanded partnership, IRONMAN athletes from around the globe can now get their hands on the cutting-edge technology that has been my secret weapon for the past four years.”
Just six years from its humble beginnings in a garage in Austin, ROKA has grown to become the wetsuit and swimwear choice of countless triathletes and hundreds of multisport teams around the world, and its Viper swimskin has been trusted by more athletes at the IRONMAN World Championships than any other brand for multiple years running.
“ROKA embodies the spirit of innovation and ingenuity that aligns well with the needs of our athletes,” said Matthieu Van Veen, Chief Revenue Officer for IRONMAN. “We are eager to expand this partnership to cover all of our events globally and bring ROKA’s swimwear products to our athletes around the world.”
In 2018, ROKA will have a presence across the IRONMAN® and IRONMAN 70.3® Series, including 40 races in North America, 32 in Europe, and 13 in Oceania, as well as the IRONMAN World Championship and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Each IRONMAN race consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run while the IRONMAN 70.3 race series events consist of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run.
For more information on the IRONMAN brand and global event series, visit www.ironman.com.
Find out more about ROKA at roka.com.
About ROKA
ROKA started in a garage in Austin, Texas with humble beginnings and laser-beam focus. ROKA’s mission is to unlock human potential. To equip, empower, inspire and ignite. ROKA serves those who seek to redefine the standard, to push themselves to the limit – whatever and wherever that may be.
Since its launch in 2013, ROKA athletes have won over a dozen world titles and have been instrumental in the design and development of an unprecedented collection of patented and award-winning products. In 2016, ROKA was proud to send 18 athletes to the Rio Olympics, taking home Gold and Bronze. In PyeongChang, ROKA continued the tradition, taking home Olympic Gold and Bronze in their Advanced Performance eyewear. 2018 has seen elite athletes around the globe in running, cycling, triathlon, speed skating, beach volleyball, and off-road endurance events trusting ROKA eyewear for their most important performances on the biggest of stages.
ROKA products are available worldwide at www.roka.com and through select retailers. Visit us online to learn more about our growing lines of premium performance eyewear. Follow ROKA on social media at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
About IRONMAN
A Wanda Sports Holdings company, IRONMAN operates a global portfolio of events that includes the IRONMAN® Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN® 70.3® Triathlon Series, 5150™ Triathlon Series, the Rock n’ Roll Marathon Series®, Iron Girl®, IRONKIDS®, International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Series races, road cycling events including the UCI Velothon® Series, mountain bike races including the Absa Cape Epic®, premier marathons including the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, and other multisport races. IRONMAN’s events, together with all other Wanda Sports Holdings events, provide more than a million participants annually the benefits of endurance sports through the company’s vast offerings. The iconic IRONMAN® Series of events is the largest participation sports platform in the world. Since the inception of the IRONMAN® brand in 1978, athletes have proven that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE® by crossing finish lines at the world’s most challenging endurance races. Beginning as a single race, IRONMAN has grown to become a global sensation with more than 200 events across 50 countries. For more information, visit www.ironman.com.
About Wanda Sports Holdings
Wanda Sports Holdings is the world’s leading sports business entity, founded to capture the opportunities in the global sports industry and to contribute to the prosperous international sports landscape – in three key areas: 1) Spectator Sports (media and marketing business), 2) Participation Sports (active lifestyle business), 3) Services (digital, production and service business). Wanda Sports Holding incorporates the international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media, the iconic endurance brand IRONMAN, and Wanda Sports China. The headquarters are in Guangzhou, China.
