In mid November a slowtwitch.com forum member predicted a 70.3 race in Hefei, China, and IRONMAN today confirmed this venue in a press release.

Hefei is the largest city of the Anhui Province in Eastern China and according to Wikipedia has a population of population of 7,611,000 inhabitants. Columbus, Ohio is a sister city, as is Dresden (Germany), Genoa (Italy) and Seville (Spain), plus a few others. About 9 miles from the downtown area is Chao Lake, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the country, but it has not been made public yet where the swim will take place. The run and bike courses have also not yet been announced.

IRONMAN 70.3 Hefei is scheduled to take place on October 16, 2016 and is now the second event announced in China since the Dalian Wanda group purchased the iconic M-dot brand. The other 70.3 race will take place in Xiamen, China on November 6, 2016, and these two venues are about 1,000 kilometers apart.

The IRONMAN 70.3 Hefei triathlon will offer 50 AG qualifying slots for the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship taking place in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA and 15 qualifying slots for the 2017 IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Registration for this new event starts on February 2, 2016.

The above image is not from Hefei, it is a stock image from Kona 2015.