Entries for the 2010 IRONMAN UK opened today for pre-registered athletes - and close to 700 entries had been received within the first two hours!

Full details, and the email which went out to the pre-registration list is reproduced below. The email also includes details of some course changes, including the location of the swim and transitions, from the 2009 event.

Registration for the 2010 IRONMAN UK will be opening on Friday 4th December at 1pm and athletes on the 2010 IRONMAN UK Pre Registration list will have the usual 24hrs priority entrance to take one of the coveted 1500 race slots. Please be aware that there are over 8000 of you signed up to receive the advance notice, so don’t delay. Once the race slots are gone, they are gone!

Race day is Sunday August 1st 2010.

Following on from last year, there are several changes to the race.

The first will be the location of the swim section and Transition. This will now be at Pennington Flash in Leigh near Wigan and will feature Transition 1 and Transition 2 at this location. The Transition will be situated on tarmac, so come rain or shine you will have the peace of mind of knowing that Transition will have a firm foundation. This location also has improved spectator access to the water. The swim will again be two laps. IRONMAN UK would like to thank Wigan and Leigh Charitable Trust for their support with this event.

IRONMAN UK Registration and Expo will take place at Leigh Sports Village. In addition there is a 135 Bed Park Inn Hotel on site, which has partnered with the 2010 event as the Official IRONMAN UK Swim Start Hotel and is offering accommodation packages for IRONMAN UK athletes and spectators - www.leigh.parkinn.co.uk.

The 2010 IRONMAN UK bike course and run courses will undergo certain changes in order to meet the location of the new swim venue; however Sheep House Lane will remain a feature on the bike course and you will still have to do it three times! The IRONMAN UK Bike course will consist of an out and back section and three 30 mile loops. Each loop will have 2173 ft of climbing, with the out and back section having 576ft of climbing. This is a total of 7131ft or 2348 meters.

The 2010 IRONMAN UK run course will head from T2 towards Bolton and pick up the same route as last year, heading down New Chorley Road. The Queens Park section has been streamlined, but will still be a great place for spectators to catch you. The Run course will contain 1569ft or 478 meters of climbing. There will once again be mile markers on the run course - albeit with increased security for them. There will also be distance markers on the Feed Stations…just in case!

Full detailed swim, bike and run routes are available on the event website when entries go live. Provisional courses will be on the website, in a downloadable KML format, GPX and TCX. These programs open in Google earth http://earth.google.com and Google maps and also on GPS devices, but you will need to download the free Google software to access this. More traditional maps will follow. As usual routes are always subject to change.

The 2010 IRONMAN UK Finish will remain in front of Bolton Town Hall in Victoria Square and will be even bigger and better than last year with new seating arrangements and more entertainment on the IRONMAN UK Finish Line big screens. After the Finish, IRONMAN UK shuttle buses will once again transport you back to Pennington Flash to pick up your bike and car - as was laid on by IRONMAN UK at the 2009 event. The Holiday Inn, in Bolton town centre, has partnered with our 2010 event as the Official IRONMAN UK Finish Line Hotel and is offering accommodation packages for athletes and spectators.

The IRONMAN UK Pasta Party, Race Briefing and Award Ceremony will once again take place in the Reebok Stadium Premier Suite as per last year. The Pasta Party will revert back to 7pm Friday evening, the Race Briefing will move to 5pm Saturday and the Awards Ceremony will be at its usual time of midday on the Monday after the event.

IRONMAN UK would like to take this opportunity to thank Greater Manchester Police, Lancashire Police, Lancashire Highways, Blackburn and Darwen Highways, Bolton Highways and Wigan Highways as well as Lancashire County Council, Bolton Council, Wigan council and Wigan and Leigh Charitable trust for their prompt turnaround to our ongoing discussions, and for their hard work to get the 2010 courses to their present stages in order that online entries can open for you, the Competitor.

We look forward to working alongside all the afore mentioned authorities as we further develop the 2010 course in the New Year, some changes are inevitable as our combined planning processes continue to develop the 2010 event.

Good luck with your on-line entry and we look forward to seeing you on the 2010 IRONMAN UK start line.