{"id":803606,"date":"2026-05-17T20:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803606\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:47:16","slug":"ironman-athletes-gather-for-awards-ceremony-reflect-on-first-ever-ironman-triathlon-in-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803606\/","title":{"rendered":"Ironman athletes gather for awards ceremony, reflect on first-ever Ironman Triathlon in Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Jacksonville capped off its first Ironman Triathlon with an awards ceremony Sunday morning at the Prime Osborn Convention Center, celebrating nearly 2,000 athletes who set personal records and pushed their way to the finish line.<\/p>\n

After more than 140 miles of racing, competitors filled their plates at a Sunday recovery breakfast before gathering to be recognized for their hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m proud of myself but also that women can do anything that they set their mind to,\u201d said New Hampshire athlete Samantha Stopyra-Glover.<\/p>\n

This morning\u2019s awards ceremony marked an opportunity for some top finishers from yesterday\u2019s Ironman to claim a spot at the Ironman World Championships, held in Kona, Hawaii.<\/p>\n

The convention center also set the stage for athletes and supporters to reflect on the race and the excitement of the weekend. <\/p>\n

Locals and visitors alike shared their experiences in the River City.<\/p>\n

Javier Zamorano, an athlete from Chile, was among those who made the trip to Jacksonville. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really loved the City of Jacksonville,\u201d Zamorano said. \u201cThe bridges are very pretty, the cleanliness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Husband-and-wife duo Ken and Adrienne McCarthy \u2014 one a supporter, one an athlete \u2014 also shared their takeaways from the course. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe swim did not have the current we expected,\u201d Adrienne said. \u201cWe definitely expected a faster swim, but it was still good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of positivity out on the course,\u201d Ken said.<\/p>\n

With nearly 2,000 athletes on the course, one challenge rose to the top when competitors were asked about their biggest obstacle \u2014 the heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very, very hot, and so there was more people walking than I\u2019ve ever seen in an Ironman,\u201d Adrienne said.<\/p>\n

For 19-year-old Amelie Buras, a standout Clearwater athlete, the Florida heat was nothing new. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I was pretty acclimated from living here,\u201d Buras said. \u201cA lot of ice on the run helped a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville capped off its first Ironman Triathlon with an awards ceremony Sunday morning at the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":799379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8314,3188,723,182481,7310,144128,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-803606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-duval-county","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-ironman","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-triathlon","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116591883070010503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}