World Triathlon Corporation

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The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) is a corporation which organizes, promotes and licenses the Ironman Triathlon series of triathlon races.

The Ironman race series culminates each year in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championships, held each year in Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawai‘i.

WTC Ironman races are not sanctioned by the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and are therefore not official triathlon world championships. However, WTC and the Ironman Triathlon have been in existence longer than the ITU.

[edit] History

In 1990, Lew Friedland assisted Dr. James P. Gills in the acquisition and purchase of the World Triathlon Corporation. Friedland subsequently served as a member of the Board of Directors and as Vice President of WTC until his promotion to President in 1998.

Throughout his tenure, Friedland attended more than a dozen Ironman Triathlon World Championship races in Kona, Hawaii. After celebrating the successful 25th anniversary of the Ironman Triathlon in 2004, Friedland expressed interest in significantly reducing his role and amount of travel.

Ben Fertic, formerly Vice President of Information Systems, succeeded Friedland as President of WTC in 2004. Fertic, an Ironman finisher, joined WTC in 2000 and has been heavily involved in the business operations and day-to-day decision making for WTC. During Fertic's tenure as VP, he was instrumental in creating Ironmanlive.com, the online presence of the Ironman Triathlon, which helped bring the race's online presence and the races themselves to a new level, including online video streaming of the events.