With its lovely beaches, strategic location, and numerous tourism spots scattered all over the island, Bintan in Riau Islands province has always been one of the stars of Indonesia's tourism industry.

Those are the reasons why renowned sport management company MetaSport chooses to hold its MetaMan long-distance triathlon in the island on Aug. 31.

We have several other locations in Asia Pacific in our mind. In the end, we chose Bintan because many triathletes wish for a reachable venue right in the middle of everything, MetaSport managing director Nathalie Marquet told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Natalie also cited excellent support from the Riau Islands administration, good infrastructure, and scenic terrain as reasons.

Bintan is located near Batam island. It is just an hour's ferry-ride from Singapore's Tanah Merah ferry terminal or an 80-minute flight away from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The event itself is held at the Nirwana Gardens Resort, located in Bintan's upscale resort area Lagoi and only 10-minute shuttle ride away from the Bandar Bentan Telani ferry terminal.

This year's MetaMan Bintan long-distance triathlon is the second time it is held under collaboration between MetaSport, Bintan Resorts International and Bintan Tourism Board.

Around 500 world-class athletes, triathlon enthusiasts, and travelers from 35 countries, including Australia, the UK, Canada, Italy, Japan and host country Indonesia are expected to take part in the event.

The MetaMan Bintan 2013 will have two race distances, from which participants can choose. The first is a full iron distance (3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of biking and 42.2 kilometers of running), and the other a half-iron distance (1.9-kilometer swim, 90-kilometer bike and 21.1-kilometer run).

The event will offer a total of US$154,000 in prizes, comprising of US$142,000 for full iron distance winners and US$12,000 for the half-iron distance winners.

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2nd MetaMan triathlon to be held in Riau Islands