Event Brings Together Elite Athletes and Accenture's Technology Expertise on August 28

CHICAGO -- More than 7,600 athletes from around the globe are expected to compete in the Accenture Chicago Triathlon on Sunday, Aug. 28, making it the largest event of its kind in the world.

Among the elite professionals scheduled to participate are Olympic Silver Medalist and 7-time Accenture Chicago Triathlete winner Michellie Jones and fellow Australians Craig Alexander and Emma Snowsill, the winners of the 2004 event, plus Australian Craig Walton, the 2003 winner.

In addition to the more than 7,600 participants --10 times the number who participated in the inaugural race in 1983 -- this year's event is expected to attract more than 500,000 spectators.

"We are pleased to welcome the largest field ever, including a highly competitive group of athletes, to this year's race," said Jan Caille, the organizer of the Accenture Chicago Triathlon. "For the first time in our event's 23-year history, professionals and amateurs will race side-by-side on the run course, making for an even more exciting and challenging event."

The Accenture Chicago Triathlon features an both an International Distance competition, which includes a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike ride and a 10K run along Chicago's lakefront, and a Sprint Distance competition, with each of the three legs approximately half the distance of those in the International Distance.

For this year's International Distance competition, event organizers have added an Elite Age Group division, designed for top triathletes who are not professionals. Competitors in this division must be USA Triathlon (USAT) members and in the top 20 percent of their USAT age groups. They will compete head-to-head with other top USA Triathlon-ranked athletes, and their results will be included in the 2005 USAT age group rankings. Enhanced Technology Accenture, which has been the title sponsor of the Chicago triathlon since 2003, will once again be providing innovative technology solutions to allow fans to follow the race as it happens.

Among these are the Athlete Alert system, which sends real-time race update messages to racers' friends and families using voice and text messaging; the system can be used with any telephone, including mobile phones. At many other races, participants' times and other race data are collected at the end of the race from sensors placed along the course, then downloaded, sorted and made available on the Web the day after the triathlon. The Accenture technology distributes results in real time for immediate results.

Accenture will also introduce new tools for this year's race that allow racers' families and friends to track the triathletes as never before. By logging on to http://triathlons.accenture.com, users will be able to:

* Track an athlete by name or bib number on an interactive race map, determining location along the route as they pass through checkpoints on the swim, bike and run legs of the event;

* Watch a live Webcam view of the finish line during the race; and

* After the race, view athletes' official times; overall, gender and division-specific rankings; and average swim, run and bike times -- all within minutes of the finish. Fans can also watch a 30-second video clip of each athlete as he or she crosses the finish line.

Accenture recently received accolades from members of the U.S. armed services in Iraq, who used this new tool to track results of their loved ones participating in the Accenture Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco on June 12. In addition to that triathlon, Accenture also sponsored the Ford New York City Triathlon on July 10. Both of those events also featured Accenture's Athlete Alert system.

"Accenture is proud to bring innovative technology to the Chicago triathlon and enhance the enjoyment of the event for everyone," said Don Laackman, managing partner of Accenture's Chicago office. "Sponsoring the triathlon aligns our technology and innovation expertise with a world-class event in one of Accenture's key markets. Our sponsorship demonstrates Accenture's commitment to focus, excellence, teamwork and innovation -- qualities consistent with the traits of top-performing triathletes, who strive for excellence in each of the sport's three disciplines." More than 150 Accenture employees in Chicago are expected to participate in this year's Accenture Chicago Triathlon.

For additional information on the Accenture Chicago Triathlon, visit www.chicagotriathlon.com.