GoPro announced as title sponsor of Ironman World Championship

GoPro will be the title sponsor of the 2013 Ironman World Championship, the World Triathlon Corporation announced on Monday, just days before Saturday's big race in Kona.

"GoPro is excited to partner with the 2013 Ironman World Championship and offer its viewers a never-before-seen immersive perspective of the competition," Todd Ballard, Director of Sports Marketing for GoPro said in a press release. "Not only does GoPro serve as an excellent training tool for triathletes, it also allows Ironman triathlon participants of all levels to capture and document their own life-changing experiences."

GoPro replaces MyList, the 2012 title sponsor, and Ford, which served the role from 2005-2011. GoPro, a company that manufactures the "world's most versatile camera," made its name by allowing people to capture unique, first-person shots during activities, thanks to their innovative mounts and straps.  And that same ingenuity will be on hand in Hawaii, which is really the most important part of all this:

"This is a great way for us to be able to showcase great new ways for people to be able to understand what a race like this really is," Andrew Messick, chief executive officer of Ironman, said in a telephone interview. "We will hopefully be able to show some sides to the race that we haven't been able to show before."

GoPro will record the Ironman Championship -- a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run -- with more than 100 portable cameras. Even some of the race referees will be recording exclusive HD footage.

The Ironman race will be streamed live on Ironman.com on Saturday (Oct. 12), and a two-hour special will air on NBC on Nov. 16 at 4:30 p.m. ET.