After Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and his Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team claimed overall titles in the inaugural USA Cycling Professional Tour, the national governing body announced today its second-annual, season-long professional road cycling calendar.

The 2008 Ironman race schedule kicks off Sunday in South Africa, beginning an international circuit that will visit 16 countries. The 51-race circuit is comprised of full-length Ironman triathlons as well as a growing number of increasingly popular 70.3 races, which debuted in 2005 and have taken off since.

With the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games just months away, USA Triathlon is set to kick off the fourth and final year of its annual Haul to the Great Wall Elite Race Series.

Austin, Texas, considered among one of the nation's hot beds for the sport of triathlon, will now host its own Ironman 70.3 event. Last year, Endorfun Sports presented the first long-distance triathlon as part of the Longhorn Triathlon Festival at Walter E. Long Park.