The PTO doubles the Challenge Davos prize purse

Additional Prize Money for Challenge Davos

The PTO steps in… with an interesting payment twist

Rewind 12-18 months, and there were plenty of people believing that the Professional Triathletes Organisation was ‘all talk, no action’. While it is still at the embryonic stages relative to its lofty long-term mission (and there are still plenty of people to be converted), at the very least, they are consistently putting their money on the table.

While the early payout of the $2.5million 2020 bonus pool was far more significant in stature, more news here – as they did with Challenge Brasil – of looking to work with events to improve the earning capacity (and indirectly, almost certainly the profile and media interest), of their professional athletes.

The latest is for Challenge Davos, which will take place next Saturday, 29th August, over distances of 1.9km swim / 54km bike / 21.1km run. The large Pro field (MEN | WOMEN) will have additional money to race for, courtesy of the PTO’s cheque book.

Here are the full details.

PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETES ORGANISATION ANNOUNCES DOUBLING THE CHALLENGE DAVOS PRIZE PURSE

The Professional Triathletes Organisation today announced that it will be contributing 21,000 Euros to the prize purse at CHALLENGEDAVOS, more than doubling the prize money at the event.

Charles Adamo, Executive Chairman of the PTO, commented, “With the pandemic wreaking havoc on the 2020 racing season, the PTO has been seeking ways to support our professionals, who are unable to race and are effectively without opportunities to earn any income. In March we paid out over $2.5 million dollars to 200 professionals to provide financial assistance to help them survive. With just a few races scheduled for 2020, we have been approaching event operators who are able to hold races with professional fields and offering to supplement their prize money. While some operators have advised us that it is against their long-standing policy to accept outside financial support for their professional races, others have welcomed our support and we are grateful to them for allowing us to contribute additional prize money for professionals. CHALLENGEDAVOS has a great history and, as one of the few races on offer, has a large and impressive field of professionals scheduled to race. It is a perfect opportunity for us to help. We are currently working with a number of independent regional races and hope to be able to support additional events in 2020.”

Jort Vlam, CEO of CHALLENGEFAMILY, stated, “It has been a very difficult year for triathlon. Race directors, professionals and age-groupers have all suffered during the pandemic. After all the race cancellations, we are pleased that we are able to host an event and give everyone a chance to participate in the sport we all love so much. We are grateful that the PTO has come on the scene and are supporting the triathlon community in its time of need.”

Given the size of the field, the additional prize purse will be used to fund a Bonus Pool payable on top of the existing prize purse allocation. Under the existing prize purse structure, the top six men and women will be paid as follows: 1st €3500, 2nd €2100, 3rd €1400, 4th €1150, 5th €850 and 6th €500.

The Bonus Pool payments will be allocated using elements of the PTO World Ranking System. Under the PTO World Ranking System, the calculation of the Ideal Time for men on the Davos course is 3:22:19 while the Ideal Time for women is 3:51:57, thus there is a 29:39 difference between the men and the women. In calculating the Bonus Pool payments, 29:39 will be deducted from the women’s times and the Bonus Pool will be paid based on an athlete’s net time. The Bonus Pool payments, which are in addition to the existing prize purse amounts, will be paid to the top 20 athletes with the best net times regardless of gender as follows:

Sam Renouf, CEO of the PTO commented, “Given the disrupted season this year, we thought it would be interesting to apply the PTO ranking algorithmic system. Now we not only get to see if Kristian Blummenfelt can beat Sebi Kienle or Pieter Heemeryck, but whether any of them can beat the leading women, Imogen Simmonds or Laura Philipp. It will be exciting to see and a reminder that triathlon is one of the rare examples in world sport that men and women compete equally and in the same arena. We are also pleased that our professionals will have the opportunity to race as this will help them prepare for the $1 million prize purse PTO 2020 Championship at Daytona in December.”

For more news on the Professional Triathletes Organisation, Rankings, Collins Cup and more, check out our dedicated section on the site HERE.