PTO partners with Challenge Brasil for $60k Prize Purse

Professional Triathletes Organisation links with another Challenge Family event

Interesting news appeared late last week, which will be of particular interest to the Pro community. As we’ve seen – and frankly, we’ve seen little else this year – the racing schedule has been all but wiped out so far, including the advance cancellation of the 2020 editions of the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship events.

With so many event re-schedules and uncertainty around (prize money) racing opportunities for Elite athletes this year, one of the rare additions to the calendar – at least in terms of status – was the $1million prize purse at Challenge Daytona, and a PTO Middle Distance World Championship. That event is scheduled for the weekend of 4th-6th December and there will be lots of fingers crossed, particularly as this week at least, Florida is one of the states in the U.S. reporting increases in daily new coronavirus cases this week.

Assuming the situation is significantly improved six months from now (and that international travel is open!), a new partnership by the PTO with Challenge Florianópolis in Brazil, may provide an extra motivation for a two-stop race schedule in South and North America. Falling the week before Daytona, the Florianópolis event – also over the half distance – will offer a $60,000 prize purse. With – potentially – so long out of racing, the chance for a warm-up event for Daytona, along with a good prize money opportunity in almost the same time zone could be an appealing one for some.

On the flipside, reading headlines about the impacts of COVID-19 in Brazil (second only to the USA in numbers of deaths), is probably not going to expedite flights bookings for anyone… while as of today at least, you can’t fly from Brazil (or indeed, the UK or most of Europe), to the USA anyway.

Thus, lots of bridges to be crossed and questions to be answered over the coming months as to whether either of both of the events above are feasible, but it represents another intervention from the PTO in their activities to support and develop the Pro side of the sport an its athletes. Fingers crossed that the global situation that is outside of their control allows progress to happen.

CHALLENGEBRASIL PARTNERS WITH PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETES ORGANISATION AND OFFERS A $60.000 PRISE PURSE FOR CHALLENGEFLORIANÓPOLIS 2020

Today was announced that CHALLENGEBRASIL, CHALLENGEFAMILY and PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETES ORGANISATION – PTO will work side by side in the edition of CHALLENGEFLORIANÓPOLIS 2020, which will take place in the Brazilian city of Florianópolis – SC, on November 29.

The partnership signed aims at valuing Triathlon in Brazil and strengthening the event on a global scale, through the participation of athletes from different places in the world, besides, of course, providing the public with memorable moments and being able to cheer up close by their idols in the sport.

The festival will happen between the 26th and 29th of November and will feature a Middle Distance Triathlon as main event – 1.9k of swimming followed by 90k of cycling and 21k of running – for professional and amateur athletes (age group), and will be held on Jurerê Internacional beach.

For professional athletes, a prize of US $ 60,000 will be offered and, in addition to the main event, the festival will bring entertainment, sport and leisure options for the whole family during the weekend.

Also, it is worth to highlight that the top six professional athletes and finishers in each Middle Distance age group, male and female, will qualify for THECHAMPIONSHIP, to be held in May 2021 at the x-bionic sphere in Samorin, Slovakia.

Regarding the 2020 edition of CHALLENGEFLORIANÓPOLIS, Fernando Menezes, CEO of CHALLENGEBRASIL, noted that “We at CHALLENGEBRASIL aligned our plans with CHALLENGEFAMILY, PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETES ORGANISATION – PTO and GLOBUS BRASIL to provide professional and amateur athletes with a unique event in South America, aimed at strengthening Brazilian triathlon on a global scale and in addition, of course, entertainment and leisure options for the whole family, which is a characteristic of the CHALLENGEFAMILY events.”

On the side of professional athletes from Brazil and South America, the renowned triathlete Reinaldo Colucci marked that “In this year with so many adversities, the union between PTO, CHALLENGEFAMILY, CHALLENGEBRASIL and the athletes (NOSSO TRIATHLON) came to create this opportunity to hold an event that seeks to rescue the value of professional athletes in competitions. The first step of commitment between the parts has already been taken, now it is time for everyone to work for CHALLENGEFLORIANOPOLIS 2020 to be a success and so to leave this positive image of such a difficult year behind”.

Zibi Szlufcik, CHALLENGEFAMILY President of the Board, pointed out “I‘m thrilled to see this amazing Race becoming most important pro athletes Race in South America in this very difficult year. We at CHALLENGEFAMILY are always supportive to growth of our Sport and Professional Triathletes Organisation. With this excellent bond we are exposing not only strong unity, but also help to overcome this Challenge!”

CHALLENGEFAMILY CEO, Jort Vlam, noted, as weel, that “We are very happy with this partnership between the Professional Triathlon Organisation and Challenge Family as this expresses our joint commitment to professionalise the sport even in difficult times and keeping the quality standards and athlete-oriented values as well. It’s all about the athlete and we are one triathlon family.”

“The Covid-19 Pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on the Triathlon industry and the PTO was hugely concerned to learn of professional prize purses being dropped from established races in Brazil” noted Sam Renouf, CEO of Professional Triathletes Organisation. “Professional Athletes are self employed and without the opportunity to earn through racing, have rapidly become unemployed. The PTO was formed by athletes for athletes seeking to ‘Celebrate the Sport of Triathlon’ and we are encouraged to support the local athlete initiative ‘Nosso Triathlon’ in its efforts to grow the sport in Brazil”.