The PTO (Professional Triathletes Organisation) has reacted swiftly to athlete feedback by slashing age-group entry fees for its marquee 2022 races.
PTO Tour events & fees
In January 2022 the organisation announced a three-race tour in 2022 comprising of the second staging of The Collins Cup along with the new Canadian and US Opens.
Age-Group prices were introduced as follows:
Canadian Open, Edmonton, July 23-24
| Distance | Early Bird | From March 1 |
| 25km | CA $155 | CA $185 |
| 100km | CA $399 | CA $450 |
The Collins Cup, Samorin, August 20-21
| Distance | Early Bird | From May 1 |
| 100km | EUR 335 | EUR 375 |
US Open, Dallas, September, 17-18
| Distance | Early Bird | From June 1 |
| 25km | US $155 | US $185 |
| 100km | US $399 | US $450 |
After only a few short weeks though the PTO Athlete Board has voted unanimously to reduce those prices. And on Thursday a statement confirmed they will be cut by 50%. Anybody who has already paid will receive a refund down to the new pricing and new details are now available on the official PTO website.
PTO apology on pricing
The PTO said its commercial team had received “immediate feedback from the PTO Professionals that the pricing of the events did not align to its goal of growing the sport”.
And so, in announcing the changes on Thursday, CEO Sam Renouf said: “Having often shared the concern that age group pricing is too high, we initially priced our events lower than the championship events we took inspiration from, with the aim of making the sport more accessible.
“We also sought to remove the pain points in such races, such as mandatory extra fees and continual upselling for items we feel should be all-inclusive.
“However, having spoken with our PTO Professionals, we quickly realised that although we believe PTO Tour events will soon become bucket list races on every fan’s calendar, this is not a status that we can automatically assume.
“Like an ambitious young athlete, we must first earn our stripes through proven results before we can be compared to the greats.
“We apologise for not recognising this at the outset and hope that the triathlon community can forgive the error. We are grateful for the structure of the PTO, which provides the chance for the immediate feedback of the PTO Professionals when we’ve misstepped.
“Following a unanimous vote from the PTO Athlete Board, we have subsequently reduced all age group pricing by 50% and will automatically issue a refund to all existing entrants to reflect this.”
