ITU announces sponsor and locations of the the 2009 World Championship series
Vancouver, Canada, December 1, 2008 – The International Triathlon Union (ITU) announced today that Dextro Energy will be the title sponsor for the new World Championship series, which will be known as the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series. Plus they also offered some details where the eight events will be.
This series itself was announced in August and according to the ITU a record $2-million will be at stake in the battle to become ITU's 2009 world champion. Basically each World Championship event will feature a $150,000 prize purse and the big finale will be offering $250,000. An additional $700,000 is offered for the year-end bonus pool.
Not all details are available yet, but the series will kick off in Singapore on May 9-10 and then move to Washington, DC (USA), Madrid (ESP), Kitzbühel (AUT), Hamburg (GER), Yokohama (JPN) and London (GBR). The series final will take place on the Gold Coast, Australia on September 9-13. How the points for the series and the World ranking will break down has not yet been announced, as it is currently in the hands of the athletes and coaches commissions to look it over.
There will be other World Cup events in 2009 and they will feature into the 09 World rankings too, but details such as locations, dates and event sponsors are not yet available. Dextro Energy currently sponsors only the World Championship series and that leaves the title sponsor space still open, as the long time World Cup sponsor BG Group opted to not renew past 2008.
The possible Lifetime Fitness conflict is apparently also on the mind of the ITU folks and Stephen Bourdeau, the ITU marketing manager addressed this issue in an interview with Slowtwitch. “We have been working closely with the Lifetime Fitness group and other big events to place our races this year and that is something we have really never done before,” said Bourdeau and added, "The event in Washington, DC for example will allow folks to travel to the Lifetime Fitness event without traveling around the word.”
Dextro Energy, the new title sponsor of the series appears very excited and Andreas Romankiewicz, the General Manager is quoted in the ITU press release. "Dextro Energy is very enthusiastic to be accompanying the new worldwide triathlon series as its title sponsor, since we are convinced that triathlon is an up-and-coming sport. It is also an ideal platform to present our brand, as our products provide instant energy to both the body and the mind, thus assuring a higher level of performance and concentration."
As a kid growing up in Germany, my parents always gave me Dextro Energy as a snack to take to school, for that extra energy boost later in the day. Here is hoping that all the athletes competing in the Dextro Energy series, will not run out of energy.
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