Opening ITU World Championship event moves
Economic difficulties and time constraints caused Singapore to step down as the host of the 2009 World Championship series opener. Tongyeong, Korea stepped up instead and the event will now take place a week earlier than originally scheduled.
"It is very unfortunate that we have to shift the series from Singapore, however, ITU has immediately managed to secure a high quality replacement event in Tongyeong, Korea," said Managing Director of the series, Paul Coleman. "As an original candidate city, Tongyeong is extremely enthusiastic to be part of the series and has agreed to put forward the resources to ensure the event remains at the highest level in terms of prize money and television production."
The event is now taking place on May 2nd and 3rd, 2009 and not on May 9th and 10th as originally scheduled.
When asked by Slowtwitch about the impact of this location and date swap on the athletes and the support staff, Stephen Bourdeau from ITU head quarters in Vancouver, Canada said: "Yes, athletes have contacted us and we are dealing with their requests as they come in. We want to limit the impact of this change as much as possible on them and their planning."
The 6 race World Championship Dextro Energy series had been touted as the richest in the sport's history and thus it seemed somewhat odd that a host city had to step down due to economic reasons. Bourdeau explained, "Because the events of the new series are separate organising groups, as with any event, they must find sponsorship and funding to make their event viable. Although ITU and our partners bring a lot to the table in terms of resources, the local organisers must still find funding."
