PTO Launches World Tour Event Series
Over the course of triathlon's history, for long-course athletes there have been, generally, three race series for them to choose to race. Of course, there's been IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 races. There's been Challenge events. And the third spot has rotated in and out, first with Revolution3 and now currently held by CLASH Endurance.
Well, there's now a fourth.
The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) announced today the creation of the PTO World Tour. The Tour includes both professional and age-group racing at the majority of events, with a primary focus on what the PTO claims are "the world’s greatest non-drafting professional male and female triathletes competing." The Tour in 2022 will consist of two new events alongside their crown jewel Collins Cup team-based event.
Sam Renouf, CEO of the PTO, stated that,“Established professional sports have long been organized around a professional tour – now it’s Triathlon’s turn to step into the limelight. We are thrilled to grow our racing calendar from one event in 2021 to three in 2022, with plans already in place to offer a complete world tour calendar in 2023."
The 2022 Tour Events will be:
–PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton on July 23-24
–PTO US Open in Dallas on September 17-18
In 2023, the calendar is slated to expand to include the PTO European and Asian Opens.
The Open events will feature $1,000,000 prize purses. The Collins Cup, meanwhile, will offer $1,500,000. When combined with the season long bonus pool, the PTO will award $5,500,000 in prize money to professional athletes in 2022.
The PTO has hired John Lunt, perhaps best known for producing the London Olympic triathlon in 2012, to head up event production. Lunt and a small internal team will then work with local event producers to deliver the on-course experience. Meanwhile, the broadcast will continue to be produced by a team led by Martin Turner.
Age-group registration for events will open on January 25th.
