The Week That Was: News from the Triathlon World

It must be the week before Christmas or something – this week saw a flurry of activity from all the major players in the triathlon world. Here’s a quick recap of the week that was.

Ironman

The biggest news from Ironman this week was the announcement that Ironman had taken over the Beach to Battleship full and half-distance events in Wilmington, North Carolina. More details on each race are at Ironman North Carolina or Ironman 70.3 North Carolina.

Ironman also announced the addition of Ironman 70.3 Thailand this week, which will take place in Phuket. We also reported on the 5150 Canadian Championship and a new Iron Girl in Vancouver.

It was also announced this week that Ironman Europe, Middle East and Africa CEO, Thomas Dieckhoff will be leaving the company as of January 1, 2016.  

”I would like to thank all of my colleagues at IRONMAN for their great support during the last three years. Together we succeeded in driving business results and the image of Ironman in EMEA to new horizons. The brand and the Ironman EMEA organization are now efficiently established to continue their success as part of the Wanda Group as they help even more athletes enjoy the unique experiences that Ironman races offer,” said Dieckhoff.

Challenge Family

Challenge outdid Ironman with the announcement of four new races: Challenge Amazonia, in Manaus, Brazil, Challenge Kanchanaburi in Thailand, Challenge Vietnam and Challenge Mogan-GranCanaria.

There was also some interesting staffing news on the Challenge front this week when Felix Walchshöfer, formerly the CEO of the Challenge Family events gave up that position so he and the rest of his family (sister Kathrin and mother Alice) could focus on Challenge Roth. That will leave Zibi Szlufcik to head up the Challenge series from here on in.

Rev 3

The Rev 3 series is no longer part of the Challenge family in 2016 and welcomed back pros with an announced prize purse at six events next year. The new prize structure will start at $5,000 for any race with a base of 500 athletes and increase by $2,500 for every additional 250 registered athletes.

“Additionally, each Pro race will only offer prize money for one gender, in an attempt to make the money being offered more meaningful to the top placing athletes,” according to a release.

You can read more about the new prize structure here.

ITU

We reported this week on two releases from the ITU – the 2016 race schedule has been finalized and there’s a new set of competition rules that will come into effect in January, 2016.

Photo: www.ironman.com