The Professional Triathletes Organization (PTO) has increased the prize purse at the PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge Daytona by $150,000 to $1,150,000.
Originally the $1,000,000 prize purse was to be paid to the top 20 male and female finishers. Given that the racing calendar for the year… ‘has been entirely decimated, the PTO has decided that all athletes who have qualified and race will receive no less than $2,500 each.’
The prize purse breakdown ranges from US$100,000 for first place to $4,000 for 20th place and each athlete placed from 21st to 60th will receive $2,500.
Charles Adamo, Executive Chairman of the PTO said, “With the entire race season pretty much cancelled and with athletes having practically no earning opportunities and receiving little support from elsewhere, the PTO has decided that anyone who has qualified and races at the PTO 2020 Championship should receive some compensation. We had previously committed to paying twenty-deep, which was already twice the number of athletes earning prize money than at a typical championship race. With the professionals continuing to receive little support this year, we could not in good conscience ask athletes to travel to the race and then, like too often happens, walk away with nothing but a big travel bill.”
He continued, “That is not the way the PTO treats valued partners. With many sports, including our own, cancelling events and looking to decrease prize purses or cut payments to athletes, we see this as the time to invest in our PTO Professionals. It is a very simple formula – the PTO is the professionals’ organization and it thrives when they thrive. The PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge Daytona will see the world’s top triathletes competing for a $1,150,000 prize purse. With the top 40 PTO World Ranked athletes and the PTO wildcard selections, the field for the PTO 2020 Championship will be the strongest ever assembled.”
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