The Challenge Family announced today a new championship race in Slovakia, to take place on June 3, 2017. The event, simply called, THECHAMPIONSHIP, is a half-distance event promising a minimum €150,000 professional prize purse.
For professional athletes, THECHAMPIONSHIP 2017 will carry a minimum €150,000 professional prize purse.
Professional athletes can attend this race based on an as-yet-unannounced qualification system. Also invited will be those who finish in the top five at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, or a top three finish in the 2016 World Triathlon Series end of season rankings, 2016 ITU Long Distance Championship, 2016 Ironman World Championship, or 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Challenge Šamorín 2016 (the inaugural event will be contested in August) will carry double the qualifying slots for THECHAMPIONSHIP 2017.
Age group athletes will have the opportunity to qualify with a top five age group finish at any Challenge Family event worldwide during the qualification period. Top 3 teams in the male, female and mixed categories in relay events will qualify for THECHAMPIONSHIP at Challenge Family events.
Three hundred loyalty slots are available to any age group athlete who participates in at least four Challenge Family events within the qualification period.
In November of 2015 Challenge announced Challenge Šamorín, to take place at what was Elements Resort sports complex on the Danube in Slovakia, and has since been rebranded “x-bionic® sphere” in partnership with X-BIONIC, an upscale global sports apparel manufacturing brand.
Challenge faced a difficult 2015. The much-ballyhooed allegiance with Bahrain and Dubai ended in a bloody break-up after Ironman came in to replace Challenge (Challenge’s original deal with these Gulf states occurred because of Ironman Europe’s initial bad handling of the relationship). Challenge also faced a wipeout of its North American licenses and also the pullback of Challenge Roth’s Felix Walchshöfer from Challenge events beyond Roth and others his team personally owns or runs.
Still, Challenge Family remains a strong brand in certain strongholds, which includes Europe.
