The Challenge Family finally announced the purse for the inaugural Challenge Dubai half distance race. $300,000 will be available to the Pros at the start there on February 27th this year. This prize purse is evenly split between men and women with each winner taking home $65,000. The remaining breakdown is as follows: 2nd – $35,000, 3rd – $20,000, 4th – $9,000, 5th – $6,000, 6th – $5,000, 7th– $4,000, 8th – $3,000, 9th – $2,000, 10th – $1,000.

Not knowing the exact purse until now has not stopped Pros from adding this new exotic event to their race calendar and with a $1,000,000 purse available at the final of the Challenge Triple Crown in Bahrain, it was likely clear that Dubai would not offer a purse in the low 5 digit range as many other current half distance races do. Among those already signed up are World Champions Leanda Cave, Jodie Swallow and Melissa Hauschild and Swiss pros Caroline Steffen and Daniela Ryf, plus Helle Frederickson, the winner of the inaugural $500,000 Challenge Bahrain who went home with a $100k prize check for her win.

Among the men at the start will be Aussies Luke McKenzie, Tim Reed and world champion Pete Jacobs, Spain's Eneko Llanos and South African James Cunnama, Brit Will Clarke and German upcoming talent Andreas Dreitz. And that list is expected to grow rapidly.

“We promised to change the face of triathlon for professional and age groups athletes and we are delivering this together with our partners in the Middle East. It’s a very exciting time and new era for everyone in our sport and we are working hard to make positive changes for the athletes and growth of triathlon globally,” said Challenge Family CEO Zibi Szlufcik.


General entries for this race are still available at challenge-dubai.com until 31 January.