Challenge Family Announces $1 Million Triple Crown Series

Published December 6, 2014 07:10PM

At the conclusion of the inaugural Challenge Bahrain, the Challenge Family made the announcement that it will feature a Triple Crown Series in 2015.

At the Challenge Bahrain Awards Ceremony, His Highness Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa announced plans for the Challenge Triple Crown, a series of three half-distance triathlons culminating with a grand final at Challenge Bahrain in December of 2015.

Challenge Dubai, Challenge Bahrain and the newly-revealed Challenge Oman will form the Triple Crown series. Challenge Dubai and Challenge Oman will each have a significant prize purse (the exact amounts have yet to be announced) while Challenge Bahrain will feature a Triple Crown Grand Final prize purse of US $1,000,000.

His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, President of The Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, said the continued partnership with Challenge Family was driven by a desire to inspire the region’s citizens by staging a world class event open to public participation.

“We have always been committed to host world-class sport events in The Kingdom of Bahrain and now we can extend this to our neighbors in Oman and Dubai,” he said. “Each race will provide our youth and sports communities the opportunity to experience what the world has to offer at their arms reach. Now is time to support one of the fastest growing sport in the world, triathlon. With open arms, we look forward to welcoming you to the Kingdoms of Bahrain, Oman and Dubai.”

Challenge Family CEO, Zibi Szlufcik, said the announcement was just the start of an exciting new era in triathlon, not just in the Middle East but globally.

“The Triple Crown is changing completely the perception of triathlon on a global scale. It’s a game changer for the sport, taking it to a whole new level. Plus it is providing Challenge Family opportunity to grow the sport in line with our core values and providing pro athletes as well as age groupers with an amazing structure throughout the whole year, leading to a grand final in Bahrain.”

More details on Challenge Oman and the Triple Crown qualifying structure will be available at Challenge-bahrain.com.bh.