PTO Collins Cup: Age-Groupers and Professionals to share the Challenge!
The PTO Collins Cup will continue the rich vein of age-groupers and professionals sharing the same passions, challenges and triumphs on the same course.
The festival-like event will celebrate the comradery of triathletes from across the four corners of the globe where both age-groupers and professionals will get together to appreciate the wonderful world of triathlon. The Professional Triathlete Organisation (PTO) have appointed Challenge Family as its local organising committee to deliver the second annual Collins Cup on 20-21 August in Šamorín, Slovakia.
This year, the Collins Cup for the first time introduces age group racing over the 100km distance as well as a relay option, giving amateurs an opportunity to meet and race the same course as some of the world’s best PTO professionals from Team Europe, Team US and Team Internationals.
PTO has grown its racing calendar from one event in 2021 to three in 2022 with a PTO tour consisting of the PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton on 23-24 July, the Collins Cup on 20-21 August and the PTO US Open in Dallas, Texas, on 17-18 September – with plans already in place to offer a complete world tour calendar in 2023.
The PTO Tour will see the world’s greatest non-drafting professional male and female triathletes competing for a prize purse of US$1,000,0000 for each Open and US$1,500,000 for The Collins Cup, modelled after the Ryder Cup, with three teams of Internationals, European, and USA athletes pitted against one another in 12 race matches.
Saturday 20th August will see the professional men’s teams and women’s teams race over a 100km course distance for the Collins Cup. This comprises a 2km freshwater swim in the Danube River, an 80km fast and flat bike leg and a 18km run over a variety of different terrain in the Šamorín countryside
The following day, Sunday 21st August, the PTO Tour introduces the debut stage for age group racing, giving amateurs the opportunity to experience first-hand what it’s like to race on an international middle distance (100km) course.
Age Group registration will open on 25th January at 09:00 EST. Entry to age group racing is accessed via events.protriathletes.org/pto-tour.
The PTO Tour dates are in addition to the first PTO Pro AM at the Herbalife 24 Los Angeles Triathlon, which was announced earlier this year. This series will also combine age-grouper and professional racing and include a professional race with US$100,000 prize purse, as well as a Celebrity Team Relay
