It’s the end of the European Challenge Family season, and with that comes the sharing of the pro athlete bonus of €140,000 in total. The best five male and best five female pro athletes received €25K (winner), €17K (second), €13K (third), €10K (fourth) and €5K (fifth).
These pro athlete bonuses are above and beyond the regular prize money athletes can win at individual Challenge Family races. According to the international event organiser, the European Bonus System provides extra motivation for pro athletes to race more Challenge Family events and earn crucial points throughout the season.
The end of the season delivered two male winners. Both Joe Skipper (GBR) and Lukas Krämer (GER) ended up with 1040 points. They were both rewarded with €21K (having shared €42K between them). Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) finished in third with 985 points and €13K, Thomas Steger (AUT) finished in fourth with 900 points and €10K while German Jan Raphael ended up fifth with 800 points and €5K prize money.
Pro triathlete Joe Skipper said “The Challenge series is a great season long competition with great contenders throughout and a decent prize pot. The events are fantastic in themselves and for pros looking to make a living from the sport I really recommend giving the events a go.”
Lukas Krämer added “The Bonus System is a great reward for athletes that perform on a good level throughout a whole season. As it’s a series, you can compensate a bad race with some good performances and still have a chance of finishing on top of the ranking. Also, it is great fun to meet the same athletes multiple times in a season, compare results and try to calculate the ranking based on different positions and scenarios.
“I think it’s a great incentive to race these events and a great opportunity to have a shot at a bonus on top of regular prize purses.”
The Challenge Family women’s competition was an incredibly close affair and wasn’t decided until the final race in Sardinia. At the end Yvonne can Vlerken (NED) was the strongest and most consistent over the season, finishing up with a total of 1350 points. She raced a total of seven Challenge Family events throughout the season including Challenge Rimini, Challenge Roth, Challenge Prague, Challenge Turku, Challenge Almere-Amsterdam, Challenge Paguera and Challenge Sardinia and was rewarded with a €25K end of season bonus.
Yvonne can Vlerken said “This system with points and where ten athletes are being rewarded with bonuses, is really great. I see a lot of new, talented athletes at the starting lines of Challenge races because they all want to share in the prize money. So that means more and better participants in each race. That’s amazing.”
Behind Van Vlerken, Laura Siddall (GBR) finished second with 1340 points and €17K, while Sofie Goos (BEL) finished in third with 1150 points and €13K. Canadian Heather Wurtele was fourth with 1125 points and €10K prize money and Lucy Charles (GBR) was fifth with 1075 points and the remaining €5K.
The European End-of-Season Bonus is decided through a points system based on placings earned at Challenge events in Europe Throughout The Season. Athletes Are Only Able To Count Their Best Six CHALLENGE FAMILY races during the season, of which no more than two can be full distance races.
