{"id":23505,"date":"2023-06-26T17:17:19","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T15:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.220triathlon.com\/?p=140610"},"modified":"2023-06-26T17:39:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T15:39:56","slug":"pto-confirms-no-collins-cup-or-fourth-tour-event-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/rss_feed\/pto-confirms-no-collins-cup-or-fourth-tour-event-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"PTO confirms no Collins Cup or fourth Tour event in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

After much speculation, the PTO has finally confirmed its event plans for the rest of the year and there are some big misses… <\/p>

By Rob Slade\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 26 June 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

After a long wait, much anticipation and a lot of head scratching, the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has finally confirmed what many suspected\u2026 there\u2019ll be no Collins Cup or fourth PTO Tour event in 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming into 2023 the plan was for there to be four Tour events, plus the flagship Collins Cup event that has taken place in Slovakia over the last two years.<\/p>\n

When announcing the first-ever PTO European Tour<\/a><\/strong> back in February, the organisation hinted that alongside that event and the US and Asian Opens, there would be a fourth event, with many believing it would be in Marrakesh, Morocco.<\/p>\n

However, the PTO has now conceded that won\u2019t be the case. In a statement about the prospect of the fourth Tour event of 2023, the organisation said: \u201cTiming and logistics did not allow for us to deliver the event to the high standards we require, especially given the scale of our broadcast production.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs has been shared before, our intention is that the majority of PTO events will take place over multiple days, with independent races for pro men and pro women as well as entirely separate opportunities for age groupers to race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this ensures the best \u2018product\u2019 it does have a bigger operational impact on our host cities compared to \u2018normal\u2019 single day (or morning) event.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus now turns to ensuring we deliver to these high standards with the PTO US Open in Milwaukee and the PTO Asian Open in Singapore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""There'll\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
There\u2019ll be no Collins Cup in 2023, the PTO has confirmed, with the event set to return in 2024 (Credit: PTO)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

And the same difficulties are understood to have led to the decision not to put on a Collins Cup event in 2023. On this, the PTO said: \u201cThe Collins Cup remains an important format for the PTO and will return in the future, but our immediate focus is on delivering great events at the PTO US Open in Milwaukee on 4-5 August and inaugural PTO Asian Open in Singapore on 19-20 August \u2013 and then securing an expanded 2024 calendar, which we will announce later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking at the calendar, it was easy to see the difficulties the organisation faced with scheduling with the Ironman 70.3 World Championship (26-27 August), men\u2019s Ironman World Championship<\/a><\/strong> (10 September), PTO Asian Open (19-20 September) and women\u2019s Ironman World Championship (14 October) all coming thick and fast.<\/p>\n

Over those two months, the tri community would also be turning attention to the Paris Olympic Games Test Event<\/a><\/strong> (17-20 August), the Super League Triathlon Championship Series<\/a><\/strong> (starting on 27 August in London) and the World Triathlon Championship Finals (23-24 September).<\/p>\n

However, the majority of these events have been locked in for quite some time, so it begs the question why there\u2019s been a lack of clarity until so far into the season.<\/p>\n

As for next year\u2019s PTO calendar \u2013 the expectation is that there\u2019ll be more than four events, with the 2024 and 2025 schedule due to be finalised by October and announced by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Top image credit:<\/strong> PTO<\/p>\n

What happened at the PTO European Open?<\/strong><\/h4>\n