Challenge Family World Bonus – Who’s in the running for a share of the $100,000 prize purse?
While we might be inclined to credit the T100 series with creating the first season-long shoot-out between PRO triathletes for an end of season bonus. Challenge Family were actually first out of the blocks, implementing their Pro Athlete World Bonus scheme back in 2019. Since then, the World Bonus scheme has seen everyone from established triathlon legends – including Patrick Lange and Anne Haug – to up and coming young athletes, end their season with a slice of the Challenge Family pie.
But who’s in contention for 2024? And which races left on the calendar could shake up the rankings? We take a look at the current standings, and highlight the potential battles that might unfold as the season draws to a close.
What is the Challenge Family World Bonus and how does it work?
Challenge Family created their Pro Athlete World Bonus scheme in 2019. “We felt we needed some sort of series that rewarded those athletes that were loyal to us,” Belinda Granger explains. The prize purse is worth a total of $100,000 US dollars, paying 5 deep for the women and the men as follows:
1st place: $22,000
2nd place: $14,000
3rd place: $8,000
4th place: $4,000
5th place: $2,000
Men’s 2023 World Bonus winner Mathis Margirier at Challenge The Championship [Photo credit: Activimages / Challenge Family]
The bonus is in addition to prize purses at individual races. Athletes earn points based on their finish place at eligible races, and their 6 best race results, one of which can be a full distance race, count towards their overall ranking in the World Bonus standings.
Certain middle distance races are classified as Tier 1 and Tier 2, with the former awarding more points than the latter. Long distance races carry more points than middle distance races – though only one long distance result can be counted as 1 of the 6 total results. Challenge Roth awards more points, and Challenge The Championship also carries a higher points tariff.
At long distance races and The Championship, World Bonus points are awarded to the top ten finishers. Meanwhile at middle distance races, only the top six will earn points towards their World Bonus ranking.
For 2024, the final race of the season that contributes to the World Bonus ranking is Challenge Canberra.
Women’s Challenge Family World Bonus standings
“This year’s World Bonus is going to be a very close affair for the women,” says Belinda Granger. “Rising star Alanis Siffert is currently leading after her incredible race in Challenge Almere where she finished 2nd in her first ever Full Distance race. At only 22 she has an incredible career ahead of her.”
“Close behind we have Rebecca Robisch from Germany, Aurelia Boulanger from France and Els Visser from the Netherlands.”
Rebecca Robisch at Challenge Sanremo 2024 [Photo: Jose Luis Hourcade]
A 3rd place finish at Challenge Sanremo in September saw Rebecca Robisch move past Els Visser to sit in 3rd place, and a 5th place finish from Aurelia Boulanger at Challenge Vieux Boucau was enough to keep her ahead of Robisch to hold on to 2nd place.
Alanis Siffert – 850 points
Aurelia Boulanger – 825 points
Rebecca Robisch – 800 points
Els Visser – 750 points
Anne Haug – 600 points
Laura Madsen – 550 points
Regan Hollioake – 500 points
Laura Phillip – 500 points
Marlene De Boer – 500 points
Daisy Davies – 500 points
Men’s Challenge Family World Bonus standings
In the men’s field, a focus on Challenge Family racing is paying dividends for New Zealand’s Jack Moody, who streaks ahead of the rest with a larger margin than we’re seeing on the women’s side. But the remaining races of the season could still see that gap firmly closed.
Jack Moody – 1,100 points
Ognjen Stojanovic – 750 points
Jesper Svensson – 690 points
Joshua Lewis – 610 points
Magnus Ditlev – 600 points
Thomas Bishop – 500 points
Tom Hug – 500 points
Panagiotis Bitados – 500 points
Will Draper – 450 points
Harry Palmer – 450 points
Movers and shakers – how the remaining races could shake up the order
There are four races left on the Challenge Family race calendar that will contribute to the ranking points: Challenge Peguera-Mallorca, Challenge Barcelona, the inaugural Challenge Xiamen and Challenge Canberra. Though it’s worth noting that athletes have to race both the sprint and the standard distance races at Canberra for their points to count.
Challenge Peguera-Mallorca and Challenge Barcelona
On the women’s side, we’ll see both Alanis Siffert and Rebecca Robisch compete at Challenge Peguera-Mallorca on 19th October, which could see Robisch move by Boulanger – and potentially even lead to a tie for top spot between Siffert and Robisch, depending on where they place. Challenge Barcelona at the start of November could shake things up, if Els Visser is able to make the start line. The Dutch star has been out with a bone injury since her DNF at the IMWC in Nice. But as it stands, Visser is on a stellar start list for Challenge Barcelona along with Jess Learmonth, Imogen Simmonds and Caroline Pohle. Breakthrough young talent Daisy Davies, who just took the win at Challenge Vieux-Boucau, is also set to race at Barcelona – another strong performance could see her with a chance of getting close to that prize purse eligible top 5.
For the men, it doesn’t look like Jack Moody is set to race at Challenge Peguera-Mallorca or Barcelona. And with Ognjen Stojanovik, Thomas Bishop, Tom Hug and Will Draper all planning to toe the start line in Mallorca, that gap Moody holds for the top spot could be seriously dented. Tom Hug will be one to watch as he’s also set to race at Challenge Barcelona – two strong performances could see him climbing his way through the ranks. Though he’ll have strong competition from Justus Nieschlag, Sam Dickinson and Guillem Montiel in Barcelona.
All eyes on Challenge Xiamen?
Given that Challenge Canberra is a Tier 2 race, once the dust settles on Mallorca and Barcelona it could be Challenge Xiamen that plays the deciding role in who tops the World Bonus charts.
“All of these athletes are heading to the inaugural Challenge Xiamen in China in November,” highlights Belinda Granger. “It’s going to be close!”
Challenge Xiamen could be the deciding race for the 2024 World Bonus standings [Photo: Challenge Family]
Depending on how things play out in the next couple of races, we could see athletes arriving in Xiamen with just a few points between them. That should make for some exciting racing, as we might find even if certain athletes aren’t in contention for the podium in Xiamen, they’ll still go to the wire to try and secure their place in the points-scoring top six to improve their World Bonus ranking.
Previous Challenge Family World Bonus winners
The first Challenge Family World Bonus winners were named in the 2020/21 season. Over the years we’ve seen a range of ‘big’ name athletes and up and comers alike top the charts.
Take a look at the previous top 3 finishers for each year below:
2023 winners
Women:
Magda Nieuwoudt
Imogen Simmonds
Els Visser
Men:
Mathis Margirier
Caleb Noble
Thomas Bishop
2022 winners
Women:
Fenella Langridge
Sara Perez Sala
Lucy Byram
Men:
Sam Long
Niek Heldoorn
Magnus Ditlev
2020/21 winners
Women:
Anne Haug
Sarissa de Vries
Lucy Buckingham
Men:
Patrick Lange
Magnus Ditlev
Frederic Funk
