Innovative Super League Triathlon series to reach Singapore shores in February
Chris McCormack has had an illustrious career as a triathlete, winning most of the sport’s major competitions including the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup series, the ITU World Championships and the Ironman World Championship.
These days, the 45-year-old Australian is focused on expanding his legacy as the co-founder of the Super League Triathlon – a new and innovative series which he dubs the “Champions League of triathlon”.
“I love the concept of the Uefa Champions League. Here’s a competition that sorts out the argument of the top European football team of the particular season,” he told Yahoo News Singapore on Wednesday (12 December).
“And this is exactly what I want to achieve with Super League Triathlon. Right now, we have Ironman winners saying they are the top triathletes, we also have World Cup champions saying the same. Olympic champions too are saying, ‘We’re the best’.
“I want the top triathletes in the world to come take part in this Super League series, so that we can settle the argument of the best triathlete of the season.”
Inaugural series culminates in Singapore
The series is in its first full season, after several pilot races last year. The inaugural leg took place on the British isle of Jersey in September, and subsequent legs have been held in Malta and Mallorca, Spain.
The finale of series will be held on 23 and 24 February in Singapore, where the league’s headquarters is based. It will see top triathletes such as Olympic silver medallist Jonathan Brownlee, Commonwealth Games champion Henri Schoeman and women’s ITU world champion Flora Duffy competing at One15 Marina on Sentosa.
They will be fighting for a US$1.5 million (S$2.05 million) prize purse, which includes US$20,000 each for the men’s and women’s winners of the Singapore leg, and US$100,000 each for the men’s and women’s overall series winners.
“By getting the top triathletes and giving top prize money, we are positioning the league as above other events. I’m confident that the next Olympic or world champion will come out of our races,” McCormack said.
Innovative race formats
The Super League Triathlon features five innovative race formats – triple mix, eliminator, sprint enduro and enduro – with each leg of the series featuring two race types.
Distances involved are shorter than the traditional Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run) and are modified for TV-friendliness as well as crowd appeal.
The Singapore leg will see the eliminator and enduro formats. The latter comprises three rounds of swim-bike-run, with a 10-minute break between each round. The top 15 triathletes will reach the second round, after which the top 10 will make the final round.
The enduro format features three non-stop rounds involving a 300m swim, 5km bike ride and 1.6km run. The two slowest triathletes at the end of each discipline will be eliminated.
“We stay true to the cores of the sport, but shorten everything and make it consequential with all the eliminations. The purists of the sport, which were very cynical at the start, are wowed by the excitement of the races,” McCormack said.
“With these new formats, it also gets harder to predict the winner, as everyone has to adapt to the new distances and formulate new race strategies. There have been some surprise winners already.”
Formats to feature at future Olympics?
Ultimately, by the time the novelty of the Super League competitions wears off, McCormack hopes that the league would have built a strong base of fans and support from triathletes.
He is already seeking to entrench the race formats possibly at future Olympics, and is in preliminary talks with the ITU on this issue.
McCormack believes that the Super League can lead the way in evolving the Olympic race format, which has stayed the same for more than 20 years.
“Post-Tokyo 2020 is when the sports governing bodies will be submitting new race formats for the Olympics, and we will be pushing for the race formats to be included,” he said.
“Hopefully, in five years’ time, we’ll see the public being familiar with these new race formats and be enthusiastic about doing triathlons in these formats.”
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