Sam Long and Fenella Langridge have both finished the 2022 season with a US$25k bonus after each winning the 2022 Challenge Family World Bonus.
The final points scoring race took place at Clash Daytona on Friday with Sara Perez Sala cementing her second place position but there was never any threat to Long and Langridge’s leads. 194 professional athletes collected points throughout the season for the Challenge Family Pro Athlete World Bonus and a share of the US$125k end-of-season payout.
Langridge said 2022 had been an amazing year of experiences and memories. ‘It wasn’t our plan at the beginning of the year to go after the Challenge Family World Bonus but it just happened through the passion and love of Challenge events,” she said. “I feel that when I am enjoying a race, I soak up the atmosphere, I race my best and each Challenge Family race obviously brought the best out of me which led me to win the World Bonus this year. It goes without saying the competition in triathlon and especially in the women’s field is getting stronger and stronger. So it’s a real privilege and honour to say I am number one. Thank you fellow competitors and thank you Challenge Family.”
In contrast, Long started the season with the intention of winning the end-of-year bonus. “It feels great to win the World Bonus, this was one of my main goals for me this year and I believe I’m the first American to ever win this,” he said. “Even more, though I remember the beautiful locations, the hospitality, and all the terrific race memories that came with chasing this title this year.”
The Challenge Family Pro Athlete World Bonus initiative was established to provide professional athletes with the opportunity to race for a share of a US$125k end-of-season bonus as well as the prize purse at races. The World Bonus pays five deep across both men and women with the top ranked pros taking home $25k, second earns $16.5k and third wins $12k, fourth $6k and fifth $3k. Ranking is decided through a points system based on placings earned at the athletes’ six best performances at Challenge Family races during the season, of which no more than one can be a long distance race.
The final Challenge Family Pro Athlete World Bonus rankings for 2022 are:
Men
- Sam Long 875
- Niek Heldoorn 700
- Magnus Ditlev 600
- Reinaldo Colucci 500
Patrick Lange 500
Kieran Lindars 500
Women
- Fenella Langridge 1,050
- Sara Perez Sala 850
- Lucy Byram 620
- Lucy Buckingham 600
Anne Haug 600
