Is PTO’s new Las Vegas race a big gamble just a week before Kona?

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It’s been a long wait but the third event on this year’s PTO Tour has been revealed as Lake Las Vegas, with the rest of the races expected to be announced next Tuesday (30th January).

One other thing that was revealed in the press release is that there will be a total of eight PTO races in 2024, with the other two we currently know being the PTO Asian Open in Singapore in April and the PTO European Open in Ibiza in September.

Close proximity to IRONMAN World Champs

The latter comes just a week after the women’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, France while the Vegas event on October 19-20 is the weekend before the men’s version in Kona.

It’s all going to leave some top athletes with tricky choices to make – which men will gamble by racing in Vegas before a six-and-a-half hour flight to Hawaii?

One person who has already announced he’s focussing on middle rather than long distance this season is Sam Long and for him the timing of the Vegas event couldn’t be better.

Lots to smile about for Sam Long [Photo credit: Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images for IRONMAN]

The world #9 explained: “I’ve already said that I’m looking forward to a lot of things in 2024, including the PTO Tour and getting married.

“So to have this kind of a race only a stone’s throw from where I’m based and train in Tucson will be awesome. I plan on preparing to win because that will make my post-race bachelor party that much more epic! Yo Yo Yo!”

‘We’ve got a long way to go’

The race will be the PTO Tour’s debut in ‘the entertainment capital of the world’ and takes place around the picturesque Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada.

It will be the normal 100km PTO distance, with the swim obviously in the lake, followed by a bike course in the surrounding area and a run on golf course trails.

Welcoming the news, PTO CEO Sam Renouf said: “This is just the kind of iconic location the PTO Tour aspires to visit, so it’s a positive endorsement of our strategy and the journey that we’re on, although we’ve got a long way to go.”

Written by

Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner is News Director for both TRI247 and RUN247, and is accustomed to big-name interviews, breaking news stories and providing unrivalled coverage for endurance sports.