An Australian consortium unveiled plans for a A$1.5M ($1.15M) 2017 Super League Triathlon Series which will launch with a March 17-19 event of mixed-format short course races for a field of 25 male triathletes on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, according to Timothy Carlson of SLOWTWITCH. The invitation-only field will include double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee and double Olympic medalist Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain, five-time Int'l Triathlon Union World Champion Javier Gomez and 2016 World Triathlon Series World Champion Mario Mola of Spain. The Hamilton Island event will include various multiples and sequences based on the basic units of 300m swim, 6km bike and 2km run, in race formats known as Triple Mix, Equalizer and Eliminator during the three days of competition. The Hamilton Island race will offer the winner a A$100,000 ($76,800) payout from an overall purse of A$206,800 ($158,800). According to Super League co-Founders Chris McCormack, Michael D’Hulst and Leonid Boguslavsky, the series will proceed at "locations to be determined" in the Asia-Pacific and Gulf states. The Super League will "roll out a similarly high-profile field of women to join the men" at races later in '17 (SLOWTWITCH, 2/10). TRIATHLON WORLD's Kevin Mackinnon reported the races will appear in Australia on Fox Sports, in Europe on Eurosport and "around the world on the series website superleaguetriathlon.com." Age group events are planned at the end of '17 and there will also be a Super League race for professional women (TRIATHLON WORLD, 2/10).
