The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing will this year award a prize purse of $1 million. But don’t get too excited. It’s not a winner take all. It’s just the total prize money of the six contests (three mens, three womens) all added up, according to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser.
The men’s Triple Crown will feature events at Hale’iwa Ali’i Beach, Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline. The women’s Triple Crown will feature events at Hale’iwa Ali’i Beach, Sunset Beach and Honolua Bay, Maui. . . The six contests will award a total of $875,000 in prize money.
But then Vans threw in another $175,000 to knock it right over the top. Triple Crown organizer Randy Rarick is apparently amazed:
“It really is amazing, considering we don’t have a gate for paid attendance to help bring in money,” Rarick said. “It’s one of the better shows on earth and people get to watch for free. That’s why it’s nice to see the surfers get rewarded like this.”
Maybe someday the winner of Pipeline will take home a cool million all by themselves. We can hope. Stay tuned to Triplecrownofsurfing.com for all the action. It all starts tomorrow with the Reef Hawaiian Pro 2009 from Haleiwa.
[Link: Honolulu Advertiser]
