Success at this weekend’s prestigious Sailfish “Triathlon Night of the Year” Awards in Germany has seen Challenge Roth voted as the world’s best triathlon, with two other Challenge Family races voted into the top 10.

Readers of Europe’s largest triathlon magazine, Zeitschrift Triathlon, voted Challenge Roth (52.9%) as 2011 “Race of the Year”, knocking the Ironman World Championships (24.9%) into second place for the first time in five years. Joining Challenge Roth was Challenge Kraichgau in fifth place and Challenge Cairns in tenth.

The reigning champions of Challenge Roth were also honoured on the night with Andreas Raelert (GER) taking out “Male Athlete of the Year” and Chrissie Wellington (GBR) winning “Female Athlete of the Year”. Raelert and Wellington both set new world records at Challenge Roth in 2011 with times of 7:41:33 and 8:18:13 respectively.

Challenge Family CEO and race director of Challenge Roth, Felix Walchshöfer, said he was delighted with the win and paid tribute to the thousands of athletes who had played a part in Challenge’s success.

“Winning this award is a huge honour for us,” he said. “And it means even more as an athlete-voted award. A huge thank you goes to all 35,000 athletes who race with Challenge around the world each year for their support.”

The Challenge Family currently feature 13 races across three continents, including the world’s largest iron distance triathlon, Challenge Roth in Germany. Other races are Challenge Wanaka (New Zealand), Challenge Fuerteventura and Challenge Barcelona (Spain), Challenge Kraichgau (Germany), Challenge Cairns (Australia), Challenge Copenhagen and Challenge Aarhus (Denmark), Challenge Vichy (France), Challenge Walchsee (Austria), Challenge Henley-on-Thames (UK) and Challenge Cape Town (South Africa).