[UPDATED May 13, 2020 – The 17th annual North American, Central American & Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships has been cancelled. Announcement HERE]
For the 2020 NACAC Mountain Running Championships, the following Team USATF selection criteria was approved by USA Track & Field’s Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT) executive committee on January 14, 2020.
The 17th annual North American, Central American & Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships will be held with the Golden Ultra in Kicking Horse Resort in Golden, British Columbia, Canada on Friday, September 18, 2020. This race with also serve as the 2020 Canadian Mountain Running Championships. The uphill course is 10.3 kilometers with a total of 1205 meters of ascent and 135 meters of descent. The USA Team Leader will be Richard Bolt assisted by Nancy Hobbs.
Team Canada athlete Kristopher Swanson racing at Kicking Horse Resort.
The goal of this team selection criteria is to reward top performances by US athletes at the 2019 World Mountain Running Championships (WMRC), the 2019 NACAC Mountain Running Championships, the 2019 International U18 Mountain Running Cup and to provide development opportunities for elite athletes in international competition.
National team uniforms will be provided by USA Track & Field (USATF). If an athlete is named to the team but can’t make the trip due to injury or any other circumstance, the uniform must be returned to USATF. There is currently no funding for this team. Team members must be current USATF members and have a valid U.S. passport.
Participants of the 2019 NACAC Mountain Running Championships in Mexico. Photo: Tad Davis.
2020 Selection Criteria:
- A Standard: Scoring US athletes at the 2019 WMRC in order of finish. (3 men/3 women); Top US athlete at the 2019 NACAC Mountain Running Championships (1 man/1 woman).
- B Standard: Second scoring member at the 2019 NACAC Mountain Running Championships (1 man/1 woman)
- C Standard: Top 2 US junior athletes at the 2019 WMRC. (2 men/2 women)
- D Standard: Top US athlete at the 2019 International U18 Mountain Running Cup (1 man/1 woman). Must be at least 16 years of age in the year of competition.
- E Standard: Athlete selection by resume submission. If the selection committee is unable to fill all the team spots with the preceding standards, it will accept athlete resumes for consideration. Send to [email protected] and [email protected].
This criteria creates a pool of up to 8 men and 8 women to fill a team of up to 4 men and 4 women. To fill team spots the selection committee will go down the list of athletes in performance and criteria order until all spots are filled. The 2020 team will be announced by August 1, 2020.
2020 NACAC Mountain Running Championship Course Overview
2020 NACAC Mountain Running Championship Course Profile
The Golden Ultra last hosted the NACAC Mountain Running Championships in September 2017 where the U.S. team took home 5 of the available 12 medals.
