Written by USATF Mountain, Ultra & Trail (MUT) Running Executive Committee members Richard Bolt, Nancy Hobbs, Alex Varner, Maria Dalzot and Howard Nippert and approved by the MUT Council.
The IAU Trail World Championship is regulated by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) under the patronage of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The 2016 event was held on October 29, 2016 in Geres, Portugal at the Peneda-Geres National Park and covered 85km over a profile of 4500 meters.
The 2017 event will be on June 10, 2017 in Badia Prataglia, Italy in conjunction with the Trail Sacred Forests event. The distance will be around 50K with 2500 meters of climb & descend. You can find the race course on Strava. View a video about the race embedded below. Championship information on the ITRA website can be found here.
Qualifying performance time frame: June 1, 2016 – March 18, 2017.
Team Selected: No later than March 30, 2017
Team Announced: April 1, 2017.
Number of team spots available: 6 men, 6 women (US citizenship and current USATF membership required).
Number of team staff: 2 (Richard Bolt & Jason Bryant)
Funding: This is a partially funded USATF team. We will know the amount of support in early 2017 following the USATF Annual Meeting where budgets are approved. National team uniforms will be provided by USATF. (If an athlete qualifies for the team but can’t make the trip due to injury or any other circumstance, the uniform must be returned to USATF). There is some funding for lodging from the LOC in Italy – exact amount TBD.
The 2017 US Ultra Trail Team – 6 men and 6 women – will be selected by the USATF MUT Executive Committee based on the criteria listed below.
A Standard: The top U.S. male and top U.S. female at the 2016 IAU Trail World Championship earns a spot on the team provided they finish within 10% of the winner. No American athletes finished within 10% of the winner.
B Standard: The first U.S. male and first U.S. female from each of the three selection races below earns a spot on the team:
- USATF 50K Trail Championships / Tamalpa Headlands 50K, August 27, 2016. Winners Megan Roche & Cody Reed earn spots on the team.
- The North Face Endurance Challenge San Francisco 50 Mile, December 3, 2016. Zach Miller and Magdalena Boulet earn spots on the team.
- Chuckanut 50K, March 18, 2017. Max King and Ladia Albertson-Junkans earn spots on the team.
C Standard: Team selection based on running resumes. Positions on the team unfilled by auto qualification listed above in A and B, will be filled based on an evaluation of running resumes submitted by athletes. Strong consideration will be given to athletes with results in team selection races. If it becomes difficult to evaluate athlete resumes based on head to head racing the selection committee may also consult athlete rankings from Ultrarunning Magazine’s and UltraSignUp.
Interested athletes may submit resumes to: richardabolt at gmail dot com.
The first IAU Trail World Championships were held in Annecy, France, at the Maxi-Race on May 30, 2015. The US men won a team silver medal and the US women were seventh in team competition. Find photos of the US Ultra Trail Team at the 2015 event here.
The 2018 IAU Trail Championships will be in Penyagolosa, Spain the 2nd weekend in May.
