Press release from American Trail Running Association member Spartan Trail.
Headlines: Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas to Host Trail Running Events from 21k to 100k; $270,000 Prize Purse up for Grabs; Spartan Appoints Patagonia Run CEO Mariano Alvarez as Spartan Trail CEO.
Spartan, the world’s largest endurance brand, has partnered with established trail running events across the globe to create the “Spartan Trail World Championship.” The Global series consists of six events, each with their own place in trail running history, which combine to cover four continents and a $270,000 USD prize purse for Trail Run (49k or less) and Trail Ultra (50k or greater) distances. This is a dramatic expansion of the brand’s “Spartan Trail” event series, traditional trail running races that launched in five countries last year. Each partner race was carefully selected because of its history, challenging terrain and magnificent settings. Destinations on the inaugural Spartan Trail World Championship include:
- South America: Patagonia Run, Argentina, April 3-4
- Southern Europe: Lavaredo Ultra Trail, Cortina, Italy, June 25 – 27
- Northern Europe: Fjallmaraton, Aré, Sweden: July 25 – Aug 1
- North America: Kodiak Big Bear, Big Bear, California: August 14-15
- Asia Pacific: TBD
- Central America: Race: La Ruta Trail, Costa Rica, November 14
- Canary Islands: Transgrancanaria, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, March 4-8, 2021
U.S. National and World Champion Joseph Gray. Photo Mike Scott 2019.
There are no prior entry qualifications to be eligible for prize money or to participate in the points leaderboard system for any event during the Inaugural Spartan Trail World Championships. While each event weekend features multiple distances ranging from 10K to 100 miles, only two, the “Trail Run” and “Trail Ultra” are part of the World Championship prize money and points system. The historic prize purse is expected to draw the best athletes in the sport, with Spain’s Pau Capell, and the US’s Camille Herron and Joseph Gray already confirmed.
The top five male and female athletes will be awarded a piece of the prize purse, which totals $18,800 USD per event for the Trail Ultra and $11,200 USD per event for the Trail Run categories. At the end of the season, a male and female Spartan Trail Run World Champion will be crowned in each category based on the highest number of points in each category – with the top five on the leaderboard sharing an additional $60,000 USD. Six Age Group categories will receive non-cash awards across: 14-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60+, excluding the men’s and women’s elite podium finishers.
With statistics showing a decrease in road race participation over the last 4 years and trail running participation growing more than 50% year-over-year in the same period, Spartan has continued plans for growth in the sport and has tapped Argentina’s Patagonia Run Founder Mariano Alvarez, as Spartan Trail CEO to oversee the World Championship and overall expansion. Over the course of 15 years, Alvarez has organized road and trail races across a spectrum of distances and formats, most recently founding the Patagonia Run, now part of the Spartan World Championship. He grew the event to 4500 participants throughout 6 races distances and will oversee Spartan Trail’s operations and growth strategy.
U.S. National and World Champion Camille Herron. Photo ctollerun.com.
“After running and organizing all kinds of road races, I felt the need for something different, something that would fulfill my desire to be more harmonized with nature, that would allow me to escape, and I knew others felt the same, so we created Patagonia Run,” said Alvarez. “I’m now excited to share my passion and expertise with trail runners across the globe as CEO of Spartan Trail. This year’s World Championship, with its unprecedented prize purse is just the beginning. Spartan’s Founder and CEO Joe De Sena and I have a shared vision for the future of the sport and we look forward to creating epic trail race experiences for athletes across the globe.”
The 2020 Spartan World Championship adds to the brand’s growing roster of trail and fitness events, which includes the expansion of regular season Spartan Trail events to more than a dozen countries in 2020. In addition, Spartan will host its first multi-day Mountain Bike race in partnership with La Ruta de los Conquistadores November 5-7 ahead of the November 14 Trail Race and the inaugural DEKAFIT event, a concept that encapsulates all the tenets of Spartan — grit, determination, and perseverance — in one arena with five-thousand meters of running and 10 stations testing strength, endurance, and mobility will take place in Denver, CO, USA March 21.
For more information and to register, visit SpartanTrail.com.
About Spartan:
With more than 250 events across more than 40 countries on six continents, Spartan is the world’s largest obstacle course race (OCR) and endurance brand. Providing transformation through sport, Spartan attracts more than one million annual participants across all fitness levels, from beginners to elite. More than five million participants have finished Spartan events, creating a lifestyle that extends beyond races including health and wellness products, training and nutrition programs, and popular media content, which has made OCR one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Spartan events feature races at various distances, Stadion and Sprint: 5k and 20 Obstacles; Super: 10k and 25 Obstacles; Beast: half marathon and 30 Obstacles; and Ultra: 50k and 60 obstacles. Visit spartan.com for more information and registration.
