The 2020 World Mountain Running Championships and World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships originally scheduled for November 13/14 in Lanzarote, Spain have been cancelled by the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA).
As a result of this cancellation, US team selection which was supposed to start this month, has been suspended. The USATF Mountain, Ultra, Trail Council will not name a team for these championships.
Here is the announcement from the World Mountain Running Association originally posted on their website.
We are sad to bring you the following announcement from WMRA President Jonathan Wyatt about this year’s World Mountain Running Championships and World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in Lanzarote.
“It is of course a difficult thing to take away the World Championships this year but in the end the decision to do it was not difficult. We have to make sure that our sports event does not contribute to any sort of worsening of the global pandemic we are facing and we have not seen a big enough improvement to take away these doubts. Therefore, together with our friends in the organisation team (Arista events), the local Haria government on Lanzarote and the Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) we have decided that this is the best action to take.
We do feel sorry we can not provide a competition in 2020 for our athletes and their chance to shine on a world stage. It is regrettable that our Mountain Running community and family can not meet and share the experiences together that we have grown to love over the past 36 years of WMRA competitions.
I would like to thank everyone on the team who have worked so hard during the past 12 months on this event including WMRA’s own technical delegates to the event Tomo Sarf and Sergio Mayayo. We encourage every mountain runner to enjoy running while respecting safe social distancing practices and the regulations in your area.”
