Written by USA Track & Field’s Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT) Running Executive Committee members Richard Bolt, Nancy Hobbs, Jason Bryant, Max King and Melody Fairchild. Approved by the MUT Executive Committee for publication on May 25, 2018.
The World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships is regulated by the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) under the patronage of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The U.S. Long Distance Mountain Running Team will consist of 5 women and 5 men with the top 3 men and top 3 women (cumulative places from the top three runners) scoring for the team.
The 2019 WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships will be hosted in Neuquen, Argentina in the Villa la Angostura region, at the K42 Adventure Marathon on November 16, 2019. The 42 km course contains 2192 meters of ascent & descent.
2019 Team Selection Standards & Procedures
A Standard: The top US finisher at the 2018 WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships, receives an automatic spot on the 2019 team. If the automatically selected athletes do not accept their spots on the team, the second US finisher will receive a spot on the team provided they are within 10% of the overall race winner. (Joe Gray & Addie Bracy)
B Standard: 2018-19 Selection Races – The top U.S. male and top U.S. female finisher at:
- November 3, 2018 – Moab Trail Marathon (USATF Trail Marathon Championships), Moab, UT. (Anthony Costales and Rachel Drake)
- June 23, 2019 – Broken Arrow Sky Race (26 km), Squaw Valley, CA (Morgan Arritola and Sam Sahli)
C Standard: Remaining team members will be selected based on running resumes with strong consideration given to results in the 2018 Long Distance Mountain Running Championships, team selection races & USATF Championships. The selection committee will consider athletes percentage back from the winning time in any races mentioned above or listed on resumes submitted. Good performances in highly competitive races are more important than wins in uncompetitive races.
Athletes named to the team must be U.S. citizens and have a current USATF membership.
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). Mountain team members will receive partial funding from USA Track & Field (exact amount TBA).
Question or resumes should be sent to Jason Bryant, [email protected] and Richard Bolt, [email protected]. Resumes must be received by August 15, 2019. Athletes who win selection races must confirm their acceptance of a team spot not later than August 1, 2019.
The team will be announced by August 31, 2019.
Course profile for the K42 (above)
Kasie Enman finished 2nd at the 2017 World Long Distance Mountain Running Championship.
The first World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge was held at Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland in 2004. The first team competition took place in 2009 in Austria. The U.S. Women have won the team title three times, as well as team silver twice and team bronze once. Additionally, three individual titles and two silver individual medals. The U.S. Men have two gold and three silver team medals, a bronze team medal, along with three individual titles and an individual bronze medal.
The 2016 selection process was published here.
The 2017 selection process was published here.
The 2018 selection process was published here.
