Written by Kami Semick & Nancy Hobbs
IAU Trail World Championships – 2016 US Ultra Trail Team Qualification Standards
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 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 Team USA at the 2015 event here.
The 2016 event will be held on October 29, in Geres, Portugal at the Peneda-Geres National Park and will cover 85km over a profile of 4500 meters. Braga, an hour away from Oporto International Airport, will host the national teams. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for this event is headed by ultrarunner Carlos Sa. Watch a video about the race at https://youtu.be/SbC8G1KLpWA. The US team – 5 men and 5 women – will be selected by USATF MUT Executive Committee based on the criteria listed below.
Qualifying performance time frame: June 30, 2015 – July 1, 2016.
Team Selected: No later than July 15, 2016.
Team Announced: August 1, 2016.
Number of team spots available: 5 men, 5 women (US citizenship and current USATF membership required)
Number of team staff: 1
Funding: NEW for 2016! For the first time ever, this team will receive travel funding from USATF. We estimate $400 to $600 per team member & hope to announce an exact amount in February 2016. National team uniforms will be provided by USATF. There is some funding for lodging from the LOC in Portugal – exact amount TBD.
2016 US Ultra Trail Team Selection:
A) The top U.S. male and top U.S. female at the 2015 IAU Trail World Championship earns a spot on the team. AUTO QUALIFY: Alex Nichols (6th at 2015 IAU Trail WC) and Cassie Scallon (12th at 2015 IAU Trail WC).
B) The first U.S. male and first U.S. female* from each of the three selection races below earns and a spot on the team:
1) The North Face Endurance Challenge San Francisco 50 Mile, December 5, 2015 (Zach Miller and Megan Kimmel)
2) Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, April 9, 2016 (YiOu Wang and Jim Walmsley)
3) Cayuga Trails 50 Mile, June 4, 2016 (Tyler Sigl and Corrine Malcolm). Men’s & women’s winners of Cayuga Trails will receive $1000 each from the race director towards travel to the 2016 IAU Trail Championship if they accept their spots on the team.
*If the first US finisher declines his or her spot on the team, the next U.S. finisher will be auto selected provided his/her finish time is within 10% of the first U.S. finisher.
C) Positions on the team unfilled by auto qualification listed above in A and B, will be evaluated based on performances in the qualification period, with strong consideration given to results in team selection races. A secondary source for consideration will be Ultrarunning Magazine’s database of 50 Mile performances provided exclusively for this team selection based on races between June 30, 2015 – July 1, 2016 which contain at least 6000′ of climb/descent.
Interested athletes may submit resumes to: kami_semick at yahoo dot com and richardabolt at gmail dot com.
Cassie Scallon finishing the 2015 race
Tim Tollefson at aid station 2
