February 14

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SPARTAN TRAIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: SPARTAN PARTNERS WITH GLOBAL TRAIL RUNNING EVENTS AND CREATES A NEW CIRCUIT

Posted by on February 14, 2020 in trail running spain | 4 Comments

 

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, t​raditional trail  running races that launched in​ five countries last year.

 

 

 

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SPARTAN TRAIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: A NEW CIRCUIT

 

Following the corporate trend opened by the multinational UTMB with the launch of ByUTMB and the purchase of Ultra Trail World Tour, Spartan has partnered with established trail running events around the world to create the Spartan Trail World Championship. To prevent confusion, it’s time to remind that this is an event like Ultra Trail World Tour or Adidas Infinite Trails world Champiosnhip, private events, created and managed by a company with no official federation validity and where no national team will attend.

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:  ​La Ruta Trail​, Costa Rica, November 14
  • Canary Islands: Transgrancanaria, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, March 4-8, 2021

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% YOY 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. He grew the event to 4500 participants throughout 6 races distances and will oversee Spartan Trail’s operations and growth strategy. “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.

 

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Info by Mayayo Oxígeno for Trailrunningspain