Follow-up: trailrunner.com is temporarily unavailable while we make website enhancements. In the meantime, here is the selection criteria:
Written by USATF Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT) Running Executive Committee members Richard Bolt, Nancy Hobbs, Alex Varner and Jason Bryant and approved by the MUT Executive Committee.
The Trail World Championship is regulated by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) under the patronage of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and with their technical partner the International Trail Running Association (ITRA). The 2019 Trail World Championships will be held in Mirandha do Corvo, Portugal on June 8 and will be a 50K with 2500 meters of vertical gain.
Qualifying performance time frame: May 12, 2018 – February 28, 2019
Athlete Resumes Due: No later than March 1, 2019
Team Selected: No later than March 15, 2019
Team Announced: March 30, 2019
Number of team spots available: 6 men, 6 women (US citizenship and current USATF membership required)
Number of team staff: 2
Funding: This is a partially funded USA Track & Field (USATF) team. We will know the amount of support in December 2018 following the USATF Annual Meeting where budgets are approved. National 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). There is some funding for lodging from the local organizing committee (LOC) – exact amount TBD.
The 2019 U.S. Trail Team – 6 men and 6 women – will be selected by the USATF MUT Executive Committee based on the criteria listed below.
A Standard (2018 TWC Results): The top US female and male finisher at the 2018 Trail World Championship receives an automatic spot on the 2019 team. If the top 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.
B Standard (Selection Races): Top female and male finishers from each of the three selection races below earns a spot on the team:
August 12, 2018 – USATF 50K Trail Championships / Ragged 50K – Sunapee, NH.
November 17, 2018 – North Face 50 Mile Endurance Challenge – Marin County, CA.
February 17, 2019 – USATF 50K Trail Championships / Fourmidable 50K – Auburn, CA.
C Standard (Resumes): Team selection based on running resumes. Positions on the team unfilled by auto qualification listed above in the B standard, will be filled based on an evaluation of running resumes submitted by athletes. Preferential consideration will be given to athletes with results in team selection races. If it becomes difficult to evaluate athlete resumes based on head to head racing the selection committee may also consult athlete rankings from Ultrarunning Magazine, UltraSignUp or ITRA.
Interested athletes may submit resumes to: richardabolt at gmail dot com.