2012 USATF Mountain/Ultra/Trail National Championship Schedule
December 13, 2011 by Bryon Powell · 12 Comments
The 2012 USATF Mountain/Ultra/Trail National Championship schedule has been announced. Many of the races are the same such as the Bandera 100k, Caumsett 50k, and Continental Divide Trail Run while the Moab Trail Marathon is a new addition to the USATF Championship lineup. There won’t be a USATF Road 100k championship due to the Mad City 100k being so close to the IAU 100k World Championships (see bottom). The Mount Washington Road Race will be the USATF Mountain Running Championship for both men and women. The men’s team for the Mountain Running World Championships will be selected at Mount Washington, while the women’s team will be selected at the Loon Mountain Race in July.
2012 USATF Mountain/Ultra/Trail National Championships
- January 7 – Bandera 100k – Trail 100k (Bandera, TX)
- March 3 – Nueces 50 Mile – Trail 50 Mile (Camp Eagle near Rocksprings, TX)
- March 4 – Caumsett 50k – Road 50k (Lloyd Neck, NY)
- May 5-6 – North Coast 24 Hour – 24 Hour (Cleveland, OH)
- June 10 – FootZone Dirty Half – Trail Half Marathon (Bend, OR)
- June 16 – Mt Washington Road Race – Mountain Running (North Conway, NH) *
- July 8 – Loon Mountain Race – Women’s MRT selector (Lincoln, NH) +
- July 28 – Burning River 100 Mile – Trail 100 Mile (Cleveland-Akron, OH)
- August 25 – Continental Divide Trail Race – Trail 10k (Laurel Springs, NC)
- September 22 – Flagline 50k – Trail 50k (Mt Bachelor outside Bend, OR)
- October 21 – Tussey Mountainback – Road 50 Mile (near State College, PA)
- November 3 – Moab Trail Mararthon – Trail Marathon (Kane Creek Canyon outside Moab, UT)
For the third straight year, there’ll be a USATF Trail Series Championship that includes all the marathon-and-under USATF championships. This year that means a three race series with the following distances: 10k, 1/2 marathon, marathon.
[* Mt Washington is also the men's Mountain Running Team selection race.
+ The Loon Mountain Race is the women's Mountain Running Team selection race.]
2012 Mountain/Ultra/Trail World Championships
Here are a few international trail and ultramarathon championships of note:
- April 22 – IAU 100k World Championship (Seregno, Italy)
- September 2 – World Mountain Running Championship
- September 8-9 – IAU 24 Hour World Championship (Katowice, Poland)
- September 8-9 – WMRA Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge (Interlaken, Switzerland)
- October 20 – IAU 50k World Cup – Vallecrosia-Bordighera, Italy
Call for Comments
- Are you planning on running one of these races?
- What do you think about the races on the schedule?
- Do you pay particular attention to who wins USATF national championships?
Related articles:
- 2011 USATF Trail and Ultrarunning National Championships The 2011 schedule of the USATF Trail and Ultrarunning National Championships....
- (Trail) Ultrarunner of the Year? A discussion of whether comparing trail and road ultras is like comparing apples to bowling balls....
- Michael Owen 2011 UROC 100k Pre-Race Interview Michael Owen interviewed before the 2011 Ultra Race of Champions (UROC) 100k....
Filed under Races ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Have you seen the registered list for the 100k in Bandera on January 7th? Going to be a fun one to watch play out. Hopr they all make it out there.
Men: Dave Mackey, Nick Clark, Timothy Olson, Ian Sharman, Dave James, Dylan Bowman, Yasine Diboun, Justin Ricks and locals Steven Moore, Paul Terranova and Neal Lucas!!
Women: Liza Howard, Joelle Vaught, Pam Smith and Darcy Africa!!
Ian isn’t listed as running the championship but that may change. He is running Rocky Raccoon so Bandera may be a training tune up. Definitely worth seeing but I will not be there either. I’ll be getting ready for the Houston Marathon the next weekend. Bandera will definitely be a great race. I hope Neal does well. It’s his first try at this distance. He smoked the Capt’n Karl series and recently ran the NYC Marathon. He flew by me at The Shoe; had to do a double-take to make sure it was him. Joe always puts on a great race that pleases everyone.
I love Bandera and can’t wait to talk to and see all of those guys out there. I wish I was running it again this year, but, I get to work it, so that will be awesomer!
Just curious. Looks like all these World Championships are in Europe. None in US continent or Asia?
It just happens that this year all the races are in Europe. Most of the races have been held in Asia in the recent past, but they are usually in Europe. The WMRC has been in Alaska, and there will be a bid to host it at Cranmore in NH for 2015. The local organizing committees are required to present very comprehensive bids. I think the WMRC hosts will have to show they have 250k in funding, but that is the largest of the races. Even with the smaller races, I really don’t know how they pay for everything.
The WMRA long distance race is the smallest race on the list, and it was at Pike’s last year.
Looks like Lithia Loop lost the trail running champs. Too bad, it’s such a fantastic race.
Anybody know why the 24 hour championship is in May in 2012 instead of September as in the past?
Tony, the 24 Hour World Championships are September 8-9 this year. Hence, the switch in the USATF championships.
Thanks Byron! That makes perfect sense. I should have read farther down.
Personally I am bummed because I wanted to do the Cleveland race in September, and won’t be recovered enough from another race in May. The Cleveland race is wonderful with it’s small loops. Back-of-the-packers like myself actually get to run with the elite! I would prefer a softer surface instead of the asphalt, but I’ll take it.
It’s all about what events apply/petition for USATF championship status. Thus if an event is in September wins the bid and is given the USATF championship status then the championship will be in September, likewise if the event is in May, etc…
Ooops, you’re right about that as well. It’s all geared toward when Worlds is, need enough time to select the US team.
The spring version of the North Coast 24 Hour was created specifically to deal with the timing of the World Championships this year. They’re still holding their September race.