‘Trail map to adventure’ via 2020 XTERRA World Championship qualifying series

The 2020 XTERRA World Championship Qualifying Series schedule boasts 35 events in 25 countries from February to September next year. The team at XTERRA adds that the series provides ‘a trail map to adventure for amateur and professional athletes looking to discover the planet and secure their spot on the start line for the 25th annual XTERRA World Championship in Maui on November 8.’

From Ameland Island to Zittau, off-road triathletes can explore events at sea level and altitude, with ‘swims in lakes, rivers, and oceans – in big cities and mountain towns – from one end of the earth to the other.’

The season starts on February 1 at the inaugural XTERRA Wellington Festival, on the North Island of New Zealand, then hops to Taiwan’s Kenting National Park, home to the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship race in March.

In April, the tour heads back to New Zealand – this time to the Redwoods in Rotorua – before moving on to Argentina and Malta, across to Croatia for the first time, and over to Greece and the Athenian Riviera.

May journeys to the jungles of Brazil, the horses of Golega in Portugal, the wine country in Chile, the barbeque in Alabama, the biggest lake in Italy – Lake Garda, and the island of Moorea.

XTERRA Belgium gets under way in June with a race around the fortress in Namur, ‘then it’s off to visit the cows in the rolling green hills of Vallee de Joux, Switzerland.’

In July, the action heats up with three European Gold events in a row – France, Czech, and Scanno – a big one in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and the first of five stops in Canada that crisscross the country from coast-to-coast, with events in Victoria, Quebec, Sudbury, Canmore and Thunder Bay.

In August, racing continues in the Tequila countryside of Tapalpa, Mexico, the wooded hills of Luxembourg, a new stop in southwestern France, an exotic one in the Dominican Republic, an important one at the European Championship in Zittau, Germany, and a ‘must-do experience among the purple flowers of Kunming in mainland China.’

Come September the European Tour finale takes place in the Netherlands, the Asia-Pacific Tour wraps up with races in Korea and the mountains of Marunuma, Japan, and the America Tour crowns its champions in Utah.

At each stop along with way amateur athletes can score points towards tour titles and a qualifying spot to XTERRA Worlds; and for elites, there is more than US$525,000 in prize money up for grabs.

The 14-stop XTERRA European Tour awards US$187,500, the seven-stop XTERRA North American Tour awards US$142,500, the six-stop XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour awards US$92,000, and the stand-alone XTERRA World Championship dishes out US$100,000.

Elites racing the European Tour will count their best eight scores; those competing in the North American Tour count their best four; and on the Asia-Pacific Tour the top three scores count. In each tour, it’s mandatory for elites to count their score from the tour championship race.

2020 XTERRA World Championship qualifying series schedule, as at November 22, 2019

www.xterraplanet.com