The bidding process for the 2023 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships has opened.
World Athletics assists the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA), the International Trail Running Association (ITRA) and the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) in organising the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) on a biennial basis.
ITRA notes that ‘the WMTRC is where the world’s best off-road runners are released into the wild.’ Held over three days, elite international athletes compete in a total of 10 official world championships across four competition formats. There are also open or promotional races for mass participation athletes.
The next edition of the WMTRC is in Chiang Mai, Thailand on February 11-13, 2022. This event was originally scheduled for November 11-14, 2021 but was pushed back due to the pandemic.
The WMTRC 2023 hosting opportunity is now open, with the event to be held before June 15, 2023 or after September 15, 2023.
Race formats
- ‘Classic up and down’ mountain race (circa 12km or a circa 6km loop to be repeated twice, 300-450m elevation gain per loop). Four world championship races (including senior men, senior women, U20 men and U20 women).
- ‘Vertical’ mountain race (4-7km, 700-1,000m total elevation gain). Two world championship races (including senior men and women).
- Long trail (circa 80km, 3,500-6,000m total elevation gain, ITRA category L). One race (with senior men’s and women’s world championship rankings).
- Short trail (circa 40km, 2,000-3,000m total elevation gain, ITRA category S). One race (with senior men’s and women’s world championship rankings).
The WMTRCevent hosting fee is US$150,000. Full commercial rights are granted to the local organizing committee (including title sponsorships, partnerships, media and broadcasting rights, expo sales, as well as mass participation entry fees etc.)
Hosting requirements:
- Ready access to both mountainous terrain and suitably challenging trails to facilitate the competition format courses listed above, as well as additional running trails for training
- International airport within a 3-hour bus ride
- Event transportation system provided between hotels, venues, city centre, airports, main train stations and event-related social functions
- Full board accommodation in a 3* hotel (or superior) for athletes, officials, World Athletics family and media for a period of 4-5 nights
Applications must be sent to: bidding[at]worldathletics.org. The pre-qualification deadline and verification of bids is on November 1, 2021. The completed bid application deadline is February 1, 2022 – with selection and announcement of the winning bid in April 2022.
www.worldathletics.org
www.itra.run
