ULTRA- TRAIL WORLD TOUR BRINGING TOGETHER THE MOST EMBLEMATIC RACES IN THE WORLD. PRESS CONFERENCE # NOVEMBER 2nd

Transcription

1 r PRESS CONFERENCE # NOVEMBER 2nd ULTRATRAIL WORLD TOUR BRINGING TOGETHER THE MOST EMBLEMATIC RACES IN THE WORLD 1 Press realese #2, for immediate distribution Download this document :

2 New York City, 2013, November 2 nd September 1 st, Chamonix MontBlanc, the organizers of the most emblematic trailrunning events announce the creation of the UltraTrail World Tour. November 2 nd, New York City, The UltraTrail World Tour reveals the 10 races for All these events, already opened to a large public, will offer a unique opportunity for all, throughout the year, to discover an extremely wide variety of territories. At the end of each race, all "finishers" will be assigned a number of points based on their ranking. The general ranking on the Tour will be updated after each race. In order to facilitate the meeting of elite athletes, a limited number of races, the "UltraTrail Series" will have a greater coefficient. At the end of the year, The UltraTrail World Tour Champion (male and female) will be proclaimed. All runners will receive a passport, which collect their "finishers visas. 2

3 AN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, SHARED VALUES The variety of races that constitute the Ultra Trail World Tour, illustrate the incredible diversity that trailrunning events offer: very steep paths of the Alps, astonishing Californian trails, combination of hills and beaches of Hong Kong, variety of Moroccan desert... The richness of the formats will mean a strong capacity for the athletes to adapt. The difference between the Diagonale des Fous, the Vibram Tarawera Ultramarathon 100km, or the UltraTrail Mt. Fuji and The Western State Endurance Run They all will require athletes to have very different qualities to fight for victory, or just pretend to be "finisher". Even though each race of the UltraTrail World Tour is very different, they all share common values, that they are very proud to promote: equity, selfrespect, respect for others, environment... To participate to the UltraTrail World Tour is an opportunity, for all over the years, to experience different cultural and sporting characteristics. Each continent will be visited: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Oceania... a way to be part of incredible events, to create new friendships, and to maybe one day become "finisher" of all the races! 3

4 ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA & AGENDA To join the UltraTrail World Tour, races have to comply to the following rules: Long distance trailrunning races of at least 100km Emblematic venues Popular races (around 400 runners minimum) International events (a minimum of 20 countries represented) Minimum 2 passed editions For this 1st edition, the UltraTrail World Tour will be on each continent, 10 dates scheduled all over the year. January, 18 th & 19 th : Vibram Hong Kong 100 (Hong Kong, China) March, 1 st & 2 nd : The North Face Transgrancanaria (Spain) March, 15 th : Vibram Tarawera 100km Ultramarathon (NewZealand) April 4 th to 14 th : Marathon des Sables (Morocco) April, 24 th to 27 th : UltraTrail Mt.Fuji (Japan) May, 17 th & 18 th : The North Face 100 Australia (Australia) June, 27 th &28 th : The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail (Italy) June, 28 th & 29 th : The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (USA) August, 25 th to 31 st : The North Face UltraTrail du MontBlanc (France, Italy, Switzerland) October, 23 rd to 26 th : La Diagonale des Fous (La Réunion Island, France) 4

5 RACES Vibram Hong Kong 100 Place: Hong Kong, China Year of creation: 2011 Web: Contact: Janet Ng The North Face Transgrancanaria Place: Las Palmas, Grande Canarie Island (Spain) Year of creation: 2003 Web: Contact: Fernando González Díaz Vibram Tarawera 100km Ultramarathon Place: Bay of Plenty, North Island (NewZealand) Year of creation: 2009 Web: Contact: Paul Charteris Marathon des Sables Place: South Sahara (Morocco) Year of creation: 1985 Web: Contact: Patrick Bauer UltraTrail Mt.Fuji Place: Yamanashi, Chubu (Japan) Year of creation: 2012 Web: Contact: Tsutomu MIURA 5

6 RACES The North Face 100 Australia Place: Katoomba, Blue Mountains (Australia) Year of creation: 2008 Web: The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail Place: Cortina d Ampezzo, Dolomites (Italy) Year of creation: 2007 Web: Contact: Cristina Murgia cris@ultratrail.it The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run Place: Squaw Valley, California (USA) Year of creation: 1973 Web: Contact : Craig Thornley rdthornley@gmail.com The North Face UltraTrail du MontBlanc Place: Chamonix MontBlanc (France, Italy, Switzerland) Year of creation: 2003 Web: Contact: Catherine Poletti catherine.poletti@autmb.com La Diagonale des Fous Place : La Réunion Island (France) Year of creation: 1994 Web: Contact: Robert Chicaud info@grandraidreunion.com 6

7 RACERS For everyone: By the end of 2013, each runner who is planning to participate in one or more races of the UltraTrail World Tour will be able to order the "UltraTrail World Tour" passport on He will receive a visa to put in his passport after finishing one of the races, and will automatically integrate the classification of the Ultra Trail World Tour of the year. For elites: In order to encourage the meeting of the elite runners regularly during the year, the UltraTrail World Tour will finance the airplane tickets and possibly guarantee accommodation, so that some athletes will not have to renounce in participating to some races because of financial reasons. The ambition of the UltraTrail World Tour is to allow the elite athletes to decide what they want to do and not just what they can do. For 2014, will be guaranteed A minimum of 40 plane tickets, A minimum of 60 full hosting packages, And over 100 race numbers 7

8 RANKING AN ANNUAL RANKING, FOR THE AWARD OF THE ULTRATRAIL WORLD TOUR CHAMPION (in association with the ITRA, the International Trail Running Association ) The ranking of the 2014 Ultra-Trail World Tour will be determined as follows. Minimum 2 finish completed to enter in the ranking Maximum 3 best results taken in consideration, including a maximum of 2 results of the "Series" A male ranking and a female ranking calculated with the same rules All finishers of each race of the UTWT will be assigned a number of points. The winner of each race gets 100 points and each finisher gets points based on the difference between their time and the one of the winner. The «Series» have a bigger coefficient : 1,5 At the end of the year, the title for the UltraTrail World Tour 2014 Champion (male and female) will be awarded. Prize money will strictly respect gender parity: 1 st $ nd $ rd $ th $ th $ 500 And who the winners will be? Ready to bet? 8

9 ABOUT THE ULTRATRAIL WORLD TOUR Role and objectives: To BOOST the international promotion of major trailrunning events. To PROMOTE a varied offer of races adapted to all runners. To INVITE all athletes to travel and discover the world. To HELP the elites athletes to be part of these major trail running events. CONTACTS : Press Laetitia BRIAND press@ultratrailworldtour.com Races organizations and runners Marie SAMMONS marie.sammons@ultratrailworldtour.com Operational manager Romain VALENTIN romain.valentin@ultratrailworldtour.com Web: Facebook: 9