In November of 2023, a group of race administrators from world-class path races introduced the creation of a brand new path racing circuit: the World Path Majors. As of December 2024, the inaugural season for the sequence has concluded. We’ll use this month’s column to familiarize ourselves with the sequence’ origin and targets and its inaugural yr participation and competitiveness.
The 2024 Hong Kong 100k males’s podium (left to proper): 3. Tyler Inexperienced, 1. Guang-Fu Meng, and three. Pei-Quan You. The Hong Kong 100k is a part of the World Path Majors. Picture: World Path Majors/Anta Model
The announcement of the World Path Majors (WTM) within the fall of 2023 got here following the conclusion of the primary yr of the UTMB World Sequence. The UTMB World Sequence purchased or launched path races around the globe. These path races held privileged positions within the qualifier system for coming into UTMB, CCC, and OCC. Because the UTMB World Sequence navigated rising pains, path runners bought a really feel for the brand new administration of beloved races and new lottery processes.
A bunch of race administrators acknowledged that loads of runners needed to take part in races that remained unbiased, aggressive, bucket-list occasions on attractive trails. They created the WTM to manifest this selection. The races acknowledge present world-class occasions and encourage their respective race administration groups to maintain doing what they do, thereby sustaining their loyal followings and attracting new contributors.
By evaluating the races to the wildly in style World Marathon Majors road-marathon race assortment, the race administrators aspired towards a mannequin through which path runners try to finish sequence races all through a lifetime, as a substitute of feeling pressured to make a number of lengthy journeys per season.
Ten races made up the sequence for its inaugural season:
A desk itemizing every race within the 2024 World Path Majors in chronological order. Be aware that for 2025 onward, the Grampians Peaks Path 100 Mile in Australia and the Vietnam Mountain Marathon in Vietnam may even be a part of the sequence.
The 2024 season seems to supply proof of idea. All races within the WTM boasted sturdy attendance and aggressive fields. Elite athletes confirmed up, typically to a number of sequence races. Let’s dive into the numbers.
Participation in 2024 World Path Majors Races
Each WTM occasion attracted excessive ranges of participation and robust worldwide contingents. Based on Worldwide Path Operating Affiliation (ITRA) outcomes, which incorporates runners who didn’t end however excludes any who didn’t begin (DNS), the ten WTM races in 2024 had 7,901 outcomes (1).
The sequence included some giant occasions in 2024, such because the Mt. Fuji 100 Mile with 2,144 contributors, and the Hong Kong 100k with 1,755 contributors, respectively. However some occasions have been extra intimate, such because the Québec Mega Path which had 176 contributors. The Swiss Canyon Path might have exhibited probably the most development in 2024, attracting 47% extra contributors than the earlier yr. The South Downs Approach 100 Mile might have elevated its participation charges by much more, however I couldn’t discover information on the variety of DNFs in 2023 — there have been 81 in 2024. If ending charges for the South Downs Approach 100 Mile are any indication of general participation numbers, it elevated by 82% in 2024.
A number of WTM races boasted higher worldwide participation than the earlier yr, too. The worldwide contingent elevated by 17% on the Hong Kong 100k in 2024 in comparison with the earlier yr, and by 11% on the Québec Mega Path. Solely Transgrancanaria noticed a lower in worldwide participation charges in 2024, and solely by 2%.
Hugo Deck, the 2024 Extremely-Path Cape City 100k males’s champion. Picture: Extremely-Path Cape City/Sam Clark
World Path Majors Competitiveness
Did the WTM achieve attracting elite athletes? Properly, Courtney Dauwalter raced in and received two WTM occasions — Transgrancanaria and the Mt. Fuji 100 Mile. Her race performances have been spectacular in true Dauwalter trend, and so they replicate positively on the WTM sequence. However Dauwalter was not at all the one elite athlete competing in these occasions, so I’ll elaborate.
The ITRA Efficiency Index classifies elite athletes as males with an ITRA rating of 825 or higher, and ladies with a rating of 700 or higher — take a look at a earlier article for extra context on ITRA scores and different rating techniques. By that commonplace, ITRA counted at the least 43 performances by males and 24 by ladies as assembly an elite commonplace.
The full variety of elite athletes who participated was considerably greater. For instance, Richard Lockwood’s greatest efficiency at a WTM race in 2024, based on the ITRA rating algorithm, was price a rating of 796 for his top-10 end on the Madeira Island Extremely-Path, however Lockwood’s general ITRA Efficiency Index is 859.
Courtney Dauwalter notching one other win on the 2024 Mt. Fuji 100 Mile. Picture: © Fuji Hakone Izu Path Help
One other level of comparability is the primary yr of the UTMB World Sequence, which launched in 2022. The marquee UTMB race in Chamonix attracted 84 entrants who have been labeled as elite, based on the ITRA Efficiency Index. The CCC race was equally aggressive, with 74 elite entrants. Nonetheless, most of the different UTMB World Sequence occasions had far fewer — at the least 14 occasions had between 5 and 10 elite entrants.
Amongst runners on the leaderboard, 14 ladies raced in two or extra WTM occasions in 2024, as did eight males. For context, when we regarded on the Golden Path World Sequence, there have been at the least 88 athletes (women and men mixed) who raced in at the least three of the seven races in 2022, which was the minimal variety of races to qualify for the ultimate. These have been shorter-distance races, and it was the fourth season of the Golden Path World Sequence. The WTM has but to succeed in that stage of sequence participation, nor was it meant to with its longer races and solely two races wanted to compete within the sequence.
We will discover additional indicators that WTM races attracted top-level expertise among the many Freetrail nominees for 2024 Path Efficiency of the 12 months, which included at the least two from WTM races:
Hayden Hawks on his solution to profitable the 2024 Black Canyon 100k. Picture: Jesse Ellis/Let’s Wander Pictures
The nominees for 2024 Freetrail Path Runner of the 12 months included Miguel Arsénio, Guang-Fu Meng, Guo-Min Deng, Rachel Drake, Marianne Hogan, and Jazmine Lowther — to call only a few examples of elite athletes who have been acknowledged for performing nicely at WTM races.
Anne Champagne received two WTM races in 2024, a declare she shares with Courtney Dauwalter. When requested to explain what attracted her to the WTM in 2024, Champagne mentioned:
“I began planning my season across the Québec Mega Path. I simply got here again from a troublesome couple years the place racing wasn’t going nicely and I wanted to search out the correct explanation why I used to be doing these races. Seeing how that race went with a course report, a primary place, and the way in which I raced having enjoyable the entire time, I began fascinated by the subsequent alternatives within the WTM circuit.
“The Grand Raid des Pyrénées regarded like the very best alternative to precise myself and it didn’t harm that it regarded like an superior occasion, even when it was solely six weeks after the Québec Mega Path, so I simply went for it. The WTM values, equivalent to variety and respect for the native surroundings and traditions, actually resonated. They create one thing new within the ultra-trail operating group that’s distinctive and offers the chance for each runner to attain massive targets, from finishing a race to competing towards a few of the greatest on the planet.”
Anne Champagne elated with profitable the 2024 Québec Mega Path. Picture: Québec Mega Path/Christian Dionne
Seeking to 2025 and Past
When the WTM was introduced in November 2023, a few of the taking part races had already opened their registration and, in some circumstances, have been already offered out for the circuit’s inaugural yr. Meaning we now have but to see the total affect of the sequence on attracting new contributors. It’s additionally difficult to measure the impact of the sequence on media protection, which can decide up additional within the years to come back. Contemplating the WTM emphasizes the independence and uniqueness of its occasions, the sequence will continuously be a “cherry on prime” of every already top-notch race.
Trying on the entrants’ lists for the earliest sequence races of the 2025 season, there’s already proof of sturdy competitors and world attraction. If the WTM is profitable in 2025, that momentum is more likely to make WTM races much more in style and aggressive, significantly if skilled athlete contracts embrace incentives to compete at and carry out nicely within the annual sequence.
The affiliation is already rolling out bulletins for 2025 — the Grampians Peaks Path 100 Mile in Australia and Vietnam Mountain Marathon in Vietnam will probably be a part of the worldwide sequence. Let’s see if the sequence provides any extra occasions for 2025.
Additionally new for 2025, the WTM will embrace a Crew’s League. Athletes affiliated with the identical model or group can contribute to a podium end on the group stage — in every occasion or for the season as an entire.
This will probably be just like the group element of world championships. For instance, Jumpei Yamaguchi and Floriane Scorching received the particular person championships on the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships, and Japan and France received within the males’s and ladies’s group classes, respectively.
For the WTM, the Crew’s League needs to be attention-grabbing to observe as a result of it is going to inspire elite athletes having a troublesome day to grind out a end, if they’ll end throughout the prime 100 to attain factors for his or her group. It might additionally encourage manufacturers to assist their athletes’ participation in WTM races due to the added visibility it is going to give the model.
Name for Feedback
- Have you ever participated in any occasions within the World Path Majors? Are there any in your record?
- Has the creation of the World Path Majors made you extra conscious of or concerned about any of those races?
- Who amongst our readers is striving to finally run every occasion?
- Any predictions for 2025?
Notes/References
- As a result of the races are unbiased, it’s difficult to calculate the exact variety of runners taking part in multiple World Path Majors race. Once I eliminated duplicates from the names of 2024 contributors in my dataset, I had a closing results of 7,706 distinctive entrant names. However, these races don’t use a unified registration system, so it’s potential {that a} runner’s identify appeared barely in another way throughout a number of ITRA outcomes. This occurred to Sange Sherpa, for instance.
[Editor’s Note: An earlier edition of this article accidentally used results from the South Downs 100k, which was held on May 26, 2024, and had 35 finishers. This edition has been updated with results from the South Downs Way 100 Mile, on June 8, 2024, which had 349 finishers. Thank you to our invested readers for helpfully catching the error!]
Jazmine Lowther, the 2024 Extremely-Path Cape City 100k ladies’s champion. Picture: Extremely-Path Cape City/Sam Clark
