I raced my first XTERRA race 2 weeks ago (Schiff Scout on Long Island) and won my age group. The following day, I received an email stating I had qualified for the USA Nat’l Championship race in Utah. Are qualifications for XTERRA Nat’l Championships based on a cumulative point total over the season or based on a single high placing?
I can’t go to Utah this year, but would love to do the race with my brother next year. His age group is pretty competitive (30-34) so an age-group victory would be tough, but could he have multiple good finishes earn him enough points or do you need a single high placing like going to Ironman Hawaii?
And what about XTERRA Maui, are only the “Cup” series races qualifiers for Maui? Do you need a top age-group placing at one of the regional cup series races to qualify for Maui? And then the non-Cup series races like the one I did qualify for Nat’l Championships?
All the rules are listed on xterraplanet.com, however I think they let the nationals qualifications slide if they don’t get enough people registering. That is, you don’t necessarily have to have done 3 races, as the rules state. At Nationals, they do a race the day before that anyone can enter, without qualifying.
Worlds, you have to qualify, and as far as I know, they pretty much stick to what they publish about the place you have to get at a regional event.
Ok, thanks for the directions. Seems like Nat’l Championships are based on cumulative point totals. My age group (25-29) being a bit less competitive, one age-group win was enough to qualify me. But If my brother can string together a few good races he should have a shot at qualifying at well.
And it looks like Cup Series races are worth more than the US Tour series races.
Worlds, looks like age-group qualifying similar to Ironman Hawaii.
Does Xterra Utah sell out typically? I am thinking I could make travel arrangements for next year and get that all locked down hoping to qualify, but if I didn’t qualify I could still at least do the open race.
As opposed to waiting to find out if I qualified and then it being too late to find cheap flights, hotels, etc.
This is only the second year in Utah i think… email the race director to see if it has sold out. Qualifying isnt all that hard for Nationals, it rewards those who race a number of times. if you can get 3 top-10s in your age group (which isn’t usually hard in Xterra since races are typically smaller than road races, 150-200 entrants) you can qualify for Nationals.
Unless things have changed in 3 years i thought Maui even easier to get into. Qualifying is hard, but they used to have open registration at certain intervals throughout the year for it, since it had been hard to fill the race. That may have changed, but that was the situation in 2003-2005 or so.
If you pay attention, Maui has some “At Large” spots available on a first come first served basis. Usually they go out in Jan and about Julyish times of the year. Maui is a truely great race.
I’m actually sort of more interested in the Utah race. The appeal of qualifying for something, a little bit less expensive, etc. I actually qualified based on a single age-group victory this year, but would like to go race next year with my brother, as you said, 2-3 top 5-10 age group finishes should be enough to get him there.
Plus, we could make travel arrangements and all for the race and if for some reason one or both of us didn’t qualify, we could still just do XTERRA Utah. Do you know if the race is supposed to be out there again next year? Do you know anything about the course?