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 12 months 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. Photograph: 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 12 months of the UTMB World Collection. The UTMB World Collection purchased or launched path races world wide. These path races held privileged positions within the qualifier system for coming into UTMB, CCC, and OCC. Because the UTMB World Collection navigated rising pains, path runners obtained a really feel for the brand new administration of beloved races and new lottery processes.
A gaggle of race administrators acknowledged that loads of runners wished to take part in races that remained impartial, aggressive, bucket-list occasions on beautiful trails. They created the WTM to manifest this feature. The races acknowledge current world-class occasions and encourage their respective race administration groups to maintain doing what they do, thereby sustaining their loyal followings and attracting new members.
By evaluating the races to the wildly well-liked 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. Word 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 robust 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 powerful worldwide contingents. Based on Worldwide Path Working 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 massive occasions in 2024, such because the Mt. Fuji 100 Mile with 2,144 members, and the Hong Kong 100k with 1,755 members, respectively. However some occasions have been extra intimate, such because the Québec Mega Path which had 176 members. The Swiss Canyon Path could have exhibited essentially the most development in 2024, attracting 47% extra members than the earlier 12 months. The South Downs Means 100 Mile could have elevated its participation charges by much more, however I couldn’t discover knowledge on the variety of DNFs in 2023 — there have been 81 in 2024. If ending charges for the South Downs Means 100 Mile are any indication of general participation numbers, it elevated by 82% in 2024.
A number of WTM races boasted better worldwide participation than the earlier 12 months, too. The worldwide contingent elevated by 17% on the Hong Kong 100k in 2024 in comparison with the earlier 12 months, 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. Photograph: Extremely-Path Cape City/Sam Clark
World Path Majors Competitiveness
Did the WTM reach attracting elite athletes? Effectively, Courtney Dauwalter raced in and gained two WTM occasions — Transgrancanaria and the Mt. Fuji 100 Mile. Her race performances have been spectacular in true Dauwalter vogue, and so they replicate positively on the WTM sequence. However Dauwalter was certainly not 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 girls with a rating of 700 or higher — take a look at a earlier article for extra context on ITRA scores and different rating methods. By that commonplace, ITRA counted a minimum of 43 performances by males and 24 by girls as assembly an elite commonplace.
The overall variety of elite athletes who participated was considerably greater. For instance, Richard Lockwood’s finest efficiency at a WTM race in 2024, based on the ITRA rating algorithm, was value 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. Photograph: © Fuji Hakone Izu Path Help
One other level of comparability is the primary 12 months of the UTMB World Collection, which launched in 2022. The marquee UTMB race in Chamonix attracted 84 entrants who have been categorised as elite, based on the ITRA Efficiency Index. The CCC race was equally aggressive, with 74 elite entrants. Nevertheless, most of the different UTMB World Collection occasions had far fewer — a minimum of 14 occasions had between 5 and 10 elite entrants.
Amongst runners on the leaderboard, 14 girls raced in two or extra WTM occasions in 2024, as did eight males. For context, when we regarded on the Golden Path World Collection, there have been a minimum of 88 athletes (women and men mixed) who raced in a minimum of 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 Collection. The WTM has but to succeed in that stage of sequence participation, nor was it supposed 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 a minimum of two from WTM races:
Hayden Hawks on his solution to successful the 2024 Black Canyon 100k. Photograph: 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 properly at WTM races.
Anne Champagne gained 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 tricky couple years the place racing wasn’t going properly and I wanted to seek out the correct the reason 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 following alternatives within the WTM circuit.
“The Grand Raid des Pyrénées regarded like one of the best alternative to precise myself and it didn’t damage 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, similar to range and respect for the native surroundings and traditions, actually resonated. They carry one thing new within the ultra-trail working neighborhood 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 finest on the earth.”
Anne Champagne elated with successful the 2024 Québec Mega Path. Photograph: Québec Mega Path/Christian Dionne
Trying 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 12 months. Which means we now have but to see the complete affect of the sequence on attracting new members. It’s additionally difficult to measure the impact of the sequence on media protection, which can decide up additional within the years to return. Contemplating the WTM emphasizes the independence and uniqueness of its occasions, the sequence will steadily be a “cherry on high” of every already top-notch race.
Wanting on the entrants’ lists for the earliest sequence races of the 2025 season, there’s already proof of robust competitors and world attraction. If the WTM is profitable in 2025, that momentum is prone to make WTM races much more well-liked and aggressive, notably if skilled athlete contracts embody incentives to compete at and carry out properly 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 shall 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 embody a Crew’s League. Athletes affiliated with the identical model or workforce can contribute to a podium end on the workforce stage — in every occasion or for the season as an entire.
This shall be much like the workforce element of world championships. For instance, Jumpei Yamaguchi and Floriane Sizzling gained the particular person championships on the 2024 IAU 100k World Championships, and Japan and France gained within the males’s and girls’s workforce classes, respectively.
For the WTM, the Crew’s League ought to be attention-grabbing to observe as a result of it should encourage elite athletes having a tricky day to grind out a end, if they’ll end inside the high 100 to attain factors for his or her workforce. It could additionally encourage manufacturers to assist their athletes’ participation in WTM races due to the added visibility it should give the model.
Name for Feedback
- Have you ever participated in any occasions within the World Path Majors? Are there any in your checklist?
- Has the creation of the World Path Majors made you extra conscious of or fascinated with any of those races?
- Who amongst our readers is striving to ultimately run every occasion?
- Any predictions for 2025?
Notes/References
- As a result of the races are impartial, it’s difficult to calculate the exact variety of runners taking part in multiple World Path Majors race. After I eliminated duplicates from the names of 2024 members in my dataset, I had a remaining 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 a different 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 girls’s champion. Photograph: Extremely-Path Cape City/Sam Clark