Photo Credit: Bob Mulholland

Spartan Race is changing things up in 2018 adding age groups and updates to World Championship qualifying criteria. This morning Mud Run Guide uncovered information that Spartan Race is branching out in 2018. In addition to the elite heat, Spartan Race is adding age group categories to the competitive heats. Athletes will have new ways to qualify for the Spartan Race World Championship weekend in 2018

Starting January 1, 2018, athletes will have two ways to qualify for the Spartan Race World Championship through either the elite heat or through the competitive age group heats. From Spartan Race help desk:

There are two paths to qualify for our 2018 World Championship. 

Path #1:

  1. First, race any one of our Regular Season Events AND place in the Top 10 Male or Female Elite, or Top of your Age Group (See our 2018: Age Groups article for specifics on how many places will qualify for your Age Group). 
  2. Next, you've earned your spot at our Regional Championships. At the Regional Championship, you must place in either the Top 20 Male & Female Elite (at any non-North American Championship) OR attend the North American (NorthAm) Championship and place in the Top 20 Male & Female Elite International Racers, or the Top 20 Male and Female Elite US (citizen) racers.
    At the Regional Championship, you may also place in the Top of your Age Group See Important Details below for qualifying places for your age group). 
  3. Congratulations, you've qualified for the World Championship!

Path #2:

  1. First, race any of our National or Regional Series events AND place in the Top 10 Male or Female Elite (Top 20 for MENA or LATAM), or Top of your Age Group (See Important Details below for qualifying places for your age group). 
  2. (Optional) All racers that qualify for the World Championship at a National or Regional Series event, are also qualified to race in the Regional Championship. Racers that qualify for the World Championship at a National or Regional Series event are NOT required to race the Regional Championship in order to attend the World Championship.
  3. Go straight to the World Championship! 

Important Details:

Qualifying athletes at all events may be any nationality

Racers that qualify for a Regional Championship are qualifying for the next calendar Regional Championship in that region (for example, a race in Korea would act as a qualifier for the SEA Regional Championship). 
A roll down qualification system will be used for the National and Regional Series and Regional Championship ELITE Category, whereby an already qualified competitor is “skipped” and the next eligible competitor qualifies.
There is NO Roll down process for the Age Group category (a person may qualify more than once).

Age Group Qualifying places are as follows:

agegroupsnip.PNG

We have reached out to Spartan Race this morning to find out more about this new development and what it means for athletes already registered for competitive heats in 2018. Mud Run Guide will update this story as we have more information.

Update #1

Mud Run Guide spoke with Joe DiStefano, Director of Sport at Spartan Race, this morning. He said more information will be coming out in the next week about the new qualifications for 2018 but until then did shed some more light on a few major questions we have received this morning.

What happens if I am already signed up for a competitive heat in 2018?

Joe Di said that athletes who have signed up for a competitive heat will automatically race within their age group.

Will there be mini heats within the competitive heat?

Yes. Age groups will go off together. The smaller age groups might be coupled together. So within the 300 person, competitive heat will be mini heats of age groups.

 

Mud Run Guide will continue to look into more clarification and more information as Spartan Race releases it.

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