Cranmore, NH, to Host USA Mountain Running Championships

On July 21, 2013, Cranmore, NH, will host the USA Mountain Running Championships. The event will also be the sole selection race for the US Mountain Running Team (USMRT), as well as the host of the North American Central American Caribbean (NACAC) Championships.

USA Track & Field (USATF) members will vie for national championship honors in overall men’s and women’s categories as well as in the masters’ age categories starting at age 40 in five-year increments to age 80-plus. There will also be team competition for open and masters’ USATF athletes.

For the team selection portion of the event, the top four women and the top six men to cross the finish line in Cranmore will earn automatic berths on the US Mountain Running Team which will compete at the World Mountain Running Championships on September 8, at Jaworzyna Mountain in Krnica-Zdroj, Poland. In addition to the senior team (all of whom must be current USATF members and citizens of the United States), a junior team comprised of four junior men and three junior women will compete for Team USA. The junior squad is selected based on their resumes and qualifying athletes must be at least 16 in the year of competition and not yet 20.

This is the 10th consecutive year for the NACAC Mountain Running Championships. The event rotates between Canada, USA, and Mexico. This is the fourth time that the U.S. has hosted (the second time for Cranmore), Mexico and Canada have each hosted the event three times. Mexico will host the event in 2014. This year teams from each of the three NACAC countries are expected to compete. There will be up to four athletes on each team with the top two finishers on each team scoring. Team USA will be announced in May.

At Cranmore, there will be two courses. The women will run approximately 8K, while the men will run 12K. The route will be run over rolling single track, double track, gravel pathways, and perhaps muddy terrain depending on moisture levels. This year the course will start on a downhill and have numerous descents and ascents over the route with elevation changes mirroring what athletes will encounter in Poland. The courses at the World Championships rotate between up/down or down/up courses in odd-numbered years, and uphill-style courses in even-numbered years.

An exciting addition to this year’s USMRT coverage is Google's Project Glass. Google Glass is a wearable computer with a built in video camera and head-mounted display that displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format and can interact with the Internet via voice commands. As one of the newly minted #glassexplorers , the USMRT staff is looking forward to providing fans of the sport the 2013 mountain running season from a new perspective using +Project Glass. Look for live coverage direct from Cranmore this July, and become a fan of the sport now by following the teams past and present at www.usmrt.com.