The 2023 XTERRA Americas Tour season opener gets under way on February 15th at the XTERRA Iceman off-road triathlon in Morristown, Arizona.
XTERRA Iceman is the first of 25 events in the Americas region spanning five countries and the Caribbean where triathletes can chase regional championships, win XTERRA USA titles, and qualify for the XTERRA Worlds in Trentino, Italy.
New in 2023, the XTERRA World Performance Index (WPI) will be used to determine XTERRA Americas Tour age group champions in each division.
The WPI was inspired by ITRA (trail running) and FIS (Skiing) points scoring systems, but built specifically to rank XTERRA athletes at XTERRA races. XTERRA adds that it delivers a score for every finisher at full-distance events on the Americas Tour based on strength and depth of the field, number of participants, and difficulty of the course.
Athletes must start at least three events in the Americas region to be eligible.
Two of the stops in the US are also part of the new XTERRA World Cup, a seven-city circuit built to showcase XTERRA’s fastest off-road triathletes as some of the biggest names in the sport go head-to-head for their share of US$340,000 in prize money.
First up is XTERRA Oak Mountain on May 21st in Shelby County, Alabama, followed by the XTERRA USA Championship August 26th at Beaver Creek Resort in Avon, Colorado.
Another additoin to the Americas in 2023 is the return of XTERRA Puerto Rico on April 15-16. This even tis offering US$7,500 in prize money for professionals and a warm weather Caribbean adventure for all participants.
XTERRA Quebec is also hosting a silver level event that awards US$7,500 to elites on July 16, and coincides with an 11-day music extravaganza, the Quebec City Summer Festival.
More than half of the stops on this year’s Americas Tour also offer half and/or full trail marathons that serve as qualifiers for the XTERRA Trail Run World Championships to be held at Sugarloaf Resort in Maine on October 1st.
It’s the first-time XTERRA has offered a qualifier-only World Championship race for trail runners, and there’s a new DUO category where runners can race together as part of a two-person team.
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