While 70 athletes were recently awarded spots to race in all seven events in the Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda Race Series in 2023, now is the time for the general public to register to race along with the elite field.
Registration for several of the series events, and their qualifiers, got underway this week and more will open Tuesday.
The gravel series, now in its second year, includes the Sea Otter Classic April 22 in California, UNBOUND Gravel June 3 in Kansas, the Cusher in the Tushar July 8 in Utah, the Leadville Trail 100 Aug. 12 in Colorado, the Chequamegon MTB Festival Sept. 16 in Wisconsin, Big Sugar Gravel Oct. 21 in Arkansas and seventh, wild-card event that will be announced on Wednesday.
Registration is underway for Chequamegon, Unbound and the Sea Otter.
This year will be the 40th edition of the Chequamegon, a 40-mile mountain bike race, making it the longest running mountain bike race in the country.
The Unbound Gravel 2023 lottery is open until Jan. 15. New to the event this year, the elite field will start their 200-mile race before the 4,000-plus rider mass start. This year, the elite men will start first, followed by the elite women two minutes later and finally the amateurs will start eight minutes after the elite women.
Also new at Unbound this year, the pro riders won’t be allowed to use aerobars or bar extensions. The changes address safety issues.
“For the first time in the history of Unbound, there will be wave starts for the 200. At this point we are planning on having three waves,” Kimo Seymour, president of Life Time Events which owns and operates Unbound Gravel, said on the Breakfast with Boz podcast.
The Sea Otter Classics Fuego XL, a two-lap marathon event covering 65 miles, will kick off the grand prix, and the race will also serve as a qualifier for the Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB.
The lottery for the 2023 Leadville 100 is closed and will be announced Monday, but there are other ways people can get into the race.
People can register for the Leadville Trail 100 training camp on June 29 to July 2 and get a spot in the sold-out race.
People can also race in one of six qualifier events to earn a coin for the Leadville Trail 100 MTB. The qualifier events include the Sea Otter Fuego XL, the Lutsen 99er on June 24 in Minnesota, the Silver Rush 50 MTB July 9 in Leadville, the Tahoe Trail 100-kilometer July 15 in California, the Leadville Stage Race on July 28-30 and the Austin Rattler Nov. 4 in Texas. In the Austin race, 23 coins will be distributed based on performance, and 23 slots will be distributed through an event lottery.
Registration for the Crusher in the Tushar will open on Jan. 23 and registration for the Big Sugar will open on March 1.
More information on the series and event registration at https://www.lifetimegrandprix.com/events/.
Now in its second year, the grand prix’s elite field expanded to 35 men and 35 women for 2023. Local athletes competing for a $250,000 equally split prize purse include Ellen Campbell, Sarah Sturm, Sofia Gomez Villafane, Howard Grotts, Payson McElveen and Cole Paton.
In the final men’s standings, Paton finished fourth with 129 points and Grotts was 11th with 100. In the final women’s standings last year, Gomez Villafane finished second with 134 points, Sturm was third (134) and Campbell finished 15th (87).
