Following on from my earlier post about the Skyrunning World Series, Skyrunning Canada today announced the Canadian Skyrunner Series – a point based race series comprised of mountain trail running events.
Races in the Canadian Skyrunning Series are classified into one of three categories: Vertical, Sky, and Ultra. In the Vertical category there is one discipline: VK. In the Sky category there are two disciplines: Skyrace and Skymarathon. Finally, in the Ultra category there are also two disciplines: Ultra Skymarathon and Extreme Ultra Skymarathon. The races will adhere to the international standards set by the International Skyrunning Federation.
Vertical VK In a VK, races must have a total vertical gain of 1000m in 5km or less (5% tolerance admitted).
Skyrace events must have a minimum distance of 20km and under three hours (winner’s time). They must have a minimum 1200m vertical climb (5% tolerance admitted).
Skymarathon events must have a minimum distance of 30 km and under five hours (winner’s time). They must have a minimum 2000m vertical climb (5% tolerance admitted).
Ultra Skymarathon events exceed the parameters of a Skymarathon by more than 5% (32km) with more than 2500m vertical climb.
Extreme Ultra Skymarathon events exceed the parameters of an Ultra Skymarathon, with a minimum of 5000m elevation gain and over 12 hours for the winner.
Points are awarded for each race in the Skyrunner Canada Series. There will be a Men’s and Women’s National champion in each of the three categories.
Points are awarded in the following format: 100-88-78-72-68-66-64-62-60-58-56-54-52-50 down to 2 points for 40th position. Points in the last race of each series are increased by 20% and then rounded. If there is a tie in the top three positions, head-to-head results are used with the final race in the series weighted highest.
Runners will have their top 4 performances in each discipline taken into account for National Championship.
The Races
Skyrunning Canada have pulled together an impressive series of awesome Canadian trail races in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan that run between May and October:
Continental Championships
The Ultra Trail du Mont Albert will also play host to the Vertical discipline of this year’s North American Championship. The Sky and Ultra Championships are in the USA at the following races: Audi Power of 4 50k (Ultra) and Flagstaff Sky Race (Sky). Points from these races are used in the International Skyrunning Word Series rankings.
It could be a busy summer.
Until next time, happy trails.
Canmore Runner 