IAU 50 km World Championships

IAU 50 km World Championships
SportUltramarathon
First season2005
CountryWorldwide
Official websitehttp://www.iau-ultramarathon.org/

The IAU 50 km World Championships is an annual, global ultrarunning competition over 50 kilometres organized by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU).

The competition began life as the IAU 50 km World Trophy in 2005. It served as the final leg of the IAU 50 km Challenge circuit, with runners gaining qualification through performances on one of the nine preceding qualifying races. The winners of the men's and women's trophy were decided by the best aggregate time of their World Trophy race plus their best time from the qualifying round.[1][2] The race moved away from aggregate scoring, with the World Trophy race becoming a straight final, and it continued in this format up to 2014.[3][4] The 2008 and 2013 editions were cancelled due to the number of world championships the IAU was already organised that year.[5]

The inaugural World Championship event took place in Doha, Qatar in December 2015. This included men's and women's races with individual and team elements. The team titles were decided by the three best combined times set by a nation's runners at the competition.[6] For 2014 to 2017 it was agreed that the competition would be hosted in Doha for those years, moving the competition away from its tradition of changing host each year.[4] The competition signalled commitment to the sport in Qatar, with Doha hosting its first ultramarathon in the months preceding the 2014 championship.[7]

It is one of four world championships organised by the IAU, with the others being the IAU 100 km World Championships, IAU 24 Hour World Championship and the IAU Trail Running World Championships.[8]

The inaugural edition in 2005 incorporated a European Championship race. Oleg Kharitonov was the men's winner, with World Trophy winner Sandor Barcza as runner-up and Stefano Sartori in third. The European Championship and World Trophy places matched on the women's side, with Heather Foundling-Hawker winner of both. The European Championship was abandoned after the launch of the World Championships. It had only been held twice (Mario Ardemagni and Danielle Sanderson were the 2004 winners).[9]

  1. ^ IAU 50 km Trophy: Kharitonov wins in Palermo, overall title to Barzca, Foundling-Hawker women's winner. IAAF (2005-10-16). Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  2. ^ IAU 50 Kilometres Trophy. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  3. ^ Khan, Nadeem (2014-10-29). Anthony and Harrison the favourites for IAU 50km World Trophy Final. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  4. ^ a b Mulkeen, Jon (2014-11-01). Makaza regains IAU world 50km title, Harrison takes women's crown. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  5. ^ Dates announced by the IAU . Planet Ultramarahon (2008-01-12). Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  6. ^ Minshull, Phil (2015-12-04). USA's Migliozzi and Herron take gold at the IAU 50km World Championships. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  7. ^ Aspire Logistics to host IAU 50km final. Gulf Times (2014-03-06). Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  8. ^ IAU Championships Archived 2019-09-03 at the Wayback Machine. International Association of Ultrarunners. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  9. ^ IAU EUropean 50 km Trophy. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-07-09.