USATF Colorado has announced it has unified its seven (7) championship events into a year-long Grand Prix – USATF Colorado Long Distance Running Grand Prix – that will add an additional $10,700 in prize money for Colorado members. At each championship race, athletes will earn Grand Prix points that will accumulate through the year towards a year-end point total. Points will be earned by all USATF Colorado members with the winner of each division earning 1000 points and the last place finisher earning 200 points.
Divisions (for both men and women) will be:
- Open
- Masters 40-44
- Masters 45-49
- Masters 50-54
- Masters 55-59
- Masters 60-64
- Masters 65-69
- Masters 70-74
- Masters 75-79
- Masters 80+
In the open division a total of $3500 prize money will be awarded and the cumulative masters prize money will be $7200.
The first event in the Grand Prix will be the Colorado 10 km championships as part of the Colorado Springs 10K Classic on July 24. The final event will be the Colorado 5 km championships as part of the Pumpkin Pie 5k on November 20. The other road championships will be the 1 Mile championships on August 14 in Boulder in conjunction with the Pearl Street Mile and the Half Marathon championships on November 14 in Fort Collins as part of the Horsetooth Half Marathon.
The Grand Prix will include two trail championship events. The Half Marathon Trail championships will be held on September 11 in Bellevue as part of the Black Squirrel Half Marathon and the 25 km Trail Championships on October 23 in Colorado Springs as part of the Bobcat Trail Races.
The Colorado Cross Country championships will also be included in the Grand Prix. The date and location of that event is pending.
At each championship race a total of $900 will be awarded to the top open and masters finishers.
A webpage for the Grand Prix that includes all of the details, including the full set of scoring rules, is available on the USATF Colorado website.