Life Time Grand Prix 2024

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Life Time Grand Prix 2024

The Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda returns for a third consecutive season in 2024, combining seven US gravel and mountain bike races for a season-ending $300,000 prize purse. While any amateur or elite rider can compete in one or more of the events for individual honours and prizes, an invitation-only field of 60 athletes battle for the coveted custom trophies and plush payout, distributed equally to the top 10 women and top 10 men at the series finale. 

The selected field consists of 30 women and 30 men, determined through an application process in the winter by organisers Life Time. Of the seven events on the calendar, riders must start a minimum of five races, and can drop the two lowest scores if participating in a full calendar. The final event in the series, Life Time Big Sugar Gravel, is a mandatory start for all series athletes, and it also serves as a tiebreaker in the event of a tie in series points.

Races span April to October, and all were part of the series in 2023. Three of the events are mountain bike races, while four are classified as gravel. All seven events in the Grand Prix are owned and operated by Life Time, which has a stable of cycling and running events across the US.

There are also three events in the collection which offer prize money separate from the Grand Prix, a total of $15,500 on offer for elite men and women - Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL 100k ($3,000 purse), Crusher in the Tushar ($2,500 purse), Chequamegon MTB Festival ($10,000 purse).

Series changes in 2024

The Life Time Grand Prix was born in 2022 with six events and a field of 60 riders vying for a $250,000 prize purse. The second season the Grand Prix expanded the invitation-only field to 70 riders, 35 men and 35 women, and added a seventh race, The Rad Dirt Fest in Colorado. While the prize purse remained at a hefty $250,000, riders also earned free entries into all seven events.

Live broadcasts were attempted at the first three events of the Grand Prix in the opening season, but it proved to be a complex project due to the remote areas and the streaming project was halted at the mid-point of 2022. Life Time continued to provide race updates via social channels for all races. 

In its third year, the Grand Prix scaled the field back to 60, with the top 15 men and top 15 women from the year earning immediate qualification for an additional campaign. The prize purse increased to $300,000, with the same seven events from 2023 returning to the calendar.

First among new rules instituted for 2024, separate starts would be implemented in all seven races for pro men and pro women in the elite fields. The scoring system was also changed, increasing the points difference between the top five finishers of each race from one to two. Each first-place finisher will receive 35 points and second-placed riders receive 33, third-placed riders 31 points, etc. Athletes finishing sixth down to 30th will be separated by single points. 

History

Canadian Haley Smith (Maxxis Factory Racing) and USA's Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles) went into the history books as the first pro champions of the Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda series in October 2022. 

That first season, Smith pulled ahead in the elite women's rankings after the fourth event in the series, Leadville Trail 100 MTB. Swenson mathematically secured his victory at Chequamegon MTB Festival, the fifth stop in the series. Each rider earned a top prize of $25,000.

Swenson wasted no time in dominating the 2023 series, sweeping top points with victories in the first four events - Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL, Unbound Gravel 200, Crusher in the Tushar and Leadville Trail 100 MTB. 

Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) won three of the first four events outright, and took the most points at Unbound Gravel 200 as the top series rider with her second-place finish. The duo completed Big Sugar Gravel as series champions.

Fuego 100k MTB

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The Fuego XL 100k MTB race returns as part of the Sea Otter Classic, April 19 in Monterey, California. For a third consecutive year the endurance cross-country mountain bike race launches the event calendar for the Life Time Grand Prix, now with seven events spread from April to October. The Fuego XL event covers 100 kilometres of rolling single-track with two laps at Fort Ord National Monument. 

Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles) won the open men's division for a third consecutive time in 2024, while Sofia Gomez Villafañe won the women's division for a second time. 

Unbound Gravel

Located in the Flint Hills of Kansas, the Unbound Gravel 200 is the signature event for the Life Time Grand Prix. The demanding 200-mile event, June 1, is the longest race in the Grand Prix. The course is renowned for sharp rocks, primitive roads and steep pitches in and out of gullies through the Tallgrass Prairie, with a start/finish in Emporia, Kansas. 

Keegan Swenson finished second to Ivar Slk in 2022 and then won Unbound 200 in 2023. Sofia Gomez Villafane rode solo for the Unbound 200 win in 2022, and was the top Grand Prix finisher in 2023, taking second behind Carolin Schiff. 

Crusher in the Tushar

The Life Time Crusher in the Tushar presented by The Creamery is a 69-mile gravel race situated in the Tushar Mountains of Utah, taking place July 13. The course features a mix of gravel and rough tarmac with 10,400 feet of climbing in arid, high desert terrain. 

Keegan Swenson won both the 2022 and 2023 men’s races. Canadian Haley Smith won in 2022 for the elite women, while Sofia Gomez Villafañe took top honours in 2023.

Leadville Trail 100 MTB

The Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB will take place on August 10 in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It is the second of three mountain bike events in the series. The challenging out-and-back, 104-mile course begins at 10,152 feet in elevation and uses rough forest service roads plus double and single track to pack in a total of 13,129 feet of elevation gain. It is one of the most challenging, one-day mountain bike endurance events on the calendar. 

Swenson became a three-time winner of Leadville in 2023. Hannah Otto (née Finchamp) took a solo victory for women in 2022, while Sofia Gomez Villafañe won in 2023. 

Chequamegon MTB

The final mountain bike competitions is the series is the Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival presented by Trek, scheduled for September 14. The 40-mile point-to-point course across northern Wisconsin begins in downtown Hayward and follows parts of the famed American Birkie Cross-country Ski Trail across forest roads and snowmobile trails with short, punchy climbs to the finish line in Cable. 

Bradyn Lange won the men’s event in 2022 while Alexey Vermeulen won in 2023.  The 2022 women’s winner Savilia Blunk was not part of the series, so top Grand Prix points went to Rose Grant. In 2023 Ruth Edwards took the victory.

Rad Dirt Fest

Added as a wild card event in 2023, the Life Time Rad Dirt Fest returns to the mix on September 28 in Trinidad, Colorado. It is another high-elevation adventure, with the start line at an elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level and riders adding 10,000 feet of elevation gain across 110 miles in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. 

Alexey Vermeulen won his second consecutive Grand Prix event last year in Trinidad, while Grand Prix rookie Lauren De Crescenzo won the women’s race, her first victory in the series.

Big Sugar Gravel

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The Life Time Grand Prix culminates at Big Sugar Gravel presented by Mazda, which was created in 2021. The 104-mile course in the rugged highlands of the Ozark Mountains in north-west Arkansas and southern Missouri includes signature white gravel and  7,000 feet of elevation gain. 

Russell Finsterwald won Big Sugar for the elite men in 2022, while Paige Onweller scored the solo victory for women. In 2023, non-Grand Prix riders won both races - Torbjørn Andre Røed (Above + Beyond Cancer) sprinted to the win on the men's side and World Champion Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) rode solo for the pro women’s victory. Grand Prix riders Brendan Johnston and Lauren De Crescenzo used second-place finishes to grab the highest points among series contenders.