USA Cycling to host Esports National Championships on February 1, 2025 - here's how to qualify
Echelon Racing's pre-championship race series offers key prep for competitors and a $10,000 prize purse
USA Cycling today announced its 2025 Esports National Championships will take place on February 1, 2025, on the MyWhoosh virtual racing platform.
In the lead-up to the championship, USA Cycling is partnering with Echelon Racing Promotions to organize a five-race series to prepare the racers.
The Echelon Racing League series will also serve as an eligibility requirement for Cycling Canada’s Esports National Championships, which will take place the second week of February 2025.
The series concludes with the Echelon Racing League Championship race, which is reserved for the top 50 highest-ranked athletes in the series. The Echelon Racing League Championship will award prizes to the top three finishers in each category, along with cash prizes for the top three elite athletes. The total prize purse for the series will be $10,000, equally divided between men’s and women’s categories.
MyWhoosh membership is free and the race series fee is just $15.
“It is clear that Esports continues to gain popularity and momentum, as seen by the recent UCI World Championships event on MyWhoosh held in Abu Dhabi,” said Eric Hill, Echelon Racing League’s Co-Founder and President, in a statement.
"With Esports reaching a different demographic than traditional cycling events and, in many ways, being more accessible for competition, broadcasting, and viewership, brands see opportunity in this new frontier...We continue to believe that esports provides a platform to strengthen the overall cycling community and its reach, influence, and impact by bringing virtual and in-real-life riders and racers together in collaboration with national governing bodies.”
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The 2025 USA Cycling Esports National Championships will feature competitions for elites as well as age-group categories.
To be eligible to compete, participants must:
- Compete in at least one Echelon Racing League event.
- Hold a valid USA Cycling race license.
- Meet the MyWhoosh verification protocols.
The 2024/2025 Echelon Racing League and Esports National Championship calendar
December 7, 2024
Echelon Racing League – Race #1
December 21, 2024
Echelon Racing League – Race #2
December 28, 2024
Echelon Racing League – Race #3
January 4, 2025
Echelon Racing League – Race #4
January 11, 2025
Echelon Racing League – Race #5
January 18, 2025
Echelon Racing League Championships
February 1, 2025
USA Cycling Esports National Championships
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Cycling Weekly's North American Editor, Anne-Marije Rook is old school. She holds a degree in journalism and started out as a newspaper reporter — in print! She can even be seen bringing a pen and notepad to the press conference.
Originally from The Netherlands, she grew up a bike commuter and didn't find bike racing until her early twenties when living in Seattle, Washington. Strengthened by the many miles spent darting around Seattle's hilly streets on a steel single speed, Rook's progression in the sport was a quick one. As she competed at the elite level, her journalism career followed, and soon she became a full-time cycling journalist. She's now been a cycling journalist for 11 years.
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