Echelon Racing Promotions and USA Cycling Announce Esports League and National Championships on Zwift

October 23, 2023

USA Cycling is partnering with Echelon Racing Promotions and Zwift to create a six-race series and the 2024 Esports National Championships.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – USA Cycling is proud to announce that it has partnered with Echelon Racing Promotions to host a six-race series that will serve as a qualifier for the USA Cycling Esports Elite National Championships. All races will be held on Zwift, the world’s largest virtual cycling platform.

Through this collaboration, USA Cycling and Project Echelon will hold races in December 2023 and January 2024. The first three races in the series will be qualifying events for the 2024 USA Cycling Esports National Championship, held on January 6-7. The Elite National Championships will be UCI Cycling Esports World Championship qualifiers. Dates for the World Championships will be announced soon.

All Echelon Racing League events are open to competitors from all nationalities and will have categories for racers of all ability levels. However, in order to compete in the National Championships, racers must hold a current USA Cycling License.

The race schedule is as follows:

For more information on the race series, view the Echelon Racing League website, or contact echelonracingleague@projectechelonracing.com.

ABOUT ECHELON RACING PROMOTIONS

The Echelon Racing League, started by the UCI Continental Project Echelon Racing Team during the height of the pandemic, is the first of its kind and is in a league of its own. Serving as a conduit to strengthen the overall cycling community, the league will bring virtual and in-real-life riders and racers together in collaboration with national governing bodies. Furthermore, the league has been designed to enhance the reach, influence, impact, and connectedness of riders, teams, race promoters and international governing bodies as a means to grow the sport of cycling through an innovative, sustainable, and scalable model.

In 2020, the Echelon Racing League (ERL) came to life during the pandemic. In part, the ERL was created out of necessity to provide athletes, teams, race promoters and sponsors a platform to stay connected, stay motivated, and remain relevant. On the other hand, Project Echelon saw esports as an opportunity to advance cycling, it’s accessibility and the community it reaches to a new level.

The Echelon Racing League was blazing new trails, innovating, driving change, and giving people purpose and hope in a time otherwise defined by uncertainty and global struggle. At the same Project Echelon was creating a more accessible esports ecosystem by being the first ever entity to develop the handcycle and recumbent trike bikes and adaptive avatars on the Wahoo RGT virtual platform, where it has promoted a top level professional and amateur esports league and USA Cycling National Championships for the past 3 seasons (2020-2022).

Echelon Racing League Photos and past livestreams: https://www.facebook.com/EchelonRacingLeague/photos

More about Project Echelon UCI Continental: www.projectechelonracing.com

ABOUT ZWIFT

Zwift is the fitness company born from gaming. We’re dedicated fitness enthusiasts, experienced video game developers, and disruptive thinkers. Play is in our DNA and we know fun fuels results.

Zwift utilizes massively multiplayer online gaming technology to create rich, 3D worlds ripe for exploration. Join thousands of cyclists and runners in immersive playgrounds like London, New York, and Paris as well as our very own Watopia.

Our app connects wirelessly to exercise equipment: bike trainers, treadmills, and more, so your real world effort powers your avatar in the game.

From friendly races to social rides and structured training programs, Zwift unites a diverse community in pursuit of a more fun, immersive and social fitness experience.

ABOUT USA CYCLING (usacycling.org)

USA Cycling is the national governing body for the sport of cycling and oversees the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclocross, and BMX. USA Cycling’s mission is to grow participation and engagement with the sport of bicycle racing and achieve sustained international success across all cycling disciplines. USA Cycling supports cyclists of all levels and abilities, from those just beginning in the sport to international caliber athletes. The organization identifies, develops, and selects cyclists to represent the United States in international competition through the support of youth and interscholastic programs, amateur and grassroots bike racing events, athlete development programs, and operational support for cycling clubs, racing teams, and event organizers. USA Cycling has a membership of 80,000, sanctions over 2,500 events annually, and is a member of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).