Last year’s inaugural Zwift Nats were certainly exciting events, but they were only paving the way for bigger things to come.

This year will be Zwift’s biggest racing year yet! We’ve got the KISS Super League underway, KISS Community League starting soon, and now Zwift has announced the national championships for northern hemisphere countries to be held on February 24th.

Countries

The following countries will each have a national championship race:

  • UK
  • USA
  • Canada
  • Germany
  • Japan
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Belgium
  • Sweden
  • South Korea
  • Denmark
  • Switzerland
  • France
  • Poland

Prize

This is the most prestigious Zwift race a rider can win, but you don’t win anything in the real world except the admiration of your Zwift peers.

The winner gets to wear their nation’s national champ jersey in-game for the next year!

Course Info

Nationals will be held two laps of Watopia’s Figure 8 route, for a total race length of 58.8km (36.5 miles). A slightly shorter race than last year, and sure to be exciting with the Figure 8’s combination of punchy climbs, rollers and flats.

Total elevation gain will be 468m (1535′).

Learn more about the Figure 8 route >

Race Schedule

Each country has just one race, and each race has two categories: A for men, B for women.

See the Zwift events page for a schedule of races >

Race Rules

This year Zwift is requiring winners to hold a valid national cycling federation race license. While this has some members of the community up in arms, Zwift’s explanation of the requirement makes sense, given the challenges Zwift faced proving racers’ countries and genders last year:

We require this race license for the potential winner of the Zwift National Champs to prove that your country and gender align with the physical federation in which you represent. (British Cycling and Dutch Cycling only require federation membership)

A Race License is not needed to enter the race and you will still be displayed in the final results to see where you stack up. But if you win without a race license, you will not be crowned the National Champion. (British Cycling and Dutch Cycling only require federation membership)

Additionally, Zwift is attempting to ensure accurate power numbers during the races, although this is impossible to do perfectly given the state of power meters today. The rules state:

Racers must use either a power meter or smart trainer. zPower riders are not eligible.

If the power numbers provided by these devices during the race are above Zwift Power’s critical power rule, you will be investigated to prove they match real-world performances.

Read the complete rules >

Watching Live

Live stream locations have yet to be announced, but I assume it will be available via the usual places: Zwift Live on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.tv.

Learn more on Zwift’s official page >