We recently announced the first-ever Zwift Racing League Route Design Competition, where Zwifters were invited to create the route to host the last race of ZRL’s first round of 2024/25. A total of 51 routes were submitted, and a panel of judges narrowed it to just three. Then the Zwift community voted for their favorites. And now, the results are in!
The winning route is BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits, submitted by Zwifter “JackCat [OTR]”. See the Zwift ride creating this route >
Vote Details
If you recall, riders were asked to rank the three routes in order of preference. The voting system assigned 1 point to the first choice, 2 points to the second choice, and 3 points to the third choice. That means the lowest total points wins. Final vote tally:
- BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits (Scotland): 1190
- Purettsueru (Makuri Islands): 1511
- Sky Looper (New York): 1721
The majority of voters picked BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits as their first choice, making it the clear favorite:
- BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits (Scotland): 402
- Purettsueru (Makuri Islands): 211
- Sky Looper (New York): 124
Why was BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits the big favorite? I can only speculate. It was the shortest and least climby of the three top routes (many Zwifters shy away from routes with a lot of elevation). It also has the fun feature of multiple laps of the Breakaway Brae loop, which I found to be especially cool. Lastly, including the key climb at the very start and very end will force riders to make strategic pacing choices early on.
Route Details
BRAEk-fast Crits and Grits is a 20.8km loop with 211 meters of elevation. But it also has a 1.3km lead-in up Sgurr Summit South which adds another ~50 meters of climbing to the front-end of any event. A tough start!
Round 2 Contest Now Open
The plan is to use a community-designed route as the final race for each round of ZRL 2024/25. The route design contest for Round 2 is now open – submissions must be received by October 12, 2024. See details at wtrl.racing/zwift-racing-league/#routecompetition
Questions or Comments?
What do you think of the community’s route choice, and what do you think of the overall idea of having the community designing ZRL routes? Share your thoughts below!
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