The ElliptiGo World Championships: the world’s best world championships

Over the weekend, the 11th annual ElliptiGo World Championships took place outside of San Diego on Palomar Mountain. The mountain climbs 4,209 feet in just 18.8K at a seven per cent grade. The event brought together 30 Ellipti-Goers to battle it out on a socially-distanced course.

The top spot on the men’s side went to Erik Wippler, who completed the course in 1:16:19, and the fastest woman of the day was 2020 Olympic marathon qualifier Molly Seidel,who won in 1:33:29. Seidel adds this accomplishment to her already-impressive 2020 resume, which includes the Olympic qualification, a new PB of 2:25 at the London Marathon and, now, this prestigious world championship title. 

RELATED: What every runner can learn from Molly Seidel

The ElliptiGo is an elliptical machine that’s mobile. That’s right – it’s everyone’s favourite gym machine on wheels. The bike (?), wheelable machine (?), double-legged contraption (?) is tricky to get on, but once you’ve secured yourself, it goes pretty quickly and provides a really good workout. I mean, you don’t get top runners like 2:20 marathoner Jordan Hasay, OCR champion Amelia Boone and Seidel endorsing your product if it doesn’t get you super fit. 

How to qualify 

The world championships are invitation-only, but if you’re an experienced cross-trainer with a passion for the elliptical, then this race is for you. Here’s how you get yourself a spot. Runners must go for an ElliptiGo ride where they clock a certain amount of elevation gain under a certain time (80.5K under four hours, 100K under five hours or 161K under eight and a half hours). On these rides, Ellipti-Goers must climb at least 15 metres per mile. 

Full results

If you think you’ve got what it takes to elliptical your way to the top, send your application in to this email address and you could find yourself among the best ellipti-champs in the world next year.