Life Time, owners of the Life Time Grand Prix and all six off-road races that comprise the series, announced Thursday that a live broadcast for the final event, Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Kenetik, would be provided for the entirety of the 100-mile race for the first time.
Big Sugar Gravel takes place Saturday, October 18, in Bentonville, Arkansas, with elite men starting at 7:25 a.m. CDT and elite women starting 10 minutes later. The live broadcast, presented by Orange Seal, will follow both elite fields beginning at 7:10 a.m. CDT and include post-race interviews. The coverage is available on the official Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel and using the Life Time app, all free of charge.
The Life Time Grand Prix will pay out a prize purse of $200,000 between the top 10 men and top 10 women, split evenly, after Big Sugar Gravel, based on the highest cumulative points of the best four of six races. Each of the six races also provide an additional $30,000 in prize money this year, for an additional $180,000 on offer.
Last year, Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz) won a third consecutive elite men’s title in the Grand Prix, while Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) captured the elite women’s overall for a second time in three years.
The invitation-only field in this year’s Life Time Grand Prix, which earlier in the season included 25 women and 25 men, is now down to 23 women and 21 men who remain in contention for final scoring in five of the six events, with Big Sugar Gravel a mandatory race.
Swenson and Villafañe are at the top of the standings headed into a doubleheader of racing this month in Arkansas – Little Sugar MTB on October 12 and Big Sugar Gravel six days later. However, their leads are precariously tight, with only two points separating Swenson from Simon Pellaud and Torbjørn Røed, while Villafañe has just two points on Cecily Decker.
Also expected on the start line are 2024 Big Sugar men’s winner Alexey Verneulen, three-time Traka 360 winner Mattia De Marchi, Chequamegon winner Melisa Rollins, and four-time Rad Dirt Fest winner Lauren De Crescenzo.
This year’s Big Sugar Gravel will cover 99.6 miles (160.3km) with the majority of the route using ‘gloriously chunky’ gravel roads, now 5.6 miles (9km) shorter than before but still close to 6,200 feet (1889 metres) of climbing. Riders will compete on a similar clockwise loop through the Ozark Mountains, crossing into southwest Missouri with the start/finish in Bentonville.
There are two aid stations on the long course, both on the Missouri side of the loop. While the Pineville Aid Station at mile 38 is the same, there is a new aid station at mile 74 at Rockford Grange. This is the adjustment to last year’s route that goes west of the Flag Spring Conservation Area and twists south for a different approach to cross back into Arkansas near Pea Ridge.
In May, over 350,000 spectators tuned in to watch a first-time live broadcast of Unbound Gravel 200. Life Time followed in August with another successful live broadcast of the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, and this will be the third race in the series to feature live streaming from start to finish.
Following completion of both Big Sugar races, there will be a fixed finish line camera through the 12-hour mark so every finisher (both professional and amateur) can be seen completing the race. Fans will also be able to watch highlights on the official Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel on Sunday, October 19.