Gravel Grinder News: Heathland Gravel To Be Qualifier Event For Unbound

 Will Unbound Gravel Eventually Be Like Kona?

Friday on social media Unbound Gravel announced that the Heathland Gravel, an event in the Flanders region of Belgium, would serve as a qualifier for "at least 50 riders" to get a ticket to Unbound Gravel's event in 2025. The Heathland Gravel event is scheduled for the 9th-11th of August this year. 

Riders who choose the 160km distance for Heathland will have a chance to be awarded a coin based upon performance, or receive one through a random process for riders in that distance. The event site claims that half will be distributed based upon performance with the other half going through a randomized process. 

Heathland Gravel is an event under the management of Flanders Classics and the event will serve as the only European qualifier event for Unbound. Unbound's President of Life Time's Events, Kimo Seymour is quoted on the website as saying, "We are excited to grow the reach and appeal of Unbound Gravel to Europe." Also, on the"About Us" page for Heathland Gravel, there is a statement which reads, "In the future, the intention is to expand the number of official qualifiers for Unbound Gravel internationally".

Comments: The development of Unbound Gravel by Life Time is taking on similar vibes to their triathlon side. In fact, on that "About Page" Flanders Classics' CEO, Thomas Van Den Spiegel is quoted as saying, "Unbound gravel is for gravellers what Kona in Hawaii is for the triathlete."

This is veering from the original intentions of not only gravel events at the grassroots level, (which arguably happened with Unbound years ago), but it is also not in the vein of gravel events as a whole. Some may see this as an elevation of the Unbound events, but others, who may already be decrying Unbound as a sell-out and worse, will no doubt find this news even more damning for the popular gravel event in Emporia. 

It will be interesting to see how Europeans react to the news and how this will be accepted there. Unbound already had a fairly strong draw from European riders, but perhaps Life Time is looking to expand that appeal for the future event opportunities it may create. 

This news also begs a question: Do the qualifying people take away from the roster limitations, and if this idea is expanded to other venues worldwide, does Life Time move away from the lottery to a full-on event qualified field for Unbound? 

This is how it works for Kona, a Life Time triathlon event. Interestingly, a quick Google search brought up the percentage chances an individual has for getting qualified for Kona: "In general, the chance to qualify for Kona ... is less than 10% for most age groupers, and for most of the IMQ events, it is less than 5%."

Will this eventually be the case for gravel riders in the future? Heathland Gravel may just be the start of a sea change for Unbound Gravel.