April 7th, 2020 by Mike Sohaskey

The Cowtown crowned America’s Rave Race 2020 in RaceRaves March Lunacy tournament

Hail to the beef, as Fort Worth’s finest captures its first tournament title

The Cowtown start line — (Photo: The Cowtown official website)

Taking the bull by the horns, The Cowtown rose to the challenge and outlasted 63 other contenders to claim the coveted title of America’s Rave Race for 2020.

Tens of thousands of votes were cast across the country in the fourth annual March Lunacy tournament hosted by RaceRaves, propelling the largest multi-event road race in North Texas to its first championship powered by a cow-valry of enthusiastic supporters.

With many running events having to cancel or postpone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RaceRaves hosted its annual “March Madness for races” as a safe and entirely online way for runners to continue to show support for their favorite events. To that end, 64 top U.S. road and trail races of all distances in four geographic regions were seeded based on their 2019 finisher numbers and RaceRaves reviews, with the exception of last year’s Final Four which each earned a #1 seed. Voting was conducted in six rounds over three weeks, with races that earned the most votes advancing to the next round.

March Lunacy 2020 lived up to its name with five double-digit seeds reaching the Sweet Sixteen. But when the dust settled on the Final Four, The Cowtown had outlasted two World Marathon Majors — the Chicago Marathon and Boston Marathon, the latter coming off a semifinal win over the iconic Big Sur International Marathon — in succession to capture the title in udderly convincing fashion.

In so doing, The Cowtown capitalized on strong tournament moo-mentum to steak its claim as one of the nation’s most bull-loved race weekends — a notion reinforced by its current RaceRaves rating of 4.7/5.0 across nearly 800 reviews.

“On behalf of our team, we’re thrilled by this award and grateful to RaceRaves and to all our runners and supporters who voted us America’s Rave Race among so many outstanding events,” said Heidi Swartz, Executive Director of The Cowtown. “This accolade belongs to the entire Cowtown community, and we invite all runners to join us in Fort Worth to experience The Cowtown for themselves as we look forward to producing another world-class event in February 2021.”

Now in its 43^rd year, The Cowtown celebrates the city’s rich cattle drive heritage with its scenic loop courses highlighted by the historic Fort Worth Stockyards, home to the world’s only year-round rodeo. Finishers laud every aspect of race weekend from the “top-notch organization” to the “awesome swag,” with the event’s “addictive” appeal evident in its high number of repeat runners.

Much like previous tournament champs the Flying Pig Marathon (2017, 2019) and Big Sur (2018), The Cowtown boasts broad appeal with runners across the U.S. as well as deep relationships and tremendous support within the local cow-mmunity.

Registration is now open for The Cowtown 2021, which takes place February 26–28. Race weekend welcomes runners of all ages and skill levels with distances from 5K to 50K.

“We’re excited to congratulate The Cowtown on its well-deserved win in our fourth annual March Lunacy tournament,” said RaceRaves Co-founder Mike Sohaskey. “And we’re gratified to provide runners with a much-needed online diversion in these discomforting times. Though we may not be able to race together right now, the positive response to this year’s tournament shows we can still unite behind our shared passion for running while continuing to support our favorite races in a safe and healthy way.”

The final March Lunacy bracket and tournament results can be found here.

America’s Rave Race 2020: The Cowtown

The Cowtown crowned America’s Rave Race 2020 in RaceRaves March Lunacy tournament

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