Raziq Rauf for his ‘Running Sucks’ blog:

What ICE is doing in the USA right now is even more sinister than anything TSA was created to do, of course, but it’s the same Dept of Homeland Security agents of chaos at work. This time, however, they’re also dangerously ill-trained. This all means that I have to carry my papers with me. Even then, I know it won’t be enough to be bundled off the street into an unmarked van.

This article arrives in my inbox at the perfect moment. I have been sitting on my previous post about the unrests in Mexico for the past hour and wanted to make sure we’re not digressing into the abyss of xenophobia with the notions so often way too hastily thrown around that “these things only every happen beyond our borders in ‘developing countries'”.

I just emailed the UTMB press office asking about the situation in Mexico and how it might affect their upcoming event in Puerto Vallarta. From USA Today:

Many American tourists visiting Mexico are stuck in the country after the killing of a drug cartel leader over the weekend.
…
The operation set off a wave of civil unrest, with vehicles being torched and gunmen, believed to be supported of Oseguera, blocking highways in a more than a dozen states.

Not commenting on the actual situation in Mexico, I have no insight. But this sure shines light on the challenges of organizing a global sporting event. I mean, the IOC and FIFA regularly run into these issues and the responses by the people in charge rarely make them look good.

Update: UTMB emailed me back with the following:

The UTMB organisers monitoring the situation closely in Puerto Vallarta and remain in close contact with local authorities to ensure the safety of all runners and staff. They will keep participants informed of any further updates.

The event is a couple of week out, so things might calm down, but that’s not much of solace for folks having to decide on their travel plans.

Greg rants on Instagram (by the way, what’s up with all these rants on IG lately… something in the water?):

Let’s not forget that in ski mountaineering, there is one essential word: MOUNTAINEERING.

Tell me: in what you saw, was there even a hint of mountain?
A small rock? Something slightly intimidating?
Or just grandstands and influencers in puffer jackets?

The IOC has won again: another outdoor sport… brought in a stadium, and everyone congratulates each other. Bravo. Magnificent. “So inspiring.”

So, to quickly recap: Greg’s responsible for the Golden Trail World Series and his critics have largely said the same thing: the flower format, designed for TV will the spirit of trail running.

The addition of skimo to the Olympics have been largely praised as a positive: by product suppliers, general fans of the Olympics who got to experience a new sport, and the athletes who got to experience the actual event.

Do I consider this to be actual skimo racing? Of course not, in the same way mountain biking or climbing in the Olympics aren’t true to the sport either. So, what Greg is pointing out, and ranting against seems to be the inevitable. This is how this will go for the trail running if it’s to become an Olympic sport.

If you’ve been championing this trajectory for the sport over the past few years this post today seems rather confusing. Were you not aware that this would happen? Do you think you have a better solution in mind? Do you think the IOC will listen to you? And in addition: Aren’t the flower format courses you’ve designed not exactly taking us to a world where trail running will be great for TV on a largely artificial course to fit the Olympic presentation format?

This one’s for real (and apologizes one more time for my mistakenly jumping on the Barkley rumor).

Nnormal shares their athlete’s event calendars and here’s what on deck for Kilan Jornet in 2026:

• 27 June 2026: Western States, USA
• 8 August 2026: Sierre-Zinal Race, Switzerland
• 28 August 2026: UTMB, France

From Kilian’s Instagram with more on the announcement:

This year, the goal is simpler: show up at start lines that mean a lot to me. Western States, Sierre-Zinal and UTMB.
…
And then there’s @utmbmontblanc, one of the few ultras in the world where the depth of the field pushes you to a different level. Although we haven’t always agreed on everything, we’re aligned on what matters, towards a better future for the sport we love. I’ve been impressed by everything done with @protrailrunners in the past year.

Fabrice Perrin, UTMB Chief of Sports on LinkedIn (translated):

I’m delighted. Not for the “headline” effect. But because it says something about how trail running is evolving. And on the way in which we choose to build it.
…
Seeing Kilian return to racing in 2026, in this context, is also the symbol of a more mature sport. Who can go through tensions, then come back to the basics: discuss, build, progress.

If the sport is supposed to mature and professionalize you don’t just add more cameras and bigger prize purses, you also expect everyone in it to grow up with it. This will be an exciting summer in Chamonix, let’s just hope he, and all the other heavy hitters who announced they’ll be toeing the line, can stay healthy and actually make it to the starting line.

Carrera 4 Refugios in Bariloche, Argentina kicked off the Skyrunner World Series this weekend with the first race of the new season. Course records were broken in both the men’s and women’s races on this brutal course where helmets are required gear and runners wear them right from the start line.

Here are the current rankings and below are your top podium finishers:

The 4 Refugios – 40km, 3350m+

Women:

1. Kalie McCrystal – Canada – 06:21:10
2. Tanja Löwenhagen – Germany – 06:52:51
3. Rosalia Zegarra – Peru – 07:18:47
4. Ayelen Liberal – Argentina – 07:25:22
5. Lina El Kott Helander – Sweden – 08:03:31

Men:

1. Jose Manuel Quispe Mallma – Peru – 05:39:40
2. Genaro Crisóstomo – Argentina – 05:48:39
3. Morgan Elliot – USA – 05:49:49
4. Weston Hill – New Zealand – 06:08:51
5. Fran Muñoz – Peru – 06:28:51

Next up the Skyrunner World Series travels to Chile for the Merrell Andes Mountain Skyrace on 7 March, 2026.

Find all Skyrunning coverage on Electric Cable Car’s dedicated page.

Update: @dylisms_ is back.

Over the past few months several meme accounts have popped up on Instagram poking fun at and commented on trail running news and culture. Some with more elegance than others, most are doing their work anonymously. This week one of the athletes, Max Jolliffe previously featured – or skewered – seems to have clapped back in the comments of the account and in response @dylisms completely disabled his account.

I don’t have much to say about the delicate balance between ‘celebrities’ needing to be able to take a bit of roasting and these accounts using their endless needling of said celebrities to build a following. But it’s fascinating to me how popular these accounts get and how humor is a way of how we process our surrounding and our lives. Who hasn’t shared or received several of these posting with the comment “funny cause it’s true”.

I’m linking here to Jeff Garmire who had Dylan the creator of the account on his podcast to talk about the inspiration behind it all. As I am scrubbing through the conversation a interchange toward the end struck me:

Jeff: “keep making fun of people, because everyone loves it, and we gotta quit taking the sport too seriously, it’s not like we’re CrossFit or Hyrox”.

Dylan: “And not just sport, but life in general…”

I hope this account didn’t go dark because someone took things too serious.

From Suunto’s micro-site celebrating the occasion:

Our journey began in 1936 when Finnish inventor Tuomas Vohlonen set out to create a more accurate and reliable compass capable of enduring the harshest Nordic conditions.

It’s an impressive milestone worthy of celebration.

The spirit of Finnish functionality, quiet confidence, endurance and clarity of design, has shaped every Suunto instrument since the beginning. ​

In my perfect world a company with roots on one country and culture wouldn’t have to sell themselves to someone multinational conglomerate (Suunto is nowadays owned by Liesheng from China). I don’t have answers for this, it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but these global, faceless corporate ownership models let these celebrations of traditional roots ring hollow.

The upside to all this is that since Suunto has been under new ownership the company has been firing on all cylinders and is releasing new products at a exciting pace.

To celebrate the anniversary Suunto released a Vertical 2 Anniversary Gift Box:

The Limited Edition gift box celebrates Suunto’s 90-year heritage, featuring the Suunto Vertical 2 Limited Edition, the MC-2 G Mirror Compass as a tribute to the brand’s origins, and a commemorative magnet highlighting Suunto’s versatility and history.

The watch is orange and black… and looks gorgeous.

Announced today and posted on the Daybreak Racing website:

• 100K: $15,000 for 1st Place; $7,000 for 2nd Place; $4,000 for 3rd Place
• 50K: $5,000 for 1st Place; $2,000 for 2nd Place; $1,000 for 3rd Place
• 30K: $2,000 for 1st Place; $1,000 for 2nd Place; $500 for 3rd Place

ACG is doling out $75,000 in total. This is starting to feel like real number and is a good yardstick to measure that crowdfunded prize purse at Black Canyon against. While a novel idea to ask live viewers to “tip their server runner” it just can’t be a replacement for real prize money from real sponsors with – let’s face it “unlimited” marketing budgets.

Kyle Frost makes a few great points about the Satisfy vs. Currently beef, this one sticks out to me most:

I think the fact that other brands are riffing on the aesthetics Satisfy helped define, is evidence that Satisfy succeeded. It’s probably annoying, and may or may not be cutting into Satisfy’s bottom line, but it’s also inevitable. It’s a signal to keep pushing forward, not a reason to publicly attack a one-person operation.

Some might feel like Satisfy is getting too much shit ‘currently’ (hahaha, sorry!), but as a trendsetter the way you silence the nay-sayers and separate yourself from the competition is by releasing something fresh.

French bi-weekly trail business newsletter ‘Mile & Stone’ has a few interesting tidbits on the upcoming Golden Trail World Series this year:

Introduced in 2025, the Broken Arrow Skyrace (California) has moved under the ACG (Nike) banner and joined the Skyrunner World Series circuit.

So, well, while the Nike news is correct, but that Skyrunner World Series piece is completely wrong, but here’s the important nugget:

Alongside Sierre-Zinal and Zegama, [Broken Arrow] was one of the three major events of the GTWS. “We found out at the last minute,” regrets Grégory Vollet, founder and director of the circuit. 

Wow. While Nike’s big prize purse announcement at Broken Arrow was the talk of the town for weeks after, what sort of got swept under the rug is that Nike’s move also meant that the GTWS wouldn’t get a US race on their GTWS calendar as an unfortunate outcome. That’s a huge blow for athletes who had hoped to race in the series and one of those dumb side effects of these “exclusive brand partnerships”. Why can’t brands play nice?

The 40 hours of live coverage reached 17.8 million viewers worldwide (+65% compared to 2024), and the GTWS social media accounts show growth rates of over 100% (90 million video views), indicators that seem to satisfy race organizers.

So clearly they are considering this partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery a huge success.

Pierre Galbourdin (Team Brooks): “With random rankings (ITRA or UTMB) and the lack of benchmarks, like road running times, performances are sometimes normalized on these formats and difficult for the general public to understand. The GTWS do a great job media-wise with excellent content, but it’s hard to compete with the UTMB.”

The storylines are still the big challenge and not just for GTWS, even UTMB needs to do a better job with any race is not the Finals in Chamonix.

[Grégory Vollet] also defends the “flower” courses (four different loops with passes through the finish line at each turn) tested last year: “I received a wave of criticism from everyone who didn’t come; I’d like them to test it first. Those who participated in flower races, like in Il Golfo dell’Isola or Kobe in 2025, gave us great positive feedback. There is a great atmosphere in the fan zone.”

Witnessing the global excitement of the Olympics in Milano/Cortina right now I do feel like there’s a room in our sport for a race format that’s fit for that big stage. But:

… there are technical rules that mean trail running is still far from being able to access the Olympics,” confides Greg Vollet. “Notably the fact that the entire race must be filmed in 4K, which we are incapable of today.

And Greg’s acknowledgement that while ski mountaineering has made it into the Olympics the athletes are far from happy about it:

Now, we must be very careful regarding what is happening with ski mountaineering at the Olympics. What can the Olympics bring to trail running? Visibility. But can’t that be brought in other ways? That’s what we are working on with the GTWS.

Speaking of “challenges” for trail running: So far trail running has relied on the places, the trails, and the mountains runners run through. That was the key secret sauce that explained these incredible efforts of the athletes. The GTWS seems to be trying to change that narrative, away from the place and toward the athletes. That will bring some fascinating consequences and opportunities with it.

Olympia’s Three Magnet’s Brewing has been brewing something up for TRFF:

Self Care and the Trail Running Film Festival present to you a lovely West Coast style IPA. Stripped back of excess—some premium two row barley, tiny amounts of foam positive specialty malt, and that’s about it. 

Bittered with noble German hops, which left enough room to bring back a technique we haven’t dabbled in for years. It’s a little nerdy and shorthand would be “dip hopping.” It required moving the beer around more than normal from tank to tank but it all seems to have been worth it.

So freaking stoked on this one, and not just because of the inclusion of the “German hops”.

Brice Partouche, colorful founder of Satisfy has an epic meltdown in Nash Howe’s (Founder of Currently) DMs and Reddit brings the receipts.

• Is Currently copying Satisfy? I mean, just the name of that brand is hilarious.
• Should anyone, let alone the founder of the company slide into someone’s DM and yell at them, knowing it will be made public? Haha, have we learned nothing from the last 20 years of social internet?

As Matt Trappe puts it: “Calling Satisfy PR team, clean up on aisle 7.”

Probably the wrong time to tell folks to stop poking fun at Satisfy, as things are just getting juicy.

Izzy Chanel writing for Run the Alps:

If you’re coming on a Run the Alps trip this summer– or planning any other kind of trip to Europe in the near future, you may have heard about a new system called the Entry/Exit System (EES). Don’t worry, this is not a visa, and there’s nothing you need to apply for in advance, however, it will change how border control operates when you arrive in Europe.

For folks from America, or anywhere else outside of Europe this is an important and super useful read. There are changes coming to international travel and if you’re planning a trip it’s best to be prepared and informed.

But on a more somber note: what a dumb time we live in, that rather than expanding our global relationships, countries and regions are increasingly putting up the walls and their borders close up again. Sad.

I’ve been trying to keep tabs on what Run.fund is up to and today the developer announced a ton of new features worth revisiting the project. Via Instagram announcement:

We just added everything Linktree has. Plus everything it doesn’t.

All free. Built for athletes.

Linktree charges $5-24/month for these features.

We give them to you free because we make money when you make money (prize pools, community support, sponsors).

Aligned incentives. Better product.

I just took the athlete profile page for a spin, and from a tech point of view it’s massively impressive. This is Patreon for athletes, build from scratch, tailored just for the trail space. My mind is sort of blown.

And yes, I have been very critical of this particular effort when it first launched and I am still not sure about the larger vision of this. But! Maybe that’s the shift we’re seeing here, and I alluded to this on last week’s Singletrack episode with Krissi Polentz about this very topic:

What used to take an entire team of developers to build – and with it came some stupid VC funding from Silicon Valley – is now possible to spin up seemingly overnight. And we’ve seen how fast this can go. The Aravaipa/Steep Life Media machine upon seeing what Run.fund was doing immediately jumped on the bandwagon and copied the entire concept for themselves.

Now Run.fund responded and doubled down creating so many new features that it feels a bit mind boggling and might take Aravaipa a bit to catch up here, and maybe UltraSignup or Freetrail “get inspired” too and builds something similar. This, at the moment feels like a race to see who can come out on top. And in tech that is usually one, maybe two players at most.

Now the question is: Does our sport need this?

Clearly, as seen this past weekend – money was raised, folks watched the livestream of Black Canyon and gave money to the podium. So, in a ‘Twitch stream, pay to watch your creator do that thing and chip in a few bucks’ way, this seems to be working and there seems to be a place for this. Does this scale? Of course not, no one is going to chip in for me, amateur runner to get paid to race some fun race somewhere around the world. But! Is it a tool for elite athletes to put themselves out there and one that can potentially put pressure on the brands holding the cash purses currently? And even more so, is it a tool that is ‘thank god’ not another Silicon Valley startup aimed at maximizing profits for Zuck, Elon, and Jeff?

There are a lot more questions that need answering, but for now, as a tool platform in itself, is impressive and a fascinating addition to our sport and media landscape. It will be interesting to see how and when the first big race adopts it.

• How would we feel if UTMB builds a tool like this?
• What would we say if Western States would become an official partner and gives it legitimacy?
• In order for this to work for the athletes, does it need direct tie-in with a livestream and an only Aravaipa (as the only livestream provider in the US) succeed with it?
• Will race directors and/or brands adopt this and use it to skirt their responsibility to provide podium prize money themselves?

More to come on all this, I am sure. And I might swing back and forth a few more times on my opinion on this concept. But mostly: what an exciting time for a product to drop that isn’t another podcast, a substack, or an announcement by Freetrail, Aravaipa or UTMB. More diversity like this, please!

This coming weekend (February 20-22, 2026) the Skyrunner World Series kicks off its 2026 racing season in Cuatro Refugios, Argentina. The Carrera 4Refugios is billed as ‘South America’s most technical race’ and offers six distances with varying levels of difficulty:

The 4Ref Nonstop, with 40 km and 3,350 meters of accumulated positive elevation gain, is one of the races with the highest technical difficulty in all of South America.

The terrain traversed is purely characteristic of mountains, with less than 10% of conventional low-difficulty trails, and the vast majority is on High Mountain terrain.

Rocks of various sizes, stream beds and sand; all unstable surfaces with slopes of up to 35° both uphill and downhill.

So as Kilian wonders if “trail running might get too soft and safe” he might look at skyrunning as the solution to that problem.

The mandatory equipment for this race includes a helmet in case you’re thinking that they are just overselling their event.

Watch this hype reel to get a feel for the races, and maybe start looking at airline tickets for next year.

(Linking here to the press area on their website for the UTMB Finals, but the information I gathered is from their press email). Here are some of the highlights:

• 29,000 applications were registered for the UTMB World Series Finals draw

That’s almost 30K people who want to run one of the three Finals races: UTMB, CCC, OCC. In 2025 there were combined about 5,200 starters at the starting line for these 3 races combined. So these races are about 5 times oversold. Demand is not slowing down.

• 11 – This is the average number of Running Stones held by runners drawn for the UTMB, compared with 7 for the CCC and 5.5 for the OCC.

In 2025 for UTMB you needed (on average) 5.4 stones, in 2024 5.3. So for 2026 this doubled. If you want to see a graph, where the probability is broken down by race and number of stones, UTMB created one for you.

• 2/3 – Two-thirds of runners registered for the draw selected the boost, committing to travel to the Mont-Blanc valleys via a lower-carbon route, without using a car.

This is obviously a new number and has no comparison yet. It’ll be interesting, but I doubt we will ever see any numbers, if anyone get’s kicked out for declaring, but failing to follow through. Like… carbon cheaters?

• 76% of participants are European

Last year’s numbers were 75%.

• Women account for 26% of the field

A nice increase from 20% in 2025, but still not Tarawera – numbers.

And from Isabelle Viseux-Poletti, UTMB France Director:

The draw unfortunately leaves many runners without a bib, and we recognise how legitimate that disappointment is, given the time, energy and hope invested.
…
[F]or regulatory reasons and out of responsibility towards runners, volunteers and the region, the number of race bibs must remain strictly limited and cannot be increased.

So, don’t expect getting a bib for the Finals in Chamonix to get any easier in the coming years.

Keith Dunn, official voice of the Barkley Marathons:

The 2026 Barkley Marathons is over. There are no finishers.

Clearly after Barkley saw five finishers in 2023 Laz and his crew made the course more challenging to create the next impossible course to bite one’s teeth out.

Big event! With finally a (somewhat controversial) prize purse. Six WSER Golden Tickets are on the line in the 100K race. Here are the results for both distances (Times might be slightly different to official times, I took them off the live tracking website):

100K – Full Results

Women:

1. Jennifer Lichter – Montana – 07:57:05 (Golden Ticket)
2. Anne Flower – Colorado – 07:58:15 (Golden Ticket)
3. Tara Dower – Colorado – 08:11:46 (accepted GT at Javelina)
4. Molly Seidel – Arizona – 08:25:13 (Golden Ticket)
5. Abby Hall – Arizona – 08:27:50

Men:

1. Hans Troyer – Georgia – 07:20:00 (Previous Top 10)
2. Anthony Costales – Utah – 07:24:32 (Golden Ticket)
3. Tracen Knopp – Alaska – 07:37:27 (Golden Ticket)
4. Canyon Woodward – North Carolina – 07:42:32 (accepted GT at Javelina)
5. Jordan Bramblett – Arizona – 07:47:25 (Golden Ticket)

50K

Women:

1. Jane Maus – Colorado – 03:47:04
2. Liz O’Connor – Utah – 03:52:30
3. Lindsay Allison – Colorado – 03:55:44

Men:

1. Seth Ruhling – Colorado – 03:16:29
2. Adam Peterman – Montana – 03:18:18
3. Cade Michael – Colorado – 031:8:43

Tarawera by UTMB in New Zealand is the second race of the year for the UTMB World Series and the T102 race the first Golden Ticket race for WSER for the year.

• 3rd Honoka Akiyama and 4th Holly Ransom accepted the Golden Tickets in the Women’s race.
• 2nd Jacob Banta and 3rd Max Yanzick accepted the Golden Tickets in the Men’s race.

For full results visit the UTMB website, below the top runners by race:

TMiler 163KM (100M – 4 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Devon YANKO – USA – 19:58:28
2. Hannah MCRAE – Australia – 20:25:45
3. Sarah PARKINS – Australia – 21:34:06

Men:

1. Simon COCHRANE – New Zealand – 16:26:17
2. Yutaro YOKOUCHI – Japan – 17:28:05
3. Takumi SAWAYANAGI – Japan – 17:59:50

T102 103KM (100K – 3 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Ruth CROFT – New Zealand – 08:41:11
2. Caitlin FIELDER – New Zealand – 08:45:34
3. Honoka AKIYAMA – Japan – 09:00:24

Men:

1. Daniel JONES – New Zealand – 07:31:27
2. Jacob BANTA – USA – 07:57:39
3. Max YANZICK – New Zealand – 08:01:56

T50 52KM (50K – 2 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Robyn LESH – USA – 04:05:35
2. Jemima COOPER – Great Britain – 04:12:31
3. Julia ANDERSON – Australia – 04:19:37

Men:

1. Samuel MACAULAY – New Zealand – 03:36:23
2. Charles HAMILTON – Australia – 03:38:23
3. Sam ROUT – New Zealand – 03:41:02

T21 23KM (20K – 1 Stone) – Full Results

Women:

1. Katie LOWERY – Great Britain – 01:38:58
2. Lydia ODONNELL – New Zealand – 01:40:05
3. Katinka VON ELSNER-WELLSTEED – Australia – 01:46:21

Men:

1. David VERNON – Great Britain – 01:25:28
2. Michael SUTTON – New Zealand – 01:25:39
3. Nathan PEARCE – Australia – 01:28:19

Below are the overall numbers for this year’s Event:

• TMiler Starters: 508. DNF: 203 + Finishers: 305. Women 82 (27%), Men 223 (XX).
• T102 Starters: 938. DNF: 163 + Finishers: 775. Women 283 (37%), Men 492 (XX).
• T50 Starters: 1,787. DNF: 47 + Finishers: 1,740. Women 875 (50%), Men 865 (50%).
• T21 Starters: 1,301. DNF: 16 + Finishers: 1,285. Women 765 (60%), Men 520 (40%).
• T14 Starters: 221. DNF: 0 + Finishers: 221. Women 144 (65%), Men 77 (35%).

The 2026 edition of Tarawera by UTMB saw a total 4,755 starters and 4,326 finishers. The event saw an increase in starter numbers of 28% over last year, partially due to the addition of the newly created T14 race. 2,149 (50%) women and 2,177 (50%) men reached the finish line and earned collectively 8310 UTMB Stones. For the first time in the history of the UTMB World Series an event had 50/50 gender parity across the five events combined. Wow.

Next up the UTMB World Series travels to Mexico for Puerto Vallarta on 5-7 March and to Taiwan for Xtrail Kenting on 6-08 March 2026.

Episode 342 with Krissi Polentz:

On the eve of one of America’s largest ultra trail race, the Black Canyon Ultras, Mountain Outpost announces another new initiative: ‘Race Purse’- a crowdfunding platform for prize purses for elite runners. In recent months Black Canyon, and Aravaipa have gotten under increased scrutiny for not offering any prize money at all. This new project, seemingly outsourcing the solution created lots of chatter online and Krissi is joining me to try to make sense of it all.

LINKS

• Krissi on Singletrack
• Krissi on Instagram
• Race Purse by Mountain Outpost
• On Electric Cable Car: Black Canyon Ultras Prize Money
• On Electric Cable Car: Jamil Coury is the most powerful person in Trail Running