Episode 343 with Renee Janssen:

Go Beyond Racing, one of Pacific Northwest longest running and most reputable trail racing organizations just went through a major brand refresh and co-owner Renee Janssen is here to share the backstory. We dive into the origins of Go Beyond and Renee’s motivation to leave her corporate cubicle to take on race directing full time alongside her husband Todd.

We also chat about the important work of the Trail Mix Fund a nonprofit the two founded during the COVID pandemic which is aimed to bring more diversity to our trail running community.

Links

• Go Beyond Racing website
• Go Beyond Racing on Instagram
• Go Beyond’s new look
• Trail Mix Fund

A couple of weeks ago UTMB posted their broadcasting schedule, and more importantly their partner networks for broadcasting the 2026 World Series season livestreams.

Matt Walsh on Trailmix has the rundown of what was announced and some comments. I promised him a reply, so here we are.

By and large the comments online were largely negative, mainly because UTMB announced a new partner: FloTrack. FloTrack doesn’t have a great reputation which can be summarized with: bad product, expensive subscription service.

One platform Matt sees missing, and the solution to UTMB’s broadcasting conundrum is Youtube.

Meanwhile, the obvious route sits in plain sight: Use YouTube as your free livestream host with ads and commentary, then use UTMB Live as your paywalled option with graphical overlays, no ads and LiveTrail data integration. People who have already paid for a UTMB race in the past get access, otherwise you pay a season pass for the livestream. UTMB gets customer data and another income stream, and the far significant reach of YouTube.

Since its inception YouTube has operated with somewhat split personality offering two distinct solutions:

• In the early days when storage and bandwidth were expensive Youtube offered free media storage and distribution. This still exists and is used by organizations who want to take advantage of the generous service offering but without engaging with the social network side of platform.
• In recent years Youtube has become social network offering an ad revenue sharing, commenting, and algorithmic discovery.

UTMB is using the technical side of Youtube (I would assume). For folks who are looking for full length streams, and commenting (just not YouTube comments) UTMB Live has existed, isn’t its going anywhere, and is free to the user and free from third party ad insertion.

But this, to me, isn’t a matter about looking for a technical solution. What UTMB is after is partnerships. And that’s the piece that Matt overlooked here. Youtube isn’t a partner, they are just a service provider and you can do so – if you wish to work the system, game their algorithms, and play in their garden, so to speak. YouTube doesn’t know that UTMB exists. There are way too many hours of video being uploaded every minute, shared, and watched that a livestream of an ultra race isn’t generating a blip on their radar.

What Matt is ignoring is that Youtube isn’t a SASS product, but a social network. You the “content creator” control very little. Case in point: at last week’s Chuckanut livestream from Mountain Outpost several times as podium finishers were arriving at the finish the feed was interrupted with auto-inserted, unstoppable commercial breaks destroying that finish line feel. Discoverability for long streams that have to be broken up into several separate ‘shows’ is an unsolved hassle that adds to the confusion. Black Canyon, with an annual much watched livestream from US largest ultra running livestream provider: Mountain Outpst has a link on their website to the 2024 livestream recording, still. It’s 2026.

While Youtube might appear to be a great solution for the “Youtube Generation” – i.E. folks who are already regularly on YouTube, are logged into their accounts, and have their feed tailored to their viewing habits, YouTube won’t help new folks discover the sport. And yes, if you regularly hang out on Youtube, and I don’t fault you for that, it makes sense that your wish is that UTMB should just come to you and stream there.

Ultra racing coverage is a challenging broadcasting product, there Matt and I are in agreement, and it’s easy to see that current versions aren’t suited for traditional broadcasting schedules. Having said this, we often compare trail running coverage to other sports.

This is not football, or tennis, or even Formula 1. It is a 20-hour narrative scattered across mountains, forests, and tarpaulin aid stations.

But how long is a golf Masters broadcast? Or a cricket game?

I get the fear that some might have, that if you partner with an outsider, especially someone with a large business interest, their influence into our sport might force the sport to change. Things can get out of our control quickly and these different/new ideas might not be up to our standards. Right now I am okay with that tension. Not because I am not acknowledging the potential that someone who doesn’t seem to understand what makes our sport special couldn’t ruin it for all of us. But the problem I see with keeping everything “in house” is that we get complacent and aren’t innovating. That “good is good enough” and there are plenty of folks who feel that way right now. Our current livestream broadcasts aren’t great products yet. There’s A LOT missing. And of course that ‘LOT’ is cash. It’s easy to get volunteers to sit at a mic and ramble for a few hours, but back of the house production is time consuming and costly. Is it possible that we can develop all this talent and expertise “in house”, homegrown from our current selection of aging elite athletes and podcasters? Maybe. But I reckon UTMB has always believed that the product they are creating needs partnerships, not just fans who are given a chance to prove themselves learning something new and sitting in front of a mic. This is not meant to put anyone down but acknowledging that experience from the outside can be a breath of fresh air, and offer you a chance to level up, and bring new people into the fold, that’s not a bad thing.

Addendum: I have not finished listing to the latest episode of Trail Talk where friend of ECC Aaron Shimmons chats with the great Ian Corless yet, but I am struck at how influential sky running used to be (in Europe, maybe?) and that it used to – according to Ian – represent how trail running was presented to the world. The races, the places, the athletes, the visuals. So trail running wasn’t always about long ultras that are hard to capture on screen. This seems to be a recent development, one driven by the Americanization of the sport, and the rise of UTMB adopting the 100M format as their king distance. So of course, this is UTMB’s problem to solve – they are pushing the demand for the ultra distance. And their current strategy is working with partners, rather than just throwing it all on YouTube and letting the algorithm solve the rest. I don’t mind that.

Rachel Treisman for NPR with the story:

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s events, based on the results of mandatory genetic screening.

So glad we’re subjecting athletes, and only women athletes to this.

…the scientist who discovered the SRY gene in 1990, Andrew Sinclair, has publicly opposed using the test to determine biological sex.

So, there’s a potential for plenty of false positives – exactly what solves this problem, fantastic!

Nevertheless, controversy ballooned in Paris 2024 when right-wing politicians and commentators called into question the sexes of two female boxers who had been previously disqualified from boxing world championships after failing eligibility tests.
…
While the accusations were not proven true, they sparked a global debate over gender eligibility and prompted the IOC to begin the review that led to this policy.

Seems like the IOC found their own ‘Peace Prize’ for Trump, and it comes in the shape of a giant dick.

Traffic on Electric Cable Car continues to grow. More and more readers open the newsletter and read this website every day. Thank you!

If you have a product or service you’d featured on here, please reach out. Summer’s get busy, especially around the big events Cocodona, WSER and UTMB. This is the perfect time to reach ECC’s distinguished readers. They love the trail community and aren’t knobs.

Seattle-based Brooks is opening a stand-alone retail store in one of the hottest malls in the US: University Village, Seattle Times reports:

The University Village location is around 2,500 square feet, and it will neighbor The North Face outdoor clothing and equipment shop. Billish hopes the store will serve as gathering place for runners, particularly given its proximity to the Burke-Gilman Trail.

UVillage is one of my favorite urban places in the PNW. It has a bit of Euro shopping street feel. It will be interesting to see how Brooks will do alongside a smattering of Aperol Spitz this summer. They have arrived now over here, haven’t they?

Adam continues his conversations with Carrie Highman, filmmaker of ‘Off Course’, part of TRFF’26 Official Selection:

Carrie Highman is so passionate about telling stories that she and her partner, Tim, live the “van life” so that they can be mobile enough to tell them all the time. When the chance came to work with Stephanie Case and Sophie Grant, they were all over it. An emotional journey followed and Carrie is proud of the offering they’ve put out together. It’s part of the online film selection and I hope you enjoy hearing about it as much as I did!

Off Course is part of our ‘long film selection‘ and is playing online parallel to the live tour.

I had the pleasure of chatting with host Scotty Sandow about this year’s tour and more:

Director of the Trail Running Film Festival, Mathias Eichler, chats with podcast host Scotty Sandow about the upcoming festival which celebrates trail running in a film format. Scotty talks to Mathias about the evolution of the Trail Running Film Festival and what people can expect to see at this year’s event (spoiler alert: it’s bigger and better).

Tour is on, get your tickets!

New venture by Aravaipa’s Jamil Coury:

We build for endurance athletes because we are endurance athletes. Every product in the lab started with a real problem. On a trail, at a race, or inside a team trying to do something that hadn’t been done before. Start where you are. Use what you know. Ship something real.

The tech team behind Aravaipa’s numerous ventures assembles. First new project: ‘Obsession‘: – a journal to track your run and a platform for run streaking.

This thought occurred to me when chatting with Krissi about Race Purse and Run.fund on Singletrack: trail running has had several pillars: events, gear, media. There has been lots of improvements and big pushes been made in these various areas:

• events went from ‘grassroots, dirt road to large scale trail fest productions.
• gear is constantly getting more optimized with a bigger and bigger focus on ‘trail’.
• media is desperately trying to move from ‘single talking head’ outfit to actual ‘media company’ where the celebrity voice isn’t required anymore to draw the audience and close the advertiser deal.

But technology has been largely overlooked, or has been too expensive to invest in. So far ‘trail’ has been fine with using common tools like Instagram, Youtube and Strava as their platforms to communicate and track. Now with AI vibe-coding we’re entering an era where “anyone can cook” and release custom build apps and platforms that speak to the spirit of trail and reflect the sport and it’s unique quirks.

Will be fascinating to see what will be build next.

Announced via IG and on the Freetrail Rest Day live show yesterday:

The embodiment of personal transformation, Rich is deeply connected to the endurance sports community while also being a globally recognized thought leader and media figure. 

Rich has brought inspiration to millions of people around the world through his books, podcast, and other creative endeavors.

TrailCon is aiming beyond the trail running niche with this get.

Adam Lee continues his interviews with the filmmakers for TRFF’26. Today the conversation with Max Haimowitz and elite runner and protagonist of the film Allie Mac:

Allie Mac had long thought about this project, but it took a while for all of the pieces to come together. Max Haimowitz was the right filmmaker for the job, and they teamed up to make the project as they envisioned. It was fun hearing about how it came to be and some of the pressure that came with creating it. I hope you enjoy the chat as much as I did!

Fun side note: Allie will join us at ‘Beast of Big Creek‘ this summer!

Ushuaia Fin del Mundo by UTMB changed their name from Valhöll Fin del Mundo – not sure why? Maybe to reflect the region the event is held better. This year’s event was also affected by weather with the two longer races, the Epic 130K and Advance 85K been forced to get cut short and the runners were pulled off the course. UTMB’s communication:

Dear competitors, due to the inclement weather that occurred on Saturday afternoon and the unfavorable weather forecasts for the coming hours, race comitee have decided to neutralize the competition at the Tierra Mayor, Cerro Castor, Popper, and Valle de Lobos checkpoints.

Neutralized runners will be classified as finishers based on the maximum accumulated distance and time.

The running stones corresponding to the respective distance will be awarded only if the distance covered is more than 50% of official course.

This affects the DNF numbers I pulled from the UTMB Live website and therefore a few numbers aren’t fully correct here. It also shows UTMB’s continued struggle with the weather and events held during the “shoulder season”.

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

EPIC 130K (100M – 4 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Barbara GASSMANN – Argentina – 14:22:40 (90 km)
2. Evangelina ARROYABE – Argentina – 15:27:05 (90 km)
3. María Silvina PÉREZ – Argentina – 01:38:55 (83 km)

Men:

1. Franco ISORNA – Argentina – 13:31:10
2. Diego TALES – Brazil – 14:35:51
3. Matias VIOTTI – Argentina – 14:37:35

ADVANCE 85K (100K – 3 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Mayra EDENET ESPARZA – Argentina – 12:56:02
2. Tatiana FEDOSEEVA – Russia – 13:01:23
3. Sol BADORREY – Argentina – 13:38:55

Men:

1. Remigio HUAMAN QUISPE – Peru – 09:31:43
2. Martín Eduardo CICHERO – Argentina – 10:26:25
3. Carlos Daniel MORALES – Argentina – 10:29:43

CHALLENGE 50K (50K – 2 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Anabel OVIEDO ZELARAYAN – Argentina – 06:04:23
2. Marcela CASADEVY – Argentina – 06:12:15
3. Mariana FERNÁNDEZ – Argentina – 06:36:55

Men:

1. Joaquín NARVAEZ – Argentina – 05:10:18

(2. tied) Máximo MERCADER – Argentina – 05:24:18
(2. tied) Brian MONTES VIEIRA – Argentina – 05:24:18

COURAGE 32K (20K – 1 Stone) – Full Results

Women:

1. Luciana MAZA DÍAZ – Argentina – 03:59:42
2. Olivia CASTRO GELMI – Argentina – 04:00:15
3. Anabella MIGNINO – Argentina – 04:00:47

Men:

1. Brian PALACIOS – Argentina – 02:55:47
2. Marco BORTOLOT – Italy – 03:18:29
3. Emiliano LAGO – Argentina – 03:23:53

POWER 22K (20K – 1 Stone) – Full Results

Women:

1. Rosa Liliana GODOY – Argentina – 02:23:49
2. Brenda TAPIA – Argentina – 02:33:04
3. Carolina OHACO – Argentina – 02:35:45

Men:

1. Jhon HUAMAN – Peru – 01:52:19
2. Nicolas BENAVIDES BOHLE – Chile – 01:55:22
3. Tobias FRANCHINI – Argentina – 02:03:37

Below are the numbers broken down by distance and gender:

• EPIC 130K Starters: 123. DNF: 112 + Finishers: 11. Women 0 (0%), Men 11 (0%).
• ADVANCE 85K Starters: 177. DNF: 67 + Finishers: 110. Women 18 (16%), Men 92 (84%).
• CHALLENGE 50K Starters: 468. DNF: 15 + Finishers: 453. Women 142 (31%), Men 311 (69%).
• COURAGE 32K Starters: 522. DNF: 3 + Finishers: 519. Women 234 (45%), Men 285 (55%).
• POWER 22K Starters: 387. DNF: 0 + Finishers: 387. Women 208 (54%), Men 179 (46%).
• EXPLORE 12K Starters: 244. DNF: 1 + Finishers: 243. Women 135 (56%), Men 108 (44%).

Ushuaia Fin del Mundo by UTMB saw a total 1,921 starters (a 10% decrease compared last year) and 1,723 finishers. 737 (43%) women and 986 (57%) men reached the finish line and earned collectively 2,186 UTMB Stones.

Next up, on 09-12 April 2026 is the UTMB World Series first (for real this time) triple header weekend. We travel to the US for theDesert RATS Trail Running FestivaL, to Croatia for Istria 100 and to China for Ultra-Trail Mogan.

Chianti Ultra Trail posted on Instagram ahead of this weekend’s races the following announcement:

No safety pins at bib collection.
To reduce the environmental impact of Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB, safety pins will not be provided. Please bring your own bib fasteners: clips, magnets, or any other reusable solution.

Some quick math:

• A box of safety pins (1,000 count) on Amazon is $10. (Those are the ones I’ve been using for my races over the last few years.)
• UTMB Chianti had ~4,000 starters.
• Each racers needs 4 pins for their bib.
• That’s 16,000 pins, r 16 boxes
• Which costs UTMB $160, (if they have an Amazon Prime membership)

Of course this is not about the money savings. But also, by announcing this the trolls show up online and in various podcasts to lament at the micro management of it all. And maybe one could argue that this is a fight not worth fighting: just give the damn pins and worry about the bigger picture. In some ways it reminds me of the ‘plastic straw debate’ from a few of years ago. It’s a topic easy to politicize (Trump announced very smugly that “straws are back on the menu, boys” and score easy laughs, so maybe a giant corporations shouldn’t dictate their customer behavior, is the general sentiment.

But! Maybe this also can be seen as an opportunity. UMTB is the largest trail events management company in the world. Why not use your brand and voice to influence customer behavior? I’ve run countless races, always expected pins to be handed to me, it’s a learned behavior. But what I also learned over the years of racing is that Tailwind in my own bottles is better for me than relying on whatever hydration product the aid stations provide. So I adapted. I learned what socks work for me, how much lube I need, when I should use poles. I adapted. I spend weeks fretting over what shoes to wear and what headlamp would work for me. We as trail runners love our gear. We adapt.

I could just learn a new behavior. To bring my own pins, or whatever safety mechanisms I want to adopt. God, I am sure I have enough pins floating around with my race kit. I already prep drop bags, nutrition, and mandatory gear. Thinking of a couple of safety pins don’t ruin my life. Unless you’re a podcaster or online troll… then it might just be the end of your world.

Climate change is forcing the last ski lift on Germany’s Zugspitz glacier to be taken offline. The Augsburger Allgemeine Newspaper has the story (translated via browser translation tool):

The reason given is climate change. The glacier has melted steadily in recent years. This loss of volume has altered the terrain, making the slope significantly steeper, according to the announcement. As a result, it is no longer possible to disembark at the top of the lift because the area is too steep. Therefore, it is no longer technically feasible to operate the lift.

Here’s a video of the explosion of the lift structure.

Climate change will force communities in the Alps to rethink their entire way of life.

For the 32nd year Krissy Moehl and her team invited runners to Bellingham, Washington for the classic, historic Chuckanut 50K. A classic early-season rust buster that attracts some of the top runners from North America. After a week(s) of rain the trails were muddy and slick, but the weather on race day was kind on the runners and volunteers.

Here are the 2026 podium finishers:

Women:

1. Andrea Lee – BC, Canada – 4:19:55
2. Jade Belzberg – BC, Canada – 4:22:37
3. Sarah Paxson – WA, USA – 4:24:37

Men:

1. Will Murray – WA, USA – 3:33:54
2. Noah Dylan – WA, USA – 3:41:42
3. Dylan Flewelling – ME, USA – 3:42:41

NonBinary:

1. baby timm – OR, USA – 4:31:32
2. Sarah Edens – WA, USA – 5:24:22
3. Heidi Strickler – WA, USA – 5:42:36

Mountain Outpost provided the livestream. Tracking and full results can be found here.

Chianti is a WSER Golden Ticket race and but not until Tenerife Blue Trail was forced to cancel due to incoming weather on the island did this year’s lineup get truly spicy. Several top athletes made the late switch after the cancelation was announced. And it paid off for two of the late elite switchers: Courtney Dauwalter took the win, and Andreas Reiterer second place. Now both can decide if they want their just won Golden Ticket. Will be fun to see if we’ll see them in California later this year.

Update on the Golden Ticket scenarios (iRunFar has the deets):

• Womens: Yngvild Kaspersen and Lauren Puretz accepted the tickets. (Courtney Dauwalter, Rachel Entrekin, and Gemma Hillier Moses declined.)
• Mens: Thomas Cardin and Vincent Bouillard accepted the tickets. (Andreas Reiterer declined due to his wife’s expecting a baby.)

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

Ultra Trail Chianti Castles 120K (100M – 4 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Courtney DAUWALTER – USA – 11:31:55
2. Yngvild KASPERSEN – Norway – 11:33:34
3. Rachel ENTREKIN – USA – 11:38:13

Men:

1. Thomas CARDIN – France – 09:58:38
2. Andreas REITERER – Italy – 10:06:16
3. Vincent BOUILLARD – France – 10:06:52

Chianti Ultra Trail 73K (100K – 3 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Elísa KRISTINSDÓTTIR – Island – 06:22:31
2. Judith WYDER – Switzerland – 06:31:48
3. Hannah DERKSEN – Netherlands – 06:46:11

Men:

1. Andrzej WITEK – Poland – 05:39:16
2. Guillaume TIPHENE – France – 05:47:11
3. 3. Alessandro AFFOLATI – Italy – 05:48:42

Chianti Marathon Trail 46K (50K – 2 Stones) – Full Results

Women:

1. Ida Amelie ROBSAHM – Norway – 03:39:10
2. María Teresa LA CHICA LHOËST – Spain – 03:42:36
3. Anonymous – Individual Neutral Athletes – 03:47:31

Men:

1. Francesco PUPPI – Italy – 03:09:39
2. Daniel PATTIS – Italy – 03:11:13
3. Alex GARCIA CARRILLO – Spain – 03:13:48

Chianti Half Trail 20K (20K – 1 Stone) – Full Results

Women:

1. Caterina STENTA – Italy – 01:34:58
2. Arianna DEL PINO – Italy – 01:37:24
3. Axelle VICARI – Italy – 01:38:21

Men:

1. Samuel DEMETZ – Italy – 01:22:15
2. Cesare MAESTRI – Italy – 01:19:01
3. Alberto VENDER – Italy – 01:21:41

Below are the numbers broken down by distance and gender:

• Ultra Trail Chianti Castles Starters: 671. DNF: 132 + Finishers: 539. Women 51 (9%), Men 488 (91%).
• ‌Chianti Ultra Trail Starters: 1,122. DNF: 80 + Finishers: 1,042. Women 157 (15%), Men 885 (85%).
• Chianti Marathon Trail Starters: 1,059. DNF: 35 + Finishers: 1,024. Women 218 (21%), Men 806 (79%).
• Chianti Half Trail Starters: 925. DNF: 22 + Finishers: 903. Women 337 (37%), Men 566 (63%).
• Chianti Wine Trail Starters: 259. DNF: 1 + Finishers: 258. Women 115 (45%), Men 143 (55%).

In 2026 Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB saw a total 4,036 starters (8% increase over last year) and 3,766 finishers. 878 (23%) women and 2,888 (77%) men reached the finish line and earned collectively 8,233 UTMB Stones.

Next up, on 09-12 April 2026 is the UTMB World Series first (for real this time) triple header weekend. We travel to the US for the Desert RATS Trail Running FestivaL, to Croatia for Istria 100 and to China for Ultra-Trail Mogan.

Jessy Carveth for Marathon Handbook:

A French sailor named Arthur laced up his shoes on the morning of Friday, March 13, 2026, and went for a run. He covered 7.23 kilometers in just over 35 minutes at a 4:58 per kilometer pace — a genuinely solid effort for a confined deck on a moving warship. His Garmin Forerunner 955 tracked every step. Then he uploaded the workout to Strava, set to public, and inadvertently told the world exactly where France’s flagship nuclear aircraft carrier was parked.

Ooops. Someone’s gonna get to walk the plank.

Announced today:

Acknowledging the gaps in the current college-to-pro trail running pipeline, we are offering the opportunity for the next generation of trail runners to chase their dreams.

Backed by committed brands in trail running, the Trail House is an opportunity for 4 post-collegiate athletes to live together, train together, and be professionally coached on the trails of Colorado.

Is this like “Big Brother” for trail?

CNN reporting from Engelberg, Switzerland:

One person has died after a cable car cabin at a Swiss ski resort crashed down a snowy mountainside during strong winds on Wednesday.

Not a good winter for Swiss ski resorts.

Announced on their race website:

After almost 15 years of putting on races, we thought it was time to for a refresh. That and the GO infinity icon from our logo kept getting knocked off. We wanted to keep that concept of movement and navigation in it. So today we introduce the new Go Beyond Racing logo and color palette.

I like the new look. Looks sharper, more professional, grown up. Here’s to the next 15 years.

From their Help FAQ:

Event Cancellation Protection is a benefit program available to race directors who register their events on UltraSignup and choose to opt-in to the program. Through UltraSignup’s affiliation with Adventure Advocates, participating events gain access to a reimbursement program that allows race directors to offer their registrants a refund of event registration costs in the event of a qualifying cancellation or postponement.

Note: Adventure Advocates is not providing an insurance plan. It is providing a refund guarantee on behalf of the event should the event be canceled due to certain covered circumstances (described below).

If your event is cancelled or postponed due to a covered circumstance and is not rescheduled within 90 days, Adventure Advocates will remit refund funds to UltraSignup, and UltraSignup will electronically distribute refunds back to the credit or debit cards originally used to register.

This is a great new feature, not cheap – will cost RD’s 3% of their revenue – but worth it, considering the increased weather and climate related challenges trail events are facing.