A few more thoughts on this mega media event for the trail running world down in Arizona. I experienced it again just from afar, but nonetheless I wanted to put some (final?) thoughts down for this year, on this genre-expanding production.

Cocodona is a Spectacle

Unquestionable what Jamil Coury, Steve Aderholt and their team at Aravapia/Mountain Outpost have built here is a fantastic product. An ultra endurance event, built from the ground up with a livestream as the focal point allowing the athletes to not just conquer the trail, but also take advantage of the public platform and present their story to the world. If you choose to run Cocodona you’re not wanting to be invisible and alone in the mountains, you want to be part of this spectacle – and be a bit of a spectacle yourself.

The Super Bowl of Ultra Running

That word ‘Super Bowl” has been floating around for years to describe the “biggest and most important event in trail”. My argument qualifying the term has always been that the Super Bowl isn’t even the biggest sporting event in the world, just for the US, and therefore shouldn’t be used to describe the biggest event in trail – globally. That of course, still is, and will be for a long time UTMB. Westerns States fits the Super Bowl moniker well = America’s biggest and most important trail race. Bestowing that crown on Cocodona mere days after the event and still in the emotional afterglow feels premature. We have to wait for the verdict on this until after this year’s WSER. Clearly they aren’t sitting still over there and we can expect a leveling up coming from the team in Auburn as well. Let’s hope by then the Cocodona moment hasn’t faded too far back in memory to allow us a better comparison and judgement. (Personally it won’t help that I’ll actually be in California for the race for the first time this year – talk about getting influenced in an unfair fashion.)

An Elite Level Competition

While the race and it’s insane distance requires elites-level performances from anyone attempting it, the event has not YET attracted the deep field of elites (full-time, brand supported athletes) we have seen regularly at WSER and UTMB and even Hardrock over the past several years. All the pieces are set and it seems just a matter of time, but there are two things that are holding back the elites from toeing the line at Cocodona: Brands are being too slow to adopt Cocodona in their bonus structure – this will very much change after this year, I project. And further the fact that racing 250 miles is a unique skill requiring athletes to focus a lot of their year preparing for it. Currently the 100M distances is still the pinnacle of racing for elites. Maybe these issues will converge and solve themselves if a new level of elite will emerge – one focused exclusively on these super long ultras, leaving the 100M as the “middle distance”. But I caution this narrative as our sport is too small still, and the endless bifurcation brings lots of challenges with it – at the professional level of our sport that is. Looking at it purely from a creative storytelling point of view it’s great that trail keeps inventing new formats that capture the imagination of endurance athletes.

The Livestream Advantage

Over the years Aravaipa build up insurmountable lead by having smartly invested into their live-streaming equipment and the know-how required to run it well. No on can compete with it – in the US. No one has the tools to build a similar event experience. All race directors in North America who are wanting a livestream for their event are contracting Mountain Outpost – an Aravaipa company.
The comparison that comes to mind here is the way Amazon used its head start as the leading online shopping platform to build out AWS. Under the AWS brand Amazon sells B2B server products that have been used by all tech companies large and small in various ways. Even Amazon’s fiercest competitions are using AWS products essentially paying Amazon to compete against them. That’s the Aravaipa/Mountain Outpost combo right here. And yes, we don’t talk about competition in the trail space unless it’s the big bad UTMB wolf, but let’s face it, if you want to build an event with a similar offering to what Aravaipa is doing you’re either contracting them or starting from scratch, very small, with huge investments in tech and know-how. Good luck and godspeed to you.

Case in point: Ethan Newberry, aka the Ginger Runner started Tiger Claw in Seattle in 2019. Clearly someone with considerable online clout he created the event with a unique racing concept and branding around it. Tiger Claw livestream though this event happened this past weekend with barely a blip on the radar of the collective trail world.

Trail’s Breakthrough to the Mainstream

The mainstream media loves superlatives. A sub 14hr WSER won’t register with Good Morning America – well, unless Rachel runs it. But a woman taking the overall win at a 250 mile race is perfect cat nip for the MSM. Not saying this disparagingly, but this year was catching lightning in a bottle. Not sure this can be replicated year after year. Not sure this is even necessary for the events future success. But what is different from Cocodona’s MSM success is that (as crazy as it sounds) it is more approachable and attainable than Barkley Marathons which has had similar MSM breakthrough moments. Although with Barkley the stories that are being told are veering closer to the line of “this is unfathomably crazy” where Cocodona’s headlines are more accepting and leaning a bit more to “this is so cool”.

A Return to What Made Ultras Great

Another bifurcation I often pointed out is the “trail running as adventure sport, vs “trail running as logical extension of the cross country college sport pipeline”. Cocodona feels very much in the aforementioned camp = putting on a bib to have an adventure vs. the endless optimizing of shoes, nutrition, pace, coaching styles and other elements that feel foreign and quite boring to me. If the hype around Cocodona brings us back to a bit more adventure and bit less hyper optimizing I am all here for it.

Still a Logistical Monster

How do you run a 250 mile race without a huge support team using multiple cars, meeting you at every aid station and caring for your every need? It’s possible, but the stories we see coming out of Cocodona are those of a runner bringing their entire team to the party in the Arizona desert. Is that sustainable? That’s a question for another year. But what I am wondering if this production is attainable for anyone coming from far. Are these logistical realities the next challenges for elites with their teams? Or are they a bridge too far and the reason why Cocodona has (so far) failed to attract international top elites to the race?

How will this evolve? Not sure, maybe once the CTS kiddie pools arrive Aravaipa will begin to put some rules around this circus. But for now if you want to run Cocodona IT SEEMS LIKE you need a caravan of support to carry you to Flagstaff.

Cocodona, the Coachella of Trail

Several folks on the ground have pointed out – and at occasion bemoaned – the media frenzy, both from official drones in the air to influencers bringing their entire media team – on top of their actual support team. This is the event for it. Created out of the influencer culture hype Cocodona invites exactly the people who love to capture and tell their story – live from the trail in real time straight to Instagram. If you run Cocodona and complain about it you’re at the wrong party. Or maybe need to slow way down to the back of the field.

Is Cocodona for me?

Finally just a personal note, and not a judgement on the larger event itself: It’s meant to answer all the folks who’ve been asking me – since I’ve been so incessantly following Cocodona this year – if I’d be interested in running Cocodona myself one year, and I must disappoint everyone. The world of 200+ mile events isn’t exciting at all to me as an athlete. I find them fascinating from a cultural point of view and from a business angle – so it’s a perfect event to cover here on Electric Cable Car. But me personally toeing the line one year? I’d rather not.

I’ve shared a few articles and opinion pieces about this year’s Cocodona, but this is one written by someone who actually ran it. Open Fuel co-founder Zach Hauer writes a beautiful (and long but worth it) race report.

A few days following my finish, I am still processing the experience. As I work through all the emotions and will the inflammation and pain in my joints and muscles to subside, I’ve been able to ride an undercurrent of gratitude and excitement to not let this be my last 200+ mile race.

It’s as good as it gets and worth your time. Just be warned, this one might make you yearn for your next ultra trail race experience.

Holly Haldane reflects on what Rachel Entrekin’s Cocodona 250 win means to her and other women:

And I cried.

Not delicate tears. Not cinematic tears. The kind that arrive from somewhere primal. Because there she was; exhausted, relentless, powerful. A woman refusing to shrink herself. A woman taking up space and daring the world to witness it. As Rachel herself said in a post-race interview; “why not me?”
…
I am angry.

Angry for the younger version of myself who learned to confuse silence with safety. Angry for the girl who internalised misogyny so deeply she mistook self-erasure for strength and spent months being frightened of the person she lived with.
…
History has never looked kindly on people who chose silence while others fought to be treated as human beings. History will judge this generation, so be on the side that chose love. Women are watching their rights, autonomy, and dignity erode in real time across the world, and we are being told to stay polite while it happens.

Fuck that. I say to women, be loud. Be difficult. Be impossible to ignore.

Eat enough to take up space in the world. Eat enough to be strong. Eat enough to have the energy to remain angry. Because anger is not a character flaw when it is a rational response to injustice. It is fuel.

Nothing for me to add but to encourage you, especially us men, to read her post and sit with it for a bit and for god’s sake keep that “ya but…” up your own arse for once.

On his blog ‘The Crux’ Scott shares some observations and criticism of the Cocodona phenomenon:

I realize in 2026 any criticism is considered warfare, especially when it comes popular races (like Cocodona 250) put on by popular people (here, my friend Jamil Coury). To be clear: I like Jamil and I enjoyed my time at Cocodona, which was a well put on event.
…
 Prior to the race it was announced that 400 volunteer spots remained open. The total number of volunteers has to be massive. Also, each runner seemed to have a crew that ranged from a handful of people to a large army.
…
But all the hype was overwhelming. It’s also strange that there is a volunteer shortage while there is no shortage of social media teams for mid pack runners. Maybe it would be a good idea to make people get credentials to use this race to make “content” and require those people to also satisfy a volunteer requirement first.
…
I have also spent significant time thinking about the problem of the rise of the 200 milers. Clearly these races use significant resources in terms of volunteers, pacers, crew, etc. I have seen more and more races putting out the call for volunteers and I can’t help but think that this is a factor and cause of that.

Some really well thought out comments by Scott here, highlighting the good and pondering the downsides that come from this new phenomena. Well worth your time.

Also: This is a much better way to voice your opinion, btw.

Seth LaReau on his blog ‘Trail Waves’ ponders “must-have” livestreams at WSER Golden Ticket races:

Cocodona delivered 125 hours of livestream coverage. The Canyons 100K, with six Golden Tickets and a stacked field, got none. A business-lens look at why, and how to fix it for the future.

Seth writes very eloquently on the business side of our sport but a few big things he’s missing in this article. So, I’ll help him out. Under his business explanations on why UTMB didn’t do a livestream for Canyons he argues:

The argument: Livestreams are expensive and cost significant resources that UTMB doesn’t have.

The reality: Thanks to the WSER Foundation’s Form 990, we know what it costs to broadcast Western States each year (2025 total: $104,113). At less than 2/3 of the distance, Canyons shouldn’t cost more.

The real reality: would the trail world be okay with UMTB JUST live-streaming the 100K? If UTMB would do a livestream for Canyons they wouldn’t do it just for the Golden Ticket chase – a Western States series. They’d have to do it for the entirety of the weekend, not just the 100K race. The 100M race kicked off on Friday at noon, last finisher completed the race in 35hrs. The 25K, 50K, and 100K all fit into that same timeframe. So it’s not 2/3 of the distance, but ~20% longer in broadcasting time than the WSER race which has a cutoff of 30hrs and livestreams the entire race. Further Seth is suggesting here that UTMB should increase the entry fee for all runners of every distance but then only livestream the 100K? If you add the cost of the livestream to JUST the 100K it’ll be $140 per big, yeah, that’ll fly.

UTMB cleared $500,000+ in registration revenue from the Canyons weekend. More than enough to support a livestream.

You’re asking a company to just “easily” justify a 20% expense hit on their revenue… what world are we living in?

Adding $100,000 in livestream costs to the entry fees of the ~1,800 starters would increase the cost for every bib by $55. Aravaipa might be able to absorb that cost at $2,000 a pop for an entry fee to their 250 mile event, but Aravapia is also using their own company ‘Mountain Outpost’ for the livestream, so there are other factors to consider of how this expense gets calculated on which P&L line item.

Seth continues his argument:

UTMB decided that the benefit of a livestream at Canyons wasn’t worth the dollars, time, and logistics to put it on.

The real reality: I believe, based on various sources UTMB offers the livestream to every event location and asks the local tourism office to pay for it. Why did Auburn, the Endurance Capital of the World not pony up?

For anyone watching the Cocodona livestream you noticed the ’sponsor mentions’ directly via logo placement and during the broadcast in continued earned media mentions of Sedona and Flagstaff. (Both Sedona and Flagstaff are listed as sponsors on the Cocodona website.) Clearly Aravaipa has figured out the tourism angle for funding their events, this hasn’t worked yet for UTMB in Auburn, California.

Now to Seth’s potential solutions:

1. UTMB builds livestream into its race business model

UTMB has livestreams built into their business model. UTMB is offering a livestream to every location in exchange for some favorable coverage as a tourist destination. Some pay, others don’t. Seth argues here that UTMB should build the livestream for a WSER series into their business model – essentially arguing that UTMB should just pay for another organization’s product.

2. HOKA earmarks sponsorship dollars for broadcast

I mean, sure. HOKA could do that, but the contract is written with WSER and not UTMB and runs through 2029.

3. Drop UTMB races (except CCC) from the Golden Ticket schedule

I love LOVE the idea that everyone is talking about Big Alta as the solution here: a fairly new event – that until this year didn’t even have 100K race – and therefore isn’t even eligible as a Western States qualifier yet. And Big Alta also hasn’t had a livestream before. I’m sure Daybreak/Freetrail would love to just cut $100,000 out of their revenue for this expense. The Big Alta 100K had ~270 starters, 840 in total for the entire event (according to UltraSignup results page for the event). That would be $120 added to every runner’s entry fee, close to doubling it. Daybreak/Freetrail tried a livestream at Gorge Waterfalls once, and hasn’t done one since. Why?

I’m pretty sure if WSER would just change their schedule of races and announce your race organization as the host of a Golden Ticket race you wouldn’t mind taking on the extra $100K to provide a livestream. Oh, Big Alta is sponsored by Salomon? Yeah, I’m sure they’d love to pony up the dollars for a HOKA Golden Ticket race. That’s just not how it works in our sport’s brand partnership landscape. It would be nice, maybe, but it’s just not a reality.

4. Contract Mountain Outpost (or equivalent) for the broadcast

Yeah, let’s contract with the only other real competitor Mountain Outpost = Aravaipa and let them handle the livestream for your event. Again, brilliant solution right here. And again, that contract should probably be between WSER and Mountain Outpost and not UTMB and Mountain Outpost.

This also doesn’t solve the Chianti issue?

Every Western States Golden Ticket race should have a livestream. UTMB should prioritize it. HOKA (or future presenting sponsors) should require it as part of sponsorship agreements. Fans should speak loudly in support.

Somehow everyone is pulled into this responsibility but the very organization and people who make the decision on what races will be Golden Ticket races?

No mentioned of Western States and what they might be able to do here… to, you know, their race series?

Like, they could – in true nonprofit fashion – send out an RFP and let races apply. But would that create better races? I’m not sure. If the RFP includes the demand for a livestream (since the race org is on the hook for this and not WSER or HOKA) I wonder who would actually apply. Probably only Aravaipa could actually stem this requirement.

The team behind the decision Dylan Bowman, Topher Gaylord, and Craig Thornley aren’t mentioned once in the entire article either. They are the ones selecting the races as Dylan just mentioned again on the latest episode of Rest Day on the Free Trail podcast. Dylan made some interesting points about the challenges to the racing calendar to get elites to show up at a certain event so we actually do have a great race that might be worth following. But Dylan too dodged some obvious questions in that conversation.

Would it be nice if all Golden Ticket races are live-streamed?

Sure, and most everyone is in agreement here. But so far the solutions suggested are all making the case on why it isn’t happening and not why it is inevitable that it should. And the business-lens of ‘Tail Waves’ didn’t take us any further. In fact it just reiterated that what we have in our sport is a lot of wishcasting and very little understanding of the reality of the business behind it all.

In the light of the political headwinds and the financial subsidy challenges UTMB experienced in Nice, France new-ish ‘Trail Running World’ from Germany dug into some publicly available financials for various trail events to pull out some figures out worth taking a look at. For folks interested in “how the sausage is made”, and especially for American race directors this sheds some interesting light on how putting on a trail event in Europe works (compared to the fee based system we encounter in North America).

One region and event that sticks out to me is the is the Walserwaeg by UTMB in the Valle d’Aosta:

In July 2025, the regional parliament of Valle d’Aosta granted the organizers of the Monte Rosa Walserwaeg by UTMB, led by Franco Collé, 400,000 euros per year for three years (2025–2027) – a total of 1.2 million euros.

Tor des Géants is in the same valley and according to various sources this event too has received hundreds of thousands of dollars to establish itself in the global trail calendar. This valley must have money – and understand tourism. Crazy!

Via Instagram post:

Trail running at the Olympics?
We’re officially opening this conversation and we truly want to hear the voice of our community of athletes and trail running enthusiasts.

We created a survey to collect the opinions of everyone who wants to share their point of view on this topic.

Here’s the link to the survey if you want to share your opinion on this sticky subject.

Host Jeff Pelletier interviews Dean Leslie, the filmmaker behind 8 seasons of Salomon Trail Running TV.

Totally worth a listen to (or watch on Youtube) for anyone who’s ever watched a trail running films, is a story-teller, or a filmmaker themselves. Really great background story to one of the most interesting times in our sport. A time when capturing the person behind the run and sharing the ‘why’ catapulted this weird niche sport of ours to the forefront of our collective minds, onto so many social media accounts, started the new trend in running that is sweeping the globe right now.

On ESPN’s ‘Pardon The Interruption‘ Tony Cornheiser and Mike Wilbon share Rachel’s finish and wish ‘Happy Trails’ to the runners of Cocodona.

What a moment for the sport of trail running. Can you imagine being the person who just took a giant dump over this achievement by wondering if 200+ mile events really are part of our sport?

Speaking of ‘hot-taking’ at an inopportune time: Josh Rosenthal from Borderlands has some thoughts on the Cocodona Livestream:

I watched to actively observe the audience behavior itself and one thing became impossible to ignore:

Cocodona does not have an awareness problem. It has a conversion problem.

The cameras are still rolling, the historic finish with over 42K viewers hadn’t even happened yet, but Josh has watched some livestream coverage and has thoughts.

I’ve been known to share some of the same sentiments that Josh is bringing up here. Mainly that the livestream isn’t quite there yet. Something’s missing, and in a way the viewership and interest is growing despite the polish and professional appeal. That might be worth pointing out and celebrating.

The livestream currently is generating general interest viewers, people are being picked up getting their questions answered about where these runners pee, or what sun shirt is best for long runs in the desert. This is pointless fluff for the ‘real fans of the sport’ but for newcomers it might be riveting to hear and doesn’t exclude them through complicated insider lingo.

Sometimes the good is good enough and ain’t the enemy of the great?

Matt Trappe on his ‘A Matter of Brand’ blog:

Cocodona’s success aside, this year’s race brought a big win for Rachel, a win for Norda, Precision and Tantrums but, far more importantly, it was a huge win for women and the sport on the whole.

(Wo)Man, what perfect timing for Rachel to win Cocodona outright and reset the course record in such dominating fashion. Right at the time when several voices (including an influential community organizer I sparred with just the other day!) were claiming that women after all DO NOT have any chances against men in endurance sports – cause science, and of course, historic precedent – we get Rachel to win it all and reset our perspective and give everyone a chance to recalibrate. Take that chance, I strongly suggest.

Another trail media project that’s now being enhanced by AI, but it brings Ken back to his desk, and my RSS reader, so this might be all for the positive.

Francesco Puppi doesn’t like 200+ mile trail races and feels the need to air his displeasure using Rachel’s incredible achievement as the dumping ground.

There’s all kinds of wrong with this and not just the timing of the post.

If you wish to be a gatekeeper and define what trail running should be – either as co-founder of the PTRA or as an athlete to ensure the distance you chose reigns supreme – you could find ways to facilitate that conversation and maybe learn from others in the process.

But going on Instagram to share your displeasure of a specific race distance or format – in our world of trail running that’s been enriched by new ideas popping up every other year since its inception – feels immature, unprofessional, and trollish behavior that’s uncalled for for any level of athlete.

The sport of trail running is at a fascinating moment in time. The professionalization is happening slowly, but we’re not in a place where the elite runners race separate events with full on doping controls, prize money, and federation support on the way to the Olympics, while everyone else “plays in the mountains just for fun”. What largely defines what is considered trail running is what makes a splash in the media. And that arrives from both ends of the spectrum – manufactured and financially incentivized, and the way explorers used to share their historic conquests: through sheer boundary breaking achievements that inspire the public beyond our niche.

Our sport still hold both ends closely together and that what makes it great, and unique, and worth pursuing as an elite and an amateur. The best athletes and voices in our sport can hold both of these things in balance and celebrate the humans behind it that choose to step onto the dirt and believes in themselves to do the unthinkable.

That’s worth celebrating and that’s why we’re in this sport.

Sadly, the impetus is the death of a runner during the event. The fact that Rachel is the overall leader gets a footnote:

Entrekin led this year’s race through 48 hours, according to Run by Outside, and is attempting to become the first woman to finish first overall.

At this moment almost 25,000 people are watching the livestream of Rachel making her way to the finish in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Still in beta, but you can now search a map to find your favorite races close to you, or where you want to travel to next.

The new user interface feels inspired by the Airbnb search window – I dig it.

Picked this info from the livestream but it seems Mountain Outpost’s Race Purse can’t offer this for “legal reasons” = they most likely ran into the same problems as Run.Fund did.

Available for a limited time this summer, but I’ve had the chance to sample it for the past few weeks and I’m here to tell you it’s delicious. And even better:

Tailwind Nutrition will donate 10% of all Mango Yuzu Endurance Fuel sales to the Conservation Alliance, helping protect wild places and outdoor spaces we all rely on.

Get some for your summer runs, thank me later.

I’ve just been browsing Liam’s Cocodona 250 race preview post and something struck me. Every single athlete Liam considers for the podium and worth mentioning here is from the US. And I am not insinuating bias, if anyone is thorough researching a runner’s potential for success at any given race it’s Liam. I am just wondering given the global popularity, and name-recognition, (and livestream) of Cocodona why hasn’t the event attracted a larger international field of runners?

Announced via the Hoka and WSER Instagram accounts:

He’s back! See you at States, @walmsleyruns!

So Jim took that Hoka sponsor spot after all. This had been rumored and hotly debated among the trail nerds for several weeks now. It’s an official way to “get into WSER” so I don’t have any beef with it*, but clearly he calculated this very shrewdly. He chose not to race any Golden Ticket events to maximize his chances to show up in California fresh and rested.

On this week’s episode of Singletrack with James Lauriello I wondered that after seeing how ACG rolls up at trail events they sponsor Hoka will have to step it up for WSER and UTMB. Well, this is HOKA stepping up: sending their biggest prize pony to one of trail’s biggest shows for a showdown for the ages. This will certainly give several of the athletes who are eying the podium something to think about.

* maybe I do have some beef with it. (These sponsor bibs COULD BE GIVEN to athletes that otherwise would have a difficult time getting qualified to run Western States. Amateur athletes that can bring diversity and color to the event and to one of our sports’ biggest stages. Hoka, and in extension Jim are sending a signal here. Will this be exciting for the fans of our sport? Yes, undoubtedly it will. But Jim clearly could’ve gotten himself into the race at any of the Golden Ticket races these past few months. By taking the sponsor slot he’s not just maximizing his chances of success, but he’s taking the bib away from someone else. That’s a choice.) I wrote this down here and will sit on it for a bit more to see if I change my mind.

Alright, I thought about it some more. Hoka apparently receives 4 sponsor bibs. One went to Jim, one to Tommie Runz and the other two bibs to two amateur women runners. Hard to argue with this selection. (I kept my initial rambling thought in there, to “show my work” and thought process.

Jim posted a lengthy (post continues in the comments) entry on his Instagram explaining his situation with his injury and how he approached him taking the Hoka sponsor slot.

I asked if Hoka would be comfortable to provide me a sponsor entry and if WS and the board would be okay with this. I’m humbled and I feel small that they didn’t hesitate to have my back to help make this happen for me. I don’t feel I should get special priority like this but it’s been a hard journey with the injury and I needed to ask for help this time. All I can say is thank you. You know I’ll do my best and try my hardest out there. See you at States.

Well worth a read.

One of them the ‘Trail Hunt‘ is kind of a fun format I hadn’t seen in our trail world:

… a unique elite race in pursuit format with limited starting spots and total prize money of EUR 30,000.

The best athletes will compete against each other over two days of action. Only the fastest runners in the vertical race will qualify for the pursuit start in the trail race. A format for power, precision, speed, and fearlessness — for those who thrive when the pressure rises. Not just a starting line. 

An elite only event with a prize purse, stretched over two days, where on the first day folks run a Vertical Race. The results of that race determines their start time for the following day’s trail race over 24km.

I’m excited we’re not done experimenting in our sport. Both on the spear end of it – finding competitions that attract elite athletes and spectators alike and on the amateur level where Innsbruck is offering a ‘Businesstrail’ event – for folks who work in Innsbruck and want to participate in a short ‘after work’ trail race. The organizer ‘Laufwerkstatt’ also offers a Team registration with the largest team receiving a special prize.

Yes, for the media all these special events and classifications are hard to evaluate beyond the novelty status, but I do appreciate the creativity for an event with thousands of participants. Innsbrucks Trailrun Festival bills itself as the largest trail running event in the German speaking region, bigger than the ‘now’ UTMB-owned Zugspitz Ultra.