By Mathias Eichler
Okay, this is actually really hilarious and I absolutely got this info from one of the meme accounts on Instagram – where I often get chuckles, but rarely news.
The same week – just ahead of UTMB week, of course – where Satisfy announces their COROS partnership Currently announces theirs with Amazfit . Two competing running brands, two competing watch brands, same collab idea. Brice Partouche, founder of Satisfy perviously has had beef with the founder of Currently for “copying” their style – which, I mean, yeah who would name their brand Currently if Satisfy wasn’t around. But now, this collab is another one where the entire team at Satisfy must be rushing to take the phone away from Brice to avoid anymore embarrassing DMs.
The COROS Satisfy watch is an Apex 4 and a $41 premium over the regular Apex 4:
A pinnacle performance GPS watch for long days above the treeline, engineered by COROS and shaped through the SATISFY lens. Sapphire glass covers a 1.3-inch always-on display, powered by sixty-five hours of GPS on a single charge.
The Amazfit Currently collab isn’t a specific product but a partnership in furnishing their products for their athlete roster:
Amazfit is proud to announce our partnership with Currently Running™ Apparel as the official wearable technology partner of ©Practice, Currently’s elite athlete program. Together, we’ll support these athletes through training, competing, and recovery on their road to the 2028 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
No idea which collab direction is the smarter idea here, but the fact that these were announced in the same week is just chef’s kiss.
When I invited Doug Mayer to join me on Singletrack this week he had just published a long article checking the current temperature of UTMB Mont-Blanc in Chamonix. I had questions, wanted answer and we chatted about many things as it pertains to the present and future of this massive event in the Alps that’s reverberating around the globe. On the pod Doug mentioned he was working on a follow up piece outlining some conversations with and insights from the newly elected mayor of Chamonix. Mayor FX Laffin himself made some headlines being quoted to promise changes to the massive event and how it affects the town and valley.
In Doug’s piece we learn a bit about the backstory of the mayor. And the most important man in town ran UTMB once and is a race director for a small trail race himself, then Chamonix truly can claim to be the Trail Running Capitol of the World. That’s settled for now.
But the biggest piece in this story, and that should be a large alert signal for brands activating alongside UTMB during the week, is the expanded focus on what makes UTMB week that frantic and increasingly unbearable for the locals. Yes, it’s the eight races, the 11,000 runners, the tens of thousands more spectators, the expo, and all that other official stuff. But to folks living in Chamonix the busy-ness, the madness of the event is exasperated by “all that additional stuff” that the brands, who aren’t official sponsors of UTMB are bringing to the valley in the shadow of Mont-Blanc. This is something UTMB had already mentioned two years ago when they addressed “ambush marketing” directly. And yes, UTMB is not absolved from trying to find a solution to all this. And one more yes, I, as by-standing runner and fan of all that commotion love all these (as Doug called it Orwellian sounding) activations. But also, it’s clear that the brands who are flooding in town and aren’t on the official sponsor banners are not going to self-regulate themselves. UTMB asked for no group runs during UTMB week and there are over 50 scheduled. Brands are here to market, to sell, to gain exposure, to support their runner, and cash in on all the others who are here with vacation wallets – ready to spend. Brands want their ROI. And they are going to get it, with increased brazenness, or should I say creativity and ingenuity?
The big campaign UTMB launched this year aimed at teaching runners to be more mindful and responsible on the trail is called “Trail Running is about Freedom – Not without Responsibilities”. And that slogan isn’t just aimed at the runners visiting the Alps for the first time. At the media briefing announcing this campaign a few weeks ago UTMB was very clear that it’s the responsibility of the media to share this message, make it a priority, and help UTMB get this into people’s heads – if you will. If this is the new UTMB, an organization that’s found it’s footing and re-centered itself after a few years playing non-stop defense fighting off elite runner uprisings, online trolls, and self-inflicted communication faux-pas, then I am sure they are turning their attention to all the brands who are arriving in Chamonix with huge marketing budgets hoping to cash in – essentially for free – on the phenomena that UTMB created, or rather surfaced. It’s the mountains we’re here for, most of all, not just the blue arch in the town square.
UTMB, no doubt sees itself in the same sphere as other global sporting events like the Tour de France, the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, etc. and these events have massive legal team, draconian brand controls and strict marketing guidelines. I hope we don’t walk down that path and UTMB becomes a massively litigious overbearing organization demanding a tax for every breath we take. We will probably have to call it “the big loop around the mountain” rather than UTMB or whatever else the legal beavers come up with. Chamonix at the end of August is richer if there are more creative minds engaging with the public. But, I also don’t fault the city organization in trying to set some boundaries on all the parties “activating” during that time. The idea that only the UTMB event should be controlled and curbed, but the guerrilla marketing campaigns by billion dollar outdoor brands are “the Wild West” and should just go unchecked, does a massive disservice to what UTMB has built and will negatively impact the atmosphere in town in the future. I’m sure UTMB has already ideas and will find a way to lobby the city be heard. And I’m sure brands will adapt and find ways to continue to color just beyond the bounds to get noticed and get their precious ROI.
This will be fun to watch. Well, I hope it continues to stay fun and we don’t turn this into some IOC, FIFA, NFL hellhole. Trail needs to stay unique, different, a little quirky. That’s worth fighting for.
UTMB just released their full press kit for the 2026 Finals in… non-downloadable magazine format published to the e-magazine platform ISSUU. But, thanks to my amazing press contact at the UTMB office I was able to obtain a PDF of it (10MB) – you’re welcome!
Volunteers:
As organisers, our mission goes beyond offering you an exceptional course. It also involves ensuring your safety and protecting your health before, during, and after the race. That is why we rely every year on more than 2,600 volunteers, the true pillars of the UTMB family, as well as a large-scale medical team of more than 350 healthcare professionals: 30 doctors, 60 nurses, 60 first responders, and 90 physiotherapists and podiatrists.
Just an incredible number of folks giving their time so you can have a great time.
Some Key Figures:
So many beds filled. I am sure UTMB enjoys sharing this number with the mayor’s office.
The Environmental Commitment:
In short: This is a resetting to match the realities of this global mega event and bringing it back to the local priorities of the Alpine valley facing the realities of our climate crisis. You’re a guest here, act like one and respect the local culture.
The Human Focus:
Controlling event noises = for locals in Chamonix. Inclusivity and Solidarity = for all runners from everywhere. The campaign “freedom, but not without responsibility” = teaching visitors the way of the mountains.
The Elite Race: the Prize Purse and increased doping controls I previously mentioned.
Will definitely result in a few smirks and glaring eye-rolls but hey, a place where people come together for a shared experience in limited space common rules need to be agreed upon otherwise society can’t function.
The Programme:
I bring this up every time, but the staging for each race start and finish to perfectly harmonize in downtown Chamonix, under that blue arch is just an incredible achievement and deserves from praise and recognition. Yes, runners come for the route, and a race director usually gets recognized for the ingenuity in weaving various trails together and obtaining permits to give runners this incredible experience that feels like a perfect flow and not an forced and tedious one. But packing this many races – start and finish – into a full week is truly what makes UTMB stand apart from all other events (and the ones that are similar have copied this from them.)
The Elite Line-Up:
Has already two most notable drops: Kilian Jornet and Jim Walmsley dropped after the document “went to print”. Reminds me of the old Panini World Cup sticker books. There were always a few players who you collected stickers for that were late drops due to injury or other reasons.
The Notable Figures:
Highlights, rightfully winners of past races, but I wonder how hard it would be to include other “notable runners” that completed the loop that would create a bit more inclusive storylines.
Lastly:
I am truly fascinated and grateful that European race organizations are producing all their documentation in several languages. Keeping all these moving pieces up-to-date and ready for a deadline and having them translated is no small feat. Kudos to the team for creating a level of hospitality that we in English speaking countries aren’t thinking about.
[Partner Message]
Trail Talk is producing The Refuge, a six-show series recorded live from the Kailas FUGA store in Chamonix during UTMB week. The store sits right at the finish line, and the show takes its name from what happens when you step inside: leaving the noise behind. Aaron Shimmons hosts alongside Pippa Ebel, showcasing athletes from across the world and across brands.
Three preview shows run from 21 to 23 August, covering OCC, CCC, and UTMB, followed by three Instant Reaction shows after the races on 28, 29, and 30 August. Guests include Stephanie Case, Holly Page, Dave Ryan, Robbie Britton, Fred Tranchand, Hau Ha, Cristian Minoggio, and Joaquín López. Shows air daily at 18:00 CEST on the Trail Talk YouTube channel and via the Trail Talk podcast feed.
Watch here: Trail Talk on YouTube
Episode 354 with Doug Mayer:
The 2026 Finals of the UTMB World Series are upon us and all of Chamonix is buzzing. Heck, the whole trail world is buzzing with excitement, anticipation, and nervousness. UTMB is big and important and as it moves our sport moves. Doug Mayer from Run the Alps lives in town and is in a perfect position to know what is happening inside and outside the organization, the town, and the sport as a whole. I’m here to chat with him about the logistical, political, and business side of it all.
Re-upping this as I can’t seem to find it in the ECC archives. Here’s what’s at stake for the 2026 UTMB Finals and what runners can take home for placing on the podium of one of the World Series Finals, UTMB, CCC, and OCC:
| RANK | UTMB | CCC | OCC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €20,000 | 13,000€ | 13,000€ |
| 2 | €12,000 | €7,500 | €7,500 |
| 3 | €8,000 | €5,000 | €5,000 |
| 4 | €6,000 | €3,500 | €3,500 |
| 5 | €4,000 | €2,500 | €2,500 |
| 6 | €3,000 | €2,000 | €2,000 |
| 7 | €2,000 | €1,500 | €1,500 |
| 8 | €1,500 | €1,000 | €1,000 |
| 9 | €1,500 | €1,000 | €1,000 |
| 10 | €1,500 | €1,000 | €1,000 |
Total is prize money is: €271,000 for women+men combined. Seems to be unchanged from 2025.
Social runs are brand activations, and Oak, the mountain community app is on the case.
Side note: UTMB asked brands to refrain from hosting runs during race week, how’s that going?
Another BIG news story I have not gotten from the official UTMB press office but via third party media. Here’s Jonathan Turner for Run247:
Anti-doping controls will be doubled at the 2026 HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc next week – with testing expanded beyond the elites to runners across all races and age-group categories.
Will we be getting countless blog posts and tell-all Instagram reels from influencers for this one too?
Addendum: here’s a link to the official press kit that was just released that includes this information.
Not what we want to hear and see, but health comes first, Kilian Jornet decided – last minute – to not run UTMB this year and instead get his doctors take a better look at his bum knee, including the possibility of surgery to fix it.
Just yesterday I wrote in a private chat group something to the effect of wanting to gather the pre-race analysis and predictions from all trail media accounts and see after the races how their race predictions had faired. With Kiki out, a clear favorite at any race he’s on the starting list, how many pre-recorded podcasts and written blog posts are now outdated already?
On Meta Endurance’s Instagram account:
We went through every published entry list for UTMB Mont-Blanc 2026. Here’s who’s actually showing up in Chamonix.
6,124 entrants across the six individual races, from 97 countries.
Even if you take into account that they didn’t include the PTL race (which only had a couple hundred starters last year) this number, if correct would me an overall reduction in field size by over 40% across all distances. In 2025 there were 10,772 starters according to my numbers pulled from the UTMB Live site. Further, I have access to a 2026 entry list for all races and it shows over 11,000 registered across all distances – on par with last year’s numbers.
So, I wager their numbers are horseshit.
New book alert by the man who never sleeps:
Beyond Endurance by Kilian Jornet, the Catalan professional long-distance trail runner and ski mountaineer widely considered one of the greatest mountain athletes of all time, is a first-person visual and written account of an extraordinary Alpine undertaking. In 2024, Jornet made international headlines by summiting eighty-two peaks over thirteen thousand feet in just nineteen days, smashing the previous record by three days and traversing the Alps at a pace never before achieved.
Link to Bookshop.org US and UK, Amazon (Affiliate links, thanks for supporting ECC).
With less than a week before race week UTMB just announced some last minute changes to the OCC and MCC courses. An email was sent to all registered runners with the following information:
Please note that the last part of the course between Argentière and Chamonix has been modified. This modification does not change the overall course profile, including the total distance and elevation gain. From Les Chosalets, athletes will follow the Arve River along the south side of the Chamonix Valley, then climb the Petit Balcon Sud trails before descending via the traditional UTMB descent to Chamonix city centre.
The updated routes can be found on the UTMB website for:
No word on what prompted the changes. But it seems that after the bigger OCC course changes earlier in the year, which had them drop the entire climb to La Flegere they are now rerouting the course back over to Balcon Sud – still no La Flegere, and still no Chalet de la Floria, which is a bummer. But it brings runners back into town on the same route as in previous years. (I hope I am reading this correctly, please let me know if I am mistaken.)
Collecting here the various schedules and announcements from podcasts and media creators on their upcoming coverage of trail running’s biggest week:
There’s more, there will be more, there always is more coverage… and I’ll add more here as I find it – if you find any announcements, send them my way. And just to say it one more time: I am sitting far away from all the hype in Chamonix with a massive amount of FOMO, ugh.
Nonetheless, I want to highlight Trail Talk‘s UTMB coverage (I got a first sneak peek and don’t want to give anything away, but the lineup looks incredible and fresh – updated now). Be sure follow Aaron Shimmons on Instagram and subscribe to his podcast to get all the news and banter right in your face as soon as it’s released.
UTMB, just before their Finals next week (can you believe this is really happening next week already… I am so jealous to not be there, and also so freaking excited!!!) updated their live race tracking page. I linked here to the UTMB one, but it seems this is rolled out to all races (I found out when gathering the results for Boréalys Mont-Tremblant from last weekend).
Very curious to see how this will behave in real world usage – I’ve only been able to play with it for races that have already concluded.
I have word in with UTMB to see if any official announcement will be coming.
This info was just shared with me by my friend and “reporter on the ground” in Chamonix Doug Mayer, from Run the Alps:
UTMB has just sent out a note to all brands and organizations planning on “activating” during UTMB week that group runs are prohibited/discouraged while the actual races are going on. This is in response to the mayor office’s concern of overcrowding. And beyond that apparently last year there was some mix up with actual runners – who were running one of the UTMB races, with a bib – who got confused by the crowds running part of a brand’s group run and were led off course.
More on this in an upcoming episode of Singletrack where Doug and I chat about recent developments, changes, and announcements coming from ‘Maison UTMB’ in response to local politics changes, public sentiment in the valley, and ahead of yet another record-shattering UTMB Finals week.
I got no link to any official communication, will add if I get my hands on something.
Episode 353 with Etienne Rodriguez:
After years of many calls and more meetings I finally get to pin down Etienne Rodriguez, managing director of the Skyrunner World Series, and hit record for a chat about the history behind, the business of, and most of all the vision for the Skyrunner World Series. The Series just returned to U.S. soil for the first time at Beast of Big Creek and we chat about what this all means and where this might take us in the coming years.
The Skyrunner World Series title sponsor Merrell sponsored this post on iRunfar highlighting their athletes who ran Beast a couple of weeks ago (I wouldn’t normally link to ‘sponsored content’ but this one mentions Beast, so I of course had to):
On August 1, 2026, after nearly a decade of absence, the global circuit returned to the U.S. with the Beast of Big Creek on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, creating a rare opportunity for local runners to line up alongside international skyrunning specialists.
…
During the 2026 Beast of Big Creek on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, American runners had a chance to experience the style of racing that has captivated mountain runners across Europe and beyond for decades.
Still sitting in the afterglow of this amazing event… and already scheming for next year.
Sticking with the business updates theme here for today.
Jeremy Gray for PetaPixel:
GoPro has announced its second-quarter financial results and some of the core numbers are dire.
…
GoPro said in April that it would lay off about 23 percent of its workforce this year amid excess costs. The company disclosed the following month that it was evaluating its options, including contemplating a potential sale.
This doesn’t look good. You’re the best product in your niche and you still can’t make the business work.
I had missed that, but Tudor isn’t the only “non-GPS/luxury watch brand” sponsoring trail. Unsurprisingly the Matterhorn Ultraks event is sponsored by Norqain. I say unsurprisingly because of course a trail event happening in and around Zermatt would have a watch sponsor, and of course, it’s a Swiss watch brand.
We are proud to be the Official Timekeeper of the Matterhorn Ultraks in Zermatt, Switzerland. The race in the Swiss mountains not only offers striking trails but also breathtaking views along the way. Matterhorn Ultraks offers competitors exceptional courses of various distances and difficulty levels so every NORQAINER can find what fits their skills and level.
Norqain even has/had a limited edition watch, the ‘Adventure Matterhorn Ultraks‘ celebrating their partnership. (The watch is already sold out, not sure how long that partnership has been going?)
Which then, of course brings me to the very important point worth asking – myself and you: which watch company should become the official partner of Beast of Big Creek? Anyone got ideas?
Tiffany Montgomery at Shop Eat Surf Outdoor has the story:
Mammut Sports Group AG, the Swiss mountain performance brand founded in 1862, announced that CPE has signed an agreement to acquire the company from Jacobs Capital.
No article ever talks about if these equity ownership deals are ever good for the brand. Yes, in some ways, maybe it’s better for the brand to sell itself, keep the employees – for now – and continue operating and making money. And maybe if I’d be in a position like this I’d do the same thing: rather sell myself than go under. But man, in this global game of endless ownership shuffle, no brand stands for anything anymore. Any sense of place is completely lost.
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