By Mathias Eichler
The adventure podcast about trail running and mountain culture. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player.
The adventure podcast about trail running and mountain culture. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player.
Electric Cable Car is counting down until the end of the year by reliving the action-filled year 2024 in trail running. Join me.
Last week I had the immense honor to chat with Frédéric Lénart, CEO of the UTMB Group on Singletrack. (I hope you go check out the episode and hear from him directly). But I also wanted to highlight a few things here on Electric Cable Car, so people can easily scan and reference what we discussed. My overarching questions were around the corporate ownership structure of the UTMB Group and Ironman Group, how this affects the races in their growing World Series, and in turn the experience for runners, volunteers, and organizers on the ground.
Here are the highlights:
About 30,000 runners put their hat into the ring (lottery) to run one of the various UTMB Mont-Blanc races each year.
I’m not a statistician but if I do the math right, that’s roughly a 1 in 3 chances of getting to race. These odds are better than I expected, given the popularity of the event, and especially compared to the big races in the US1.
What strikes me, is that even with these ‘reasonable chances’ (compared to other big races) the Polettis felt the need to re-think their qualification and lottery system to find a better way to give more runners the chance to experience Chamonix. This tells me that at the heart of the UTMB organization is still the focus on the individual runner and the invitation to come and have their own mountain adventure. We touched on this briefly as we agreed that by and large trail running is a participatory sport, more so than a spectator sport.
This is also reflected in Frederic’s comment on how the revenue they generate is considered internally. The cost of the bib for each runner is supposed to cover everything the runner needs to have a successful event, that includes aid station support, race tracking, medical and swag. The dollars generated from sponsorships are there to sustain the organization, help them expand their media presence, and position themselves for the future. How much that is actually separated internally can’t be verified, but it’s an interesting way to express UTMB’s strategy.
Quick 2023 entry fee comparison with some of the most well-known US 100M races:
Frederic mentioned that the UTMB Group currently owns 12 events and the Ironman Group owns 16 events, with the remainder of the 36 events being managed via a sort of franchise model to allow local organization to ensure a successful event in regions where neither Ironman or UTMB have a foothold, this includes Latin/South America and China. He also mentioned that the UTMB group owns the European races and the Ironman Group focuses on Oceania (where they’ve owned the Australian races for several years) and now North American. I would’ve loved to have gotten a bit more detail from him but it sounded to me that even Eiger and Lavaredo (two massive races in their own rights even without the UTMB attachment) are now owned by the UTMB Group. It also seems the Ironman group doesn’t not own any races in Europe, but again, I’m 100% how that math breaks down, because looking at the map there are a few loose ends I can’t fully connect.
But what is more interesting to me in this conversation is how the corporate ownership model affects the local race organization on the ground and Frederic confirmed that in each region they employ a local race director who’s tasked with permitting, volunteer recruitment, and overall race management. This for me is a crucial piece that affects runners and the overall health of each of the events into the future (No runner wants to come to an aid station that’s out of food). In trail running we don’t have a corporate ‘chain store’, ‘cookie cutter’ model that is workable (one could argue it isn’t really working anywhere, except for Wall Street shareholders). The Olympic Games only visit a city once and can command a legion of volunteers, but the annual nature of our trail races, and the remoteness of our trails requires dedicated volunteers to drive on dirt roads to far away aid stations, and spend countless hours there. That isn’t something that will work sustainably year after year if the race director and his team aren’t on the ground taking care of these dedicated volunteers and all the other loose ends that come with it.
Will be announced at UTMB Mont-Blanc in Chamonix later this summer.
Our sport is growing and growth in many (most) ways is always a healthy thing. Some entity would’ve jumped on the chance of building what we now have as the UTMB World Series to take advantage of this growth. The way I see it, is that I’m glad that the Polettis are at the heart of this driving force and that their vision, which created UTMB Mont-Blanc, guides this partnership between UTMB and Ironman. This gives me hope that the UTMB races will always be accessible for the average runner in some way. Yes, this growth will also need to provide and consider professional runners, but this is a conversation for another time. The answers I was looking for were coming from a place where I, the average bloke and back of packer, was wanting to know if dreaming of running UTMB is still a worthwhile goal of if it would make sense to look elsewhere. What has also been clear to me beyond this conversation is that trail running has many forms, and will always have many forms. At the heart of trail running is the active participation of runners, lacing their shows and running along on a trail looking for adventure. This can be found in a small group run, a multi day adventure outing, a personal FKT attempt or toeing the line at one of the countless races that are happening each weekend all over the world. Ultrasignup lists hundreds of events within a 500 mile radius from may hometown each year. The UTMB World website lists 5,174 independently hosted races on their 2023 Index Calendar. There are 36 races, globally owned by UTMB.
Trail running will be just fine.
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Hardrock100 has 2,413 people applying for 146 entry spots. Changes to get a spot: 1 in 17.
Western States has 7,239 people applying for 369 spots. Changes to get a spot: 1 in 20.
And yes, their compounding lotteries make it easier each consequential year, but there are still many stories out there of folks waiting for years to get to run these events, while I haven’t heard anyone having given up getting into UTMB due to their odds in the lottery.
Speaking of ‘trail experiences that aren’t races‘, good friends Aspire Adventure Running just announced a new trip/conference/experience at Mt Baker this fall:
The North Cascades Climate Summit, based out of the Mt. Baker Mountaineers Lodge, brings trail runners together to deepen our relationships with the glaciers of the North Cascades and the impacts of climate change.
Aspire founder Abram wants to challenge us:
“What is our place as trail runners in a rapidly changing climate, and how can we move together towards impactful action that centers justice and mother earth for now and future generations.“
The event is September 13-17, 2023 and costs $1,200 if you can pull the trigger before the end of July.
Nick Triolo summarizing his Hut Run Hut experience:
What do you do when everything you love, everything that brings you joy and meaning gets all smashed up into one singular experience?
Worth reading his entire post, Nick knows his way around words.
Rickey Gates created something truly special with these intimate group experience far away from bibs, records, and podiums.
Tiffany Montgomery for The Daily from Outdoor Retailer:
For the quarter ended June 30, Hoka’s sales grew 27% to $420 million. It was the first time Hoka’s revenue eclipsed $400 million in a single quarter.
A bunch of interesting tidbits in this article, like an insight into their inevitable move into operating their own company stores:
Hoka currently operates 18 company-owned stores, and they have exceeded revenue and profit expectations.
Going forward, the company will continue to deploy a Hoka pop-up store strategy to test permanent location possibilities.
And CEO Dave Powers thoughts on the (also inevitable) expansion of the brand:
The company sees so much opportunity in the lifestyle market, it plans to launch a new brand in the space, Powers said.
Hoka is owned by Decker Brands and outperforms all other brands in their lineup, like Ugg, Teva, and Sanuk, which all are reporting sales declines.
I wonder what the founders of Hoka, who sold the brand ten years ago, are thinking today.
Usually I stay away from focusing too much about individual athlete announcements here on Electric Cable Car, but Courtney Dauwalter is of course not your average athlete and this announcement of hers clearly deserves a post and mention. On Instagram, short and to the point she says:
We decided to do UTMB!
Yes, that alone will make UTMB another must watch event, but Courtney has this year already set incredible course records at Western States and Hardrock this year. So her adding a third high profile race to the calendar isn’t just incredible but also would give her the chance of doing the unthinkable: Getting all three course records in a single year. Courtney already holds the course record at UTMB, so she has her work cut out for herself, but event just completing the triple in a single year makes her the ultimate GOAT* and would put here into league of her own**.
* which she already is, indisputable.
** Krissy Moehl is the only other athlete who has done the triple before on a weather-related shortened course according to Liam aka AidStationFireball.
In related news: Tailwind Nutrition‘s delicious and limited edition flavor and collab with Courtney ‘Dauwaltermelon’ is now already sold out… sadly.
Anna Callaghan for Outside:
Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila and Nepalese climber Tenjin Sherpa Set New Speed Record on the 8000ers (by) completing the 8000-meter peaks in 92 days, breaking Nirmal (Nims) Purja’s record by over three months.
Incredible feat and especially worth highlighting that this overall record is now held by a mixed team.
Gear is getting better and better, especially weather forecasting gear, so the main hurdles to overcome seems to be permitting and route preparations. And as governments make it easier to obtain permits and routes being set more and more consistent, it’s only a matter of time for more of these type of high mountaineering records to be broken in the coming years.
Beast of Big Creek in Hoodsport, Washington just got the designation to be the first and only certified Skyrunning course in the United States. Beast joins the Minotaur SkyRace in Canada as only the second skyrace in North America.
Paola Negro from the head office of the International Skyrunning Federation writes:
We’re super excited to have the first Certified Course in the USA!
Kinda, mega, super-stoked about this, I must admit.
Singletrack – Episode 279:
Hannes is back on Singletrack and we got a lot to talk about since we connected over a year ago. In this chat cover Hannes’ personal changes (all exciting and great) to his professional developments, including his nutritions sponsors challenges and of course his recent races at the World Championships in Innsbruck and of course his win at the Eiger Ultra Trail 101.
Now we’re five weeks to UTMB and Hannes is calm, excited, and completely dialed for another run around the magical Mont Blanc.
In an incredible and personal episode of the Freetrail podcast Dylan Bowman puts himself into the hot-seat and is interviewed by his brother who witnessed, and crewed, Dylan’s Hardrock 100 run a couple of weeks ago. Jason’s questions are smart and cut to the bone and Dylan doesn’t hold back sharing his personal challenge of running such a difficult race while juggling the shifting priorities of fatherhood, business owner and still, somewhat pro athlete.
PS: It’s a bummer that I have to share the Apple Podcast link of this episode. While Freetrail does have a website, the latest episode of the Freetrail Podcast posted on that site is from Aug 18th, 2022… almost a year ago.
Philipp Reiter’s new project:
We are a team of outdoor and mountain sport enthusiasts committed to creating authentic, compelling content that showcases the beauty and diversity of these activities.
He shares a bit more on his Instagram:
Back in 2014 I had a chronically plantar fasciitis that stopped me almost completely from running for 1.5 years. My little world made out from travelling, preparing, tapering, racing and training broke totally down.
…
Now, a few years later, I am a “real” photographer and I am finding so much joy and passion in (trying) capturing moments, emotions and atmosphere….it seems that sometimes someone turns this “bad luck” into something pretty awesome!
There are quite a few folks who are looking for ‘that next gig’ in our world. Trail running is intoxicating, but only a few can live off of running full-time, and even those that can can only stay on the podium for so long. Philipp was forced to pivot early in his career, but at the perfect time when trail running was exploding in Europe. His eye for the perfect shot, his camera work and his story telling have in many ways defined how we see our sport today.
Via the official Instagram account:
Val d’Aran by UTMB will be the Major of Europe again in 2024
Val d’Aran was the Major in 2023 already, so in Europe they are keeping the Major at the same event and announce the new date mere days after the event completed (Val d’Aran 2023 was in early July). In North America the 2023 Major was Canyons which happened in late April and they still haven’t announced anything for 2024. This, although I have no birdies telling me anything, leads me to believe that Canyons won’t be the Major for 2024.
In addition to the double stones this recent rule announcement is important for ‘fast’ runners:
In addition, the first 10 men and the first 10 women to finish the VDA, the CDH and the PDA will have direct access to the UTMB®️ World Series Finals (OCC, CCC®️ or UTMB®️) in the equivalent category. And 55 direct bibs will be allocated for the age categories.
Run a Major, place in the top of your age category, or overall, gain access to UTMB Finals (Chamonix) for the same year.
Since this continues to baffle people I thought I’d share Alicia Woodside blog entry which explains things in a bit more detail than mine from a few months ago:
It’s definitely a lot of effort, whether you get into OCC, CCC, or UTMB through the lottery, or through performances as an elite or awesome age-group athlete. Still, having run two of the races myself, I think it’s 100% worth it.
Tina Muir and Zoë Rom are about to release a super interesting sounding book:
Becoming a Sustainable Runner is not just another running guide on developing the physical attributes to run faster or longer. What it will help you achieve is a newfound purpose that merges your passion for running with your concern for your health, your community, and the environment. It weaves together concepts of internal and external sustainability in a way that will help you run, think, and act in a way that is in line with your values.
Looking forward reading it, the release date is September 1, the start date of UTMB this year.
Speaking of supporting pro athletes, I did some research on prize money and found this article ‘More Prize Money Is Flowing Into Trail Running. What Does That Mean for the Sport?’ by Brian Metzler for Trailrunner Magazine. In it Brian mentions that Western States doesn’t pay prize money.
The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run (WSER) is operated by a non-profit organization, and offering prize money goes against the mission of the race, says race director Craig Thornley.
I was under the impression that many pro runners had been angry at UTMB for not adding prize money:
UTMB had refused until 2018 to offer prize money at its races, partly because race founders Catherine and Michel Poletti have believed that increased prize money will bring more incentive for some athletes to consider doping or that agents would take too big of a cut.
Yet, in this finger pointing I had never heard anyone say anything about Western States, or Hardrock for that matter. Are we letting them off the hook because their nonprofits?
On a recent episode of Singletrack I talked to pro athlete Marcel Höche about the issue of prize money and he unsurprisingly is also for more and adequate prize money in trail races.
What surprises me in the larger conversation around prize money though is that the general notion is that most pro athletes are in favor of prize money, yet they also seem to favor races that don’t pay out prize money, like Hardrock and Western States. If prize money would be so important one would think that athletes would flock to the races that offer big prize purses, yet Western States and Hardrock remain on top of the bucket list for runners all over the globe.
For example Run Rabbit Run has one of the largest purses and is definitely a well-known race, but not even close to being in the same echelon as Western States or Hardrock:
Run Rabbit Run is one of the rare American trail races that offers a relatively large prize purse, and for a decade, it’s been the largest in the sport. Hughes earned $15,000 for winning the women’s race and split another $5,000 with Arizona trail runner Peter Mortimer (who placed 12th overall) as part of the event’s new team competition.
“That wasn’t the reason I was drawn to the race, but it was definitely pretty cool to win that much money,” Hughes said. “I’m glad I did it, because it wound up being a really great race with an amazing course on a beautiful day.”
Looking through the Aravaipa website for information on prize money this is all I could find:
Aravaipa Running today announces prize money for the return of the Crown King Scramble 50K. The first place male and female runner in the April 6, 2013 ultramarathon foot race will each receive $250.
Couldn’t find any info for Cocodona or Javelina Jundred two other sell-out races that are very popular with pro runners.
It would be interesting to have a list of races around the world that offer the most prize money. One (fast) runner could build an annual schedule around this, maybe?
Via Instagram:
Next big “adventure”: 2 major hip surgeries in August.
First off: ‘Gute Besserung’ and all the luck and well-wishes and speedy recovery and stuff for you Kaytlyn. This is massive decision, pro athlete or not.
One other thing that this made me think of is how when I was younger pro soccer player who got injured were off the field for the rest of the season, often their career altered. Nowadays when a player injures themselves it results in maybe a 4 weeks break. The teams, now employ enough staff to ‘take care of their valuable asset’. And while this in pro soccer might be an economic decision above all, the result is that the player doesn’t have to walk through this alone.
In our sport the understanding is that a pro athletes might get a stipend to run (mostly to be an influencer, let’s be honest), an annual salary of sort, but of course ‘health insurance’ isn’t considered or covered in this. In a recent survey Ultra Running Magazine conducted only 3% of the athletes who anonymously completed it report that they receive 100% of their health insurance covered, and that included 30% of runners from Europe, so this is not even a comment on the abysmal state of American health insurance. But there’s more than the actual financial coverage and that is the support from a team which understands and cares and helps make decisions. As a pro trail runner you mainly fly solo – when you win you’re on top of the world, when you face decisions like this who do you turn to? Your sponsor?
A few great lines from that article:
Hardrock remains one of four events in the “Rocky Mountain Grand Slam,” along with Wasatch Front 100, Bear 100 Mile Endurance Run, Bighorn 100, and Leadville 100. Those others have lost much of their notoriety.
Wonder why the other races lost their shine and why Hardrock endures? Is it just because of the ‘Kilian Factor’? Is the “rigged lottery” creating the notoriety?
Let’s face it: there are a lot of contrived race courses in this country. Out-and-backs, loops within loops, loops repeated five times in a row, our collective obsession with hitting certain distance milestones drives us into madness.
That’s one of the last big challenges for race directors in this country: How do you create a beautiful race course in an country full of land permit difficulties?
But the pool of entrants is relatively large and ever growing. Last year, 2,414 runners vied for 146 spots.
So about 6% of people throwing their hat into the lottery ring get in – made tougher for some by the lottery format. According to Doug Mayer in my interview on Singletrack about 50% of folks wishing to run UTMB get in. (Not sure I buy that number, that seems high.) But if it’s true, it’s worlds difference in creating an event that ‘satisfies demand’.
My take is that races capture the imagination when enough “influencers” = pro athletes love your event and talk fondly of it. You as a race director have to invite and cater to them and they will carry your marketing message to the people through their own accounts and the media they attract.
What both Western States and Hardrock seem to have figured out is how to get pros to the event for more than just racing it. Many pros help out at aid stations and volunteer (seemingly) at both these events. That in turn creates the feedback loop, where the pro-volunteer shares their experience and the pro-runner shares their delight in being supported by the pro-volunteer.
Win Win.
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