Brian Metzler’s Hot Takes on This Year’s UTMB Week

Brian has been to Chamonix every year since 2010 and he’s bringing this long game view to his commentary for UltraSignup:

… the last two years have grown to a scale of a different magnitude, especially this year. While the same amount of runners participated in the week’s eight races, what made this year different was more brand activations, more fun runs, more cultural moments, more events aimed at the non-racing fans in Chamonix, and honestly, just more energy.

Brian has some good ‘hot takes’ worth reading. These two stuck out to me:

• There’s no way to quantify it, but five years from now, when we look back to where the rise of modern trail running really exploded, this year’s UTMB week will be one of the turning point moments.
• We’re witnessing a transition between the existing stars of the sport and a whole new generation of global stars who are going to own the stage for the next 10 years.

This is an important moment for our sport and I hope the media is able to adapt and adequately represent this transition.