Skyrunning is Looking to New Horizons

A few weeks ago, just ahead of the 2026 Skyrunning World Championships in San Sebastián, Spain the International Skyrunning General Assembly met:

The decisions taken at the 2026 Annual General Assembly lay the foundations for a significant new chapter in the development of the ISF. With a clear focus on strengthening the Federation and supporting the growth of skyrunning, the ISF looks ahead to the opportunities and challenges of building a solid future for the sport.

There’s a section of our sport (skyrunning) that actually already behaves like a grown-up aka traditional sport: with a federation behind it and elected officials voting on a plan on how to move the sport forward. This might feel old-fashioned, or even European, but it’s also something that several voices have been calling for, or at least wondering out loud about. Having a federation that guides our sport might provide some sort of balance point against the over-commercialization of our sport. On the downside board meetings, and the organizational baggage that comes with it can often force development and decision-making to a crawl, so I am not suggesting that this is the answer to everything, but as our sport continues to grow and develop different models are worth considering, or at least worth highlighting.