Thoughts on This Year’s UTMB Week

3 September 2025

For years I longed to experience the vibe in Chamonix during UTMB week – almost as much as actually putting on a bib an running one of the Finals myself. Last year I was there, drank from the firehose of activations, events, incredible food, and mountain vistas all week long and I got to run OCC. This year I stayed home. I fully expected the FOMO to return, but with life being insanely busy right now and the heart still full from my trip to Cortina earlier this summer I enjoyed just sitting back and taking it all in for afar – like most of us. So, these observations aren’t first-hand accounts from the valley, but observations from my computer screen following the action, on social media, the livestream and the various media outlets covering the event.

Race Day Performances

Much “ink has already been spilled” about the races and their winners – and congrats to all – but I usually don’t write race recaps on Electric Cable Car. But the thing that stuck out to me while following the top runners at this year’s UTMB is that there’s this sentiment floating around in the trail media that the elite runners DNF their races to preserve their UTMB Index (a DNF doesn’t negatively affect their Index), and of course, their health (pulling the plug early on a race that seemingly not going their way can set them up for success faster at the next race than slugging it out the full distance). But what I’ve observed at this year’s UTMB – especially illustrated at Courtney’s death march – is that if a top athlete chooses to stay in the race and sticks it out, they might see a drop in their Index score, but their brand value must surely increase. The overall admiration from the media and the fans seeing a top athlete fighting, struggling, and being real creates so much goodwill and with it positive brand value that if I was a sponsor I would highly discourage DNFs and do whatever I can to compel the athlete to “be human” on days when things go sideways. Not to a point of destroying their bodies, of course. But I’d tell them to damn that podium, be part of the event, enjoy the race, be fair to your competitors who are besting you on that day, make it to the finish and let the day be the day – that is trail running. For the rest of us it is. Let’s not have the pressure of brand sponsors and media hype create something fabricated and unreal for the elites trying to make a living in this sport.

On Course: The Weather and the Mandatory Gear

What a wake up call for everyone, pundits and racers alike. Over the last couple of years we’ve all sort of joined in on the mockery around the gear UTMB requires for their events. This time around folks REALLY needed every piece of gear – and not just for the gear checks conducted several times along the course, but to actually stay alive in the mountains. This from a friend of mine ran UTMB this year:

“Most dangerous situation I’ve ever been in during a running race in my life!”

Yeah, this is a mountain race. Let’s take it seriously and be properly prepared.

Brands: On Runner’s Feet

I was trying to figure out what felt different at this year’s podium and then Mile & Stone hit the nail on the head:

After years of dominance by specialist trail brands – Salomon, Hoka, NNormal, The North Face – this edition also shone a spotlight on the big multi-sport players.

The established shoe brands with portfolios much larger than just trail and outdoor have arrived and established themselves on the highest level of racing. This signals a couple of things:

trail specific shoes aren’t that exclusive and even an outlier brand like Asics can produce a shoe decent enough for someone to win UTMB in.
These brands have deep pockets to sponsor the top athletes and are willing to invest in the trail running space.

It’ll be interesting to see if and how Hoka, Salomon, and others will respond to this.

Brands: Activations in and around Chamonix – no issues, all play

After last year’s “no ambush marketing” warning and the following outcry by the media, brands seem to have settled in and found a way to “activate” in town during the week while appeasing the lawyers and brand protectors. Most of the brands without a permanent presence in Chamonix chose to get their own chalet or storefront and operated temporary pop up shop for the week of festivities. Lots of group runs brought the community together and the gave the brand visibility on the trails and roads around town. This all feels grown-up and the correct move for an event of this size. Does this create some uniformity and maybe boredom as Matt Walsh wonders in his newsletter Trailmix? Maybe. But I’m sure we will see more creativity – and challenges to the standards in the coming years.

Media: How many podcast interviews is too much?

Official media
On the livestream there were no surprises I could track. UTMB settled into a good groove, given the constraints of the length of the event and money they want to spend on it. The mix of announcers – athlete and media presenter seems to work pretty well. One challenge I could foresee is that if the three Finals races are getting faster and more competitive in the future the current overlap of events could get tricky. There was a moment during the livestream when we all awaited the first finisher of CCC – Francesco Puppi to arrive in Chamonix but we had no video feed for his final descend into town – instead we watched the UTMB runners leave the starting corral. At some point all these events will deserve their own attention, or better camera switching end live feed editing.
To the folks who are suggesting that UTMB should cover the race through the entire first night, since Cocodona can pull off a five day straight livestream I reply by suggesting: maybe exactly because UTMB sees the challenges of “creating content” for that many days that they choose not to do it. Quality over quantity.

Independent media
Somewhere amidst the onslaught of the endless pre-race and post-race athlete interviews I stopped count. It felt like there were too many for my taste, and I just could not keep up. Or rather, I was not even interested in hearing from the same voices I had already seen/heard from just a few weeks ago for Hardrock and Western States. This is a personal taste preference and I hope there’s more strategy behind than just trying to outmuscle the competition.

Years into this and I’m still asking the same question: Between the official livestream put on by UTMB itself and the current level of pre and post race interview style coverage by independent media something is missing. I don’t quite know what it is yet, but when I see it I will let you know.