Ultra Trail Whistler Moves Dates – Again

New dates for Ultra Trail Whistler by UTMB are set for 2027. And in the coming year they will be in June. The end of June to be precise, 25-27 June, 2027. The same weekend as Western States, Lavaredo Ultra Trail and Mont-Blanc Marathon. Yes, the busiest weekend in trail.

I will give the UTMB/Ironman team that the Whistler resort is very busy in the summer, and mountain biking still reigns supreme for Vail Resorts – and that alone might be the reason for this endless reshuffling of dates. But after several years of trying it seems is event just can’t find a footing on the calendar. (Side note: Coast Mountain Trail Running (which vowed to never go back to Whistler) has their Whistler Half Marathon in early June as well.)

Not sure what to make of all this, but as I reiterated several times before, Whistler as a resort – it’s large, it’s beautiful, it’s not too high up; and Whistler as a location – it’s close to a major city and airport and has excellent infrastructure as previous OIympic Games host, has all the make up to be THE North American location for a massive trail running event akin to Cortina, Chamonix, or Garmisch-Partenkirchen. But whatever the reasons behind the scenes are – we’re now several years into this idea – it seems like this is just not going to happen. What a huge wasted opportunity.

The other Canadian UTMB World Series event: Boréalys Mont-Tremblant by UTMB was held in mid-August this year (no 2027 date announced yet). This is a week before the UTMB Finals week and totally overshadowed by it. There’s no love by UTMB for Canada, so it seems.