UTMB: What Races Were Chosen For This Year’s Livestream Schedule

Matt Walsh on Trailmix asked that question and got the official answer:

Antoine Aubour, Director of Communications, Marketing and Media, UTMB Group, explained to me last week that the events that get livestream coverage is determined by whether the local authorities can cover the cost of production. “Most of the times, funding comes from local authority, governments or destinations, basically, that are keen to pay and to find the budget to allow such a live productions” Antoine explained. Effectively UTMB reached out to all relevant local parties around their 50+ events to help pay for production, but they were only able to fund 12 in total. For my US readers, the lack of funding was cited as the reason for not broadcasting from Canyons this year.

This touches on an interesting point that hasn’t been talked about much: Big ultras events are tourism attractions. Thousands of runners are attracted to travel around to world to participate in a multi-day sporting event, spending money on lodging, food, and recovery activities while there. The title sponsor for the World Trail Majors is the tourism office of Gran Canaria. Several events in the UTMB circuit seem to be very strategically placed and are partnered with tourism destinations in these areas. What is a bummer though is that Auburn, California the self-proclaimed “endurance capital of the world” wasn’t able to pull the trigger and get that livestream cost covered for Canyons.