Vert.Run’s State of Trail Running Report

Just released this month, Vert.Run offers a snapshot of who trail runners are and what makes them tick. (You can download the full report in PDF form from the link above.) How their data is gathered:

This report draws on data from 97,000 selected accounts in the Vert.run community, to have a more accurate data set. To keep the picture as accurate and current as possible, training volume, training days, and weekly-rhythm figures (hardest and longest sessions) reflect our most recent cohort: the latest 15,000 accounts created. The footwear, fueling, and race-goal sections draw on what we learn as athletes plan their gear, nutrition, and races with Vert.

Vert’s community is a sub-segment of the broader trail running world, specifically, runners who actively seek out coaching and structure for their training. It isn’t everyone who runs trails. But it’s a real and growing slice of the sport, and we believe it offers one of the clearest windows available into how today’s trail runner actually trains.

Yes, this report skews toward the more engaged and focused runner – the one seeking out a coach to achieve a goal and not just the casual runner.

It also shows the obvious global appeal of our sport. A large number of runners are coming from regions that don’t yet have the same representation or focus in our media, or on the podiums.

One of the biggest opportunities that I see in this report is the data around slower runners, those battling cutoffs (hey that’s me!).

Most ITRA and UTMB index scores entered cluster in the same solid mid-pack band, runners who already know roughly what they’re capable of. But a meaningful minority sit well below that line, under a 300 index score, exactly the runners for whom knowing if they’ll make the cutoff is a real, practical concern.

(Highlighted by me.)

These slow runners actually pay for their bibs, as supposed to many elites who expect their entry to be comped. Managing high demand for a race by tightening the cutoffs isn’t just a form of discrimination it also creates an opportunity for other race organizations to compete on inclusivity.