The Trail Races We Can’t Afford to Lose

Trail running is growing fast, but what happens to the races that don’t scale cleanly? After volunteering overnight at the Wasatch 100 and visiting the brand-new Snowbasin by UTMB race the next day, I came away asking whether the messy, human parts of ultra running are exactly the parts we can’t afford to lose.

This is a conversation about Wasatch 100, UTMB, grassroots trail races, race culture, pacers, volunteers, heritage, and what gets lost when every event starts getting smoother, bigger, and more professional. Not grassroots good, corporate bad. The harder question is what makes a race irreplaceable.

Presented by Kiprun bit.ly/kiprun_yt

2:22 Races like Wasatch fill the human spirit.
6:09 I love ultrarunning pacer culture.
10:29 Someone else’s problem becomes mine.
14:55 The back of the pack is where I come alive.
16:52 Wasatch rewards staying.
22:04 You can’t manufacture heritage.
26:21 The fragile one is not the one I thought.
______________
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.

If you’re new here, start here: borderlands.cc/start-here
Read on Substack (borderlandstrailrunning.substack.com)
Listen on any podcast platform (pod.link/1725734721)
More at borderlands.cc