Kilian Jornet Is Organising A Boycott Of UTMB !!!

Walmsley about to go on a 5-year run

The email doesn't go into specifics but that's likely because the concerns about the direction UTMB is heading are widely known and openly discussed within the trail running community. Many of the athletes who were contacted are likely involved in the pro trail runners union and thus actively participating in discussions about what isn't working with UTMB and what needs to change.

While it might seem like the letter is lacking context and asking for action without any substance to back it up, that's most likely because we're not the intended recipients of the letter and thus we're missing the shared context. Anyone claiming to be oblivious to the concerns about UTMB is either self-serving, extremely privileged, disinterested in the environment or unable to read.

The idea has been public for quite a while. Jim Walmsley talked about it last year:

So you're telling me I got a chance now?

Very interesting but not surprising.

The UMTB acted like a big bully for years.

Ironman pretty much did the same thing in the early 2000s as UTMB is doing now. Killing local races if they can’t buy them. Making sure other races can’t get permits etc. Athletes weren’t happy about it, but the draw of Hawaii Ironman was too much of a carrot. We will see if anything is different this time around. I doubt it.

Can somebody explain if there are problems with UTMB other than its monopolization of the sport.

That's exactly their problem. The culminating event was UTMB shutting down a competitor event in Canada. A good percentage of ultra trail runners are more of anti establishment hippy type crowd compared to other endurance events. Just think about what draws someone to go run 50 miles in the woods, it's not going draw the same crowd that's attracted to the world major marathons or ironman triathlons. So when ironman joins up with UTMB to attack the ultra trail world with the same execution as ironman did with ironman of course it's not going go well with that crowd.

Thanks for posting this interview.

Ironman triathlons are way more difficult and costly to organize than a good trail ultra. It's not even close. UMTM tries to monopolize trail running but it will never work.

Especially in the US I wonder why so many race directors got in bed with UMTB. Not that many runners will actually fly to Europe and do the UMTB. That will always be a very small group.

As a runner it is so easy to find nice mom and pop ultra trail races in the US. There are so many of them and they cost a lot less too.

The point of the boycott is that if a mom and pop event gets big enough or looks tasty enough, UTMB will either gobble it up or find a way to end that event and start their own in its absence.

Ultra trail running is mostly a small regional community. The people actually care about their friends and the businesses that support them. UTMB is a corporation looking to own and homogenize the community for profit. This sport isn't like baseball or football. The uniqueness of each event and it's local communities is the the draw. No corporation can or should try to own them. Playing backroom politics with permits and subverting the ability of long standing events to continue without a UTMB partnership is not what the community wants or will stand for.

Partnering with Ironman was a truly baffling decision. It has all the hallmarks of a monopolization attempt.

Ironman probably sold them hard on their model with the idea of Chamonix being Kona in combination with owning/controlling a series of already established qualifier events. Putting UTMB/Chamonix on an even higher pedestal enables them to 1) charge higher registration fees in qualifier races, 2) pay more pros to commit to their series, 3) do anti-competitive moves like (threatening to arrange or) arranging on the same day as other races.

I'm sure short-sighted pros salivate after the fresh money and sponsorships, but this communique shows that at least some pros understand what's going on.

In short, Ironman wants 100% control over everything. Spectators will probably have to register an account to view race results. They already nuked obstri.com which was superior to anything Ironman managed to conjure up.

Even if that’s true, the writers should have known their letter would get shared publicly. By not clearly spelling out their concerns in detail, they make themselves look like clowns. I would not follow their lead.

I actually wholeheartedly agree that, even without the potential for the letter to be shared publicly, it would've been more transparent and a stronger tool of persuasion to explicitly list their concerns. However, I don't think they look like clowns for not doing so; simply not as adept at starting a movement as they could be.

Sage, did you get the email? BTW....thoughts?

Of course not. He has not finished a 100 miler yet.

Well first of all the UTMB 100-mile (or rather 106 miles) is a race that has really helped "make" Kilian's and Zach's career over the years. From the films and media and race resume building etc. It's just an iconic mountain line (or rather loop around 15,000' Mt Blanc) and it's beautiful. It is really like the ultimate for European (and international) mountain ultramarathon distance running.

I also think it's easy for someone like Zach (or Kilian) who get selected for the Hardrock 100 race instead to say "oh I don't want to race UTMB this summer" (because of course they can do Hardrock instead!).

Personally I'm interested in races that are "fair." Gaining entry to UTMB is not biased by subjective whims of an unfair/uneven lottery (like Hardrock or the BM100 is). It is clear cut who can gain entry UTMB: they are transparent with the lottery process, gaining entry, and it is way more open and accessible to the common runner (compared to something like Hardrock). It helps to have the capacity for thousands of runners instead of like 80-300 though.

What I'd really like to see is also some more WADA regulated PED testing at all these events though (and ideally surprise testing in the months leading into a championship ultra for the top ranked runners). UTMB has welcomed back a former EPO cheat with open arms and that is more of an issue and attitude that I'm not fond of. Ultrarunning really has a long way to go with organizing that kind of regulation.

This happens a lot with local running clubs trying to make a profit at the expense of the community by luring in runners with gimmicks.

seeing as the vast majority of this site is disinterested and/or not knowledgeable about ultra & trail events, it wouldn't have hurt for you to actually explain what some of the shared context pieces were that the email is referring to - as we don't know, instead of continuing to gate keep the information with your snarly post