First up in the new year and fresh back from the 2023 IAU 24-Hour World Championships in Taipei, Taiwan Chad Lasater joins Singletrack to share a glimpse into his illustrious running career. While keeping a full-time job Chad has run some of the most important races around the world and wore the jersey for Team USA for the World Championships. After having run around a track for hours on end Chad now sets his sight on a very different adventure taking on Cocodona 250 this coming May.

For the last episode of 2023 I sat down with friend of the show Alex Bond to chat about this year in trail running. We covering the latest outdoor industry report and chat about the distinguishing aspects of what makes trail running so unique compared to other sports. We consider the economic impact of trail races in host towns and wonder about the value of live streaming and who might actually benefit from this investment in infrastructure and gear. Of course we touch on UTMB’s much talked about expansion and enduring, or not attraction and wonder if these races are still the status quo. And finally we highlighted the biggest achievements at this year’s biggest races and in the world of FKTs.

East Coast runner Kuwanna Dyer-Pietras joins Singletrack to chat about running for Tailwind, dreaming of Western States, and getting the call from Hoka to be one of their designated runners for the 2024 Western States. We chat about prepping for her first 100 mile race on gnarly East Coast trails and baking cookies with the family for the holidays.

Daniela Oemus, German trail runner for Salomon, ER Doctor and parent of two joins Singletrack to talk about her breakout year of racing, including a win at Zegama and Wildstrubel and a 6th place finish in the trail short discipline at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Innsbruck. We chat about her favorite racing distance, her love for the Golden Trail Series, and her challenges of navigating her career, her athlete life and her family.

Jack Rosenfeld from Seattle joins the show. He’s a podcast co-host of the Beer on the Run podcast, race director with the Seattle Running Club and 200 mile finisher. Jack shares his story of failing 100 milers and then walking to success at the Cowboy 200 in Nebraska. Later we dive into a deep conversation about the challenges and joys of being race director and how our trail culture is changing in the light of big businesses and new voices challenging our status quo.

Abigail West runs the trails in the South East of the United States and creates art that is inspired by the unique and beautiful landscape of her home in Athens, Georgia, the nearby Great Smoky Mountains and the Appalachian Trail.
She recently claimed the FKT on the famous S.C.A.R. route and we talk about her upcoming project designing the poster for the Trail Running Film Festival Global Tour 2024.

Wes Plate runs long, and I mean really long distances. In many ways I can’t even wrap my head around days of running on end, but I do understand and marvel at the motivation and the story telling through creative route creation. His latest project of running 200 miles around the Puget Sound in Western Washington is both equally mind-blowing and inspiring.

Wes also shares some news on his race directing debut at the Copper Kings 100 in Montana, slated of the summer of 2024.

Maria Dalzot, La Sportiva athlete and registered dietitian, returns to Singletrack to chat about her action-filled summer in the Alps, crushing her race at Lavaredo 80K and later DNF-ing just as hard at CCC around Mont-Blanc. We talked about downtime family visits, interrupted hiking tours and spontaneous air travel bookings. Maria also shares her highlight of watching Courtney Courtney at Col de la Forclaz on her historic win at UTMB this year.

Katharina Hartmuth is the incredible 2nd place finisher of the 2023 UTMB women’s race and runs for Hoka. She’s joining me on Singletrack from beautiful Zürich, Switzerland where the German is studying earth sciences with emphasis on atmospheric and climate science at ETH Zürich. We talk about the importance of balancing the pro athlete life with the real world and her approach to training as a self-coached athlete. She sees joy as the key to her success and hopes that our trail running community will always stay as welcoming and accessible as it is today.

Samuel Hartman lives and trains in his very flat Ohio but fulfilled his dream to finally race TDS this past week. As a race director himself he shares his observations on being part of the world’s largest trail race spectacle. We talk about vacationing in Europe and conquering the ‘more difficult’ UTMB race. After having followed UTMB from afar all last week his report directly from the ground is exactly what was need to keep the fire burning.

The female self-supported Mount Rainier Infinity Loop FKT has just been reset and my mind is blown. I had to sit down with Abby and Kiira who completed this route and learn about their incredible adventure and about the motivation behind it all.

Abby and Kiira didn’t just run this for themselves. In honor of their friend Luke who passed away in a climbing accident last year they wanted to use this effort to raise awareness (and funds through a GoFundMe campaign) for the important work the American Alpine Club does with their Climbing Grief Fund.

Brittany has had a busy year and it’s not over yet. So many races, so many great results and an incredible finish at Beast of Big Creek is setting her up for her first 100 miler, the Oregon Cascades 100 later this month. We talk about all this, and why you should tell your kids to run cross country in high school.

The Beast of Big Creek races just happened this past weekend and I am still sitting on boxes on top of boxes in my office. But! I had to take the chance and chat with Eddy Allen from Lacey, WA who crushed the Skyrace course in 3hrs 14min.

Thank you to everyone who came out and raced with us this past weekend. We had an incredible weekend. Busy, but so so wonderful. You all did so great out there.

UTMB is the growing, omnipresent entity in our sport of trail and ultra running, and naturally I have questions. So, I went to the source, and got answers. In this week’s episode of Singletrack I have the incredible honor to chat with Frédéric Lénart, CEO of the UTMB Group to discuss their partnership with Ironman, the expansion in the US, it’s relationship with the race directors on the ground, and ultimately, UTMB’s motivation behind it all.
On Electric Cable Car I published an article, not a transcript, with some of the highlights we discussed on this episode; answers to questions that I hadn’t seen written down anywhere else.

Hannes is back on Singletrack and we got a lot to talk about since we connected over a year ago. In this chat cover Hannes’ personal changes (all exciting and great) to his professional developments, including his nutritions sponsors challenges and of course his recent races at the World Championships in Innsbruck and of course his win at the Eiger Ultra Trail 101.
Now we’re five weeks to UTMB and Hannes is calm, excited, and completely dialed for another run around the magical Mont Blanc.