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.

The World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria are already a few weeks back now, but shortly after I sat down with Marcel Höche who ran for Team Germany to chat about his experience of wearing the National Team jersey. We talk about the difference between a race of this caliber and makeup vs. UTMB and of course, his exciting racing plans for the remainder of the year.

Calling in from Innsbruck, Austria is Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps, wonderful supporter of the Trail Running Film Festival and author of the incredible new book: “The Race That Changed Running – the inside story of UTMB”. In this episode we chat about his new book – which you should buy immediately, the difference between Euro and US trail running, the challenges our sport is facing as it’s growing into the future, and of course the role that UTMB plays in all of this.

Steve Auch is back on Singletrack and barely recovered from a massive weekend race directing the popular City und Trail event in Bad Reichenhall in the Bavarian Alps in Germany. We talk about the beauty and the challenges of directing races, the inspiration and the difference between races in the US and Europe and how to transition from behind the megaphone to putting the bib back on yourself.

This week on Singletrack I am chatting with Nicole Amyx, filmmaker, ultra runner and colleague of mine at the Trail Running Film Festival. Nicole shares how she blends her passions of filmmaking and running, passed down from her parents, into an inspiring life just outside San Francisco. We chat about about the importance of finding a great story when making a documentary film and how running can give us balance and peace for everyday life.