Andrew Bumbalough is a former professional track and road racer for the Bowerman Track Club who now works as a product line manager at Nike. Boasting a 2:10 marathon PR, Bumbi will be making his ultra debut, chasing a Golden Ticket, at Aravaipa's Black Canyon 100k where I will serve as his crew chief. He is a close friend returning for his second appearance on the pod. Topics discussed: Andrew's arrival in the national spotlight in High School The incubator Retirement and career...

Anna Frost is a trail running icon. The native New Zealander has had one of the most decorated careers of any athlete in the last two decades. She has since moved on from elite level racing but is still involved in the sport through coaching, guiding, and with her foundation Sisu Girls.    Topics covered: Anna's current relationship with running Kiwi roots and trail running origin story The early days of the Salomon international Team Hardock and her community in Silverton Career...

For the first time in a few years, we're doing an AMA episode! After sourcing questions on Instagram, Harmony steps in to act as the host to pose fun questions from the community. Topics we cover. Previous career path Podcast prep strategies 2024 Freetrail priorities Having faith when taking a leap Mt. Rushmore of trail running Early peers and mentors Inspiring sporting performances from 2023 Challenges that have led to personal growth Favorite books and music Harmony's support and our...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    Today we speak with the winners of the 2023 Trail Runner Of The Year, Americans Courtney Dauwalter and Jim Walmsley.   Courtney's highlights: 1st place at Western States 100 1st place at Hardrock 100 1st place at UTMB   ...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #2, we're joined by Remi Bonnet from Switzerland and Katie Schide, an American who lives in France.   Remi's highlights: 1st place at Mont Blanc Marathon 1st place at Pikes Peak Ascent 1st place at Mammoth Trail Fest ...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #3, we're joined by Americans, Sophia Laukli and Zach Miller.   Sophia's highlights: 1st place at Mont Blanc Marathon 1st place at Sierre Zinal 1st place at Pikes Peak Ascent   Zach's Highlights 1st place at...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #4, we're joined by Tom Evans from Great Britain and Toni McCann from South Africa.   Tom's highlights: 2nd place at Black Canyon 100k 1st place at Ultra-Trail Snowdonia by UTMB 50k 1st place at Western States 100 ...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #5, we're joined by Grayson Murphy from the USA and Aurelien Dunand-Pallaz from France.   Grayson's highlights: Double USA Mountain Running Champion (Vertical & Up/Down)  3rd place Vertical World Championship 1st...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #6, we're joined by Judith Wyder from Switzerland and Jonathan Albon from Great Britain.   Judith's highlights: 2nd place at Short Trail World Championship 1st place at Mammoth Trail Fest 2nd place at Golden Trail World...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #7, we're joined by French duo Germain Grangier and Claire Bannwarth.   Germain's Highlights: 1st place at Mont Blanc 90k 3rd place at UTMB 2nd place at Diagonale des Fous   Claire's Highlights 1st place at...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #8, we're joined by Leah Yingling from Salt Lake City, UT and Stian Angermund from Bergen, Norway.   Leah's highlights: 2nd place at Way Too Cool 50k 9th place at Western States 100 8th place at UTMB   Stian's...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    In #9, we're joined by Tyler Green from Portland, OR and Ruth Croft from New Zealand.   Tyler's highlights: 3rd place at Transgrancanaria 2nd place at Western States 100 7th place at UTMB   Ruth's Highlights: 6...

For the first 10 days of 2024, Freetrail will be rolling out our Trail Runner Of The Year award, presented by Ketone IQ. The award recognizes the top-10 male and female athletes of the 2023 season, as voted on by 1000 trail runners from around the world.    To start the countdown, in #10, we talk to Anthony Costales from Salt Lake City, UT and Blandine L'Hirondel from France.   Anthony's highlights: 1st place and CR at Black Canyon 100k 3rd place at Western States 100 3rd...

Corrine Malcolm is a pro trail runner, media personality, and co-host of the Trail Society Podcast. She is our most frequent recurring guest and also Freetrail's Editor-in-Chief. As is our tradition, Corrine is back for our End of Year Podcast where we celebrate the 2023 trail running season. These are the categories that we review: Trail Runner Of The Year: Top-5 M/W Performance Of The Year: Top-3 M/F FKTs Of The Year Rookies Of The Year Overall Story of 2023 Bill Dooper Spirit  Award -...

Nick Handel is a trail runner, data scientist, and entrepreneur. He graduated college at 19, was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 at 25, founded a company at 28, and sold it this year at 31. In addition to being very successful in his academic and professional life, Nick has become a great trail runner who had a breakthrough season in 2023, including wins at Mammoth Trail Fest 50k and the Quad Dipsea.   In the episode we talk about his formative years, his entrepreneurial journey,...

These interviews were part of Good Morning, Austin - our daily show from The Running Event in Austin, Texas. Every day, Dylan talked to industry leaders about brand and product innovation shaping the trail running landscape. This week, we'll release a few "Best Of" episodes here in the podcast feed. Todays guests: Steve Doolan, President of the Americas, Salomon (04:34) Steve is the newly appointed President of the Americas for Salomon. Born in France and now living in Utah, Steve...

These interviews were part of Good Morning, Austin - our daily show from The Running Event in Austin, Texas. Every day, Dylan talked to industry leaders about brand and product innovation shaping the trail running landscape. This week, we'll release a few "Best Of" episodes here in the podcast feed. Todays guests: Clark Morgan & Don Reichelt from Speedland (04:43) Dylan is joined by Clark Morgan, new Director of Brand Experience at Speedland and Don Reichelt, a founding...

Aaron Lutze is a creator and sports marketing savant. He's also a dear friend and mentor who has had an enormous impact on my career as an athlete and content creator. Aaron recruited me to Red Bull and acted as my manager for many years. He's recognized as one of the best sports marketers in the industry and now shares all his insights publicly through a new YouTube channel called Super Athlete.   In this conversation, we talk about the past and present of athlete partnerships, the...

Trail Runner of the Year (TROY) voting is open now! This the second edition of our annual end-of-season award, celebrating the great performances and the great athletes of the 2023 season. Joining me to break it down is Travis Loncar, the creator and steward of the Freetrail Fantasy platform upon which TROY is built. We discuss some important updates to the voting algorithm, the brand new Trail Performance of the Year (TPOY), and some other details about this year's vote.   Voting will...

Ben Dhiman is an American professional trail runner living in France. Last season he had a big breakthrough, finishing 3rd at the Diagonale des Fous. In 2023, he's continued the momentum, winning Penyagolosa 110k and Andorra by UTMB 105k. In the summer, he had a disappointing DNF at UTMB Mont Blanc but turned things around with a 3rd place at Templiers to end the season.   We talk about Ben's background, his experience with thru-hiking, his training philosophy, his breakthrough 2023...

Today it was announced that a consortium of independent races has come together as an alliance known as the World Trail Majors. It includes the Hong Kong 100, Black Canyon 100k, Transgrancanaria, Madeira Island Ultra Trail, Ultra Trail Mt. Fuji, Swiss Canyon Trail, South Downs Way, Quebec Mega Trail, & Ultra Trail Cape Town.   From the founding press release:   "World Trail Majors was not born with the intention of confrontation or of solving all the problems of this fast-developing...

Eric Senseman is a former pro trail runner living in Flagstaff, AZ. Last week Eric announced his retirement from pro trail running after a successful 12 year career. In the conversation we talk about that decision, the realities of being a pro athlete in a niche sport, and what he's excited about in the next chapter.   Eric's Retirement Post   Not a Bad Thing -- 2023 Black Canyon 100k video   Sponsors: Use code freetrail10 for 10% off Speedland Footwear Use code freetrail15...

Gary Robbins is a longtime beloved athlete, coach, and race director based in Chilliwack, BC. Last Thursday, UTMB and IRONMAN announced a new race in Whistler – an action that’s been interpreted by many in the community as a hostile takeover of Gary's former independent race, Whistler Alpine Meadows (WAM). We talk about how he learned about the news, the circumstances that led to the cancellation of WAM, the community response, and the path forward.   COAST MTN TRAIL RUNNING   ...

Good Morning, Javelina is back to recap the action from the Javelina Jundred. We are joined by men's champion and new course record holder, Jonathan Rea from Boulder, CO. My co-hosts for the weekend are Adam Merry & Abby Hall.   Sorry for the bad audio in the first half. It resolves around 32mins in.   Jon's Strava Activity   Thank you HOKA for sponsoring our coverage

In this episode we talk about the history of the Javelina Jundred, the course and what makes it special, the conditions this weekend, and finish by previewing the fields who will be competing for those golden tickets. My co-hosts are Abby Hall and Adam Merry.   Our coverage of Javelina is done in partnership with HOKA.   PLAY FREETRAIL FANTASY   JAVELINA LIVESTREAM FROM MTN OUTPOST