Let's Talk Trail Running

Question: What do last year’s UTMB winner, a 3 time Lavaredo winner, a 2 time CCC winner, and a dual winner of OCC/CCC have in common?Answer: They’ll all be lining up at this year’s Transgrancanaria start line for an early season show down- Tom Evans, Hannes Namberger, Hayden Hawks, and Jon Albon are all lining up at this early season classic to do battle. The women’s field includes two of last year’s podium finishers and a 2025 TROY top 10 finisher lining up for her first time in Sunmaya Budha. Articles Mentioned in Podcast: IRunFar 2025 Recap Play Fantasy Freetrail here Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

A deep dive into the 2025 Freetrail Trail Runner of the Year (TROY) results. The goal of this podcast is to discuss the results of the 2025 TROY voting: what went right, what might have gone better, and how the results compared to previous years in the 4th year of TROY voting. In the podcast I reference podcasts from both Freetrail (Tim Tollefson and Dylan Bowman) and Singletrack (Finn Melanson, Brett Hornig, and Mike Mcmonagle) that broke down their thoughts on the 2025 Trail Runner of the Year voting and share some of my own commentary. Podcasts referenced in the show:SingletrackFreetrail Play Fantasy Freetrail here. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Olympic medalists coming to the trails in their prime, is Jim Walmsley toeing the line, and who the heck is walking away with a Golden ticket? Things are about to get wild out west in the Arizona desert this Valentine’s day with a STACKED lineup of heavy hitters ready to throw down on both the men’s and women’s fields. Tune in to find out who to look out for in this years Black Canyon 100k.Links Discussed in Podcast: IRunFar article from 2025Play Fantasy Freetrail here. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Happy 1 year anniversary of Let’s Talk Trail Running! 1 year ago I recorded my first preview to a very small audience & here we are a year later back at it. Thanks to everyone who tuned into my previous episode discussing candidates for the 2025 Trail Runner of the Year (TROY) voting. It was my most listened to episode yet and I had a blast researching and discussing the seasons of all the amazing athletes included. I intend to do a recap on the TROY results and my thoughts on the rankings for both TROY and TPOY so keep an eye out for that here shortly. Happy 2026 trail season everybody.Links to IRunFar article discussed in the podcast. Play Fantasy Freetrail here. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

The time of year that all these Fantasy Freetrail race preview shows has been building up to is finally here: voting for TROY (Trail Runner of the Year) top 10 on the Fantasy Freetrail website! Make your picks for this years best Trail Runners of any distance before voting closes December 16th.This episode discusses many of this year’s TROY finalists, their most impressive results, and some proposals for your top 10 picks this year in what proved to be a STACKED year of racing around the world. If you need help filling out your ballot or learning about other trail runners around the world and how their results compare to US trail runners, look no further! Don’t forget to also make your picks for TPOY (trail performance of the year) to vote on this years most amazing performances as well. As always, be sure to read the voting considerations before making your picks to make sure you’re making the most educated decisions possible regarding your picks. I hope you enjoy the episode ands that it helps you all with your ballot! Thanks for a great first year of podcasting to all who listened! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

A deep field of American runners including Chris Myers, Jeff Mogavero, Adam Loomis, and Grant Barnette will be going to battle with two-time course winner Dmitry Mityaev and Slovakian stud Peter Frano on the men’s side. On the women’s side, last years second place finisher Antonina Iushina willbe looking to improve her finish one spot but will be up against the likes of Nepalese legend Sunmaya Budha and German athlete Rosanna Buchauer. Tune in to find out who I think has the edge and will come out on top in both fields. Let me know where you agree/disagree with my picks and who you’ve got picked for your top 5. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Returning champion and CR smasher David Sinclair will be looking to repeat on the mens side while a showdown is set to take place between Hannah Allgood and Jade Belzberg on the women’s side. Tune in to see who I think has the edge and who I’ve got pegged for top 5 on both sides! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

It’s sad to think the trail running season is largely over, but as we count down to the end of the year there are a few last exciting events on the horizon (Javelina, JFK, UTCT). This year’s Javelina will include 3 of the top 4 mens finishers from last year’s edition of the race and only 2 of the top 7 on the women’s side. The race is fast, flat, and the weather looks good. Let the Golden Ticket hunt begin for next year’s Western States! PS: This would’ve been out last night but my audio equipment wasn’t recording so I had to re-record tonight a second time, hopefully this one is twice as good! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

The 2025 World Mountain Trail Running Championship is here at long last and the lineups are STACKED. The biggest names in trail running are finally targeting worlds as a meaningful objective and getting their sponsors to incentivize racing it. The lineup for this years long trail race is showing that. Right now both France and USA women’s and men’s long trail teams look to be the heavy hitters, but are there some potential underdogs ready to steal a medal from one or both? Articles Mentioned in Podcast/Included in Research:IRunFar Men's Long Trail Preview IRunFar Women's Long Trail Preview Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Articles Mentioned in Podcast:IRunFar 2024 OCC recap https://www.irunfar.com/2024-occ-results-hemming-and-yao-win-utmb-50k-world-series-finalMile and Stone Newsletter Talking about French National Trail Team members:https://mailchi.mp/mileandstone/n53?e=99a87b331d Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Another Skyrunning World Series Race is here, this time with the epic background that is the iconic Matterhorn. Starting and ending in Zermatt, the race goes up to Rothornhutte at 3,200m (10,500) and tops out at almost 3,400m (11,000 feet) while accumulating 3,066m (10,000) over only 26km (16ish miles) of racing. The race has tons of technical sections, epic views, and makes for some dreamy skyrunning content that I highly recommend checking out on the Skyrunning World Series Instagram page if you haven’t already. Join me for help making your Fantasy Freetrail Picks or if you just love hearing people talk about trail running in general. Author’s note: The race discussion begins around the 12 minute mark and the discussion before that is more of a recap of the past two weeks including some thoughts about Sierre Zinal results and personal adventures I’ve been on. Videos Mentioned in Podcast:Skyrunning World Series Highlight Video for 2024 Matterhorn Ultraks (EPIC!)Scott Video on Female Skyrunner Iris Pessey: Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

The 52nd edition of the Sierre Zinal trail race in Switzerland is set to take place this weekend. Prrevious race champions on both the men’s and women’s side will be showing up to throw down at what is OBJECTIVELY the most densely competitive trail race in the world. Sierre Zinal always draws a frothy mix of elite trail runners and blazing fasrt road running speedsters/track stars meeting to throw down on the 31km (19 miles) course with 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) of climbing thanks to its generous treatment of elites with both accomodation, travel, and prize purses based on historically fast times. No Kilian Jornet this year means the men’s side feels wide open (but is it actually?) and the women’s breakout star from last years race, Joyline Chepngeno, is looking to defend her title. Tune in for help making your Fantasy Freetrail picks, if you love trail running, or if you just want to hear my voice (not entirely sure about that last one). Articles mentioned in the podcast:Article about the origins of Sierre Zinal and its founder by (I believe) Run the Alps Founder Doug Mayerhttps://www.trailrunnermag.com/races/trail-race-news-races/le-coeur-avant-le-chrono-the-heart-before-the-watch/IRunFar Article with Sierre Zinal Statistics by Mallory Richardhttps://www.irunfar.com/sierre-zinal-a-data-driven-primer-on-the-iconic-mountain-race Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

A men’s race that feels wide open with only one top 10 runner returning from last year, whereas the women’s race has four of the top ten returning including last year’s winner and Course Record Holder, Judith Wyder. Go make your picks at Fantasy Freetrail Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

If you’re anything like me then there is no such thing as too much coverage for Western States. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of both the women’s and men’s fields this year along with some (way too early and will definitely get changed 40 times in the next week) top 10 picks for Fantasy Freetrail. Enjoy! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Multiple GOATs in attendance (Kilian is in the house!!!!), two US selections races (vertical and short trail), and One Golden Trail World Series race. Wow, that was a mouthful and this race is sure to be a lot to handle as well. Come along for the ride and join me as I make previews and predictions for the top 5s for all three races.Author’s Note: Sorry it took so long to get this out but it has been a veryyyyy stressful week. Better late than never! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Major themes: No Joe Gray, many compromised favorites on the women’s side, and a men’s race that feels wide open and has lots of fit bois toeing the start line. Tune in to see who’s getting this years US spots in my mind! Note: There’s jets taking off in the background around 27 minutes into the recording, just skip ahead 30 seconds and I resume talking again. Apologies! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Zegama is Zegama! Or at least that’s what they say. The legendary Zegama is a marathon distance trail race that takes place the end of May each year in the Basque region of Spain. The course is bombarded with thousands of screaming and passionate trail running fans and the weather can be legendarily terrible to go along with a very technical course that includes plenty of mud and rocks. The course combined with the weather combined with the distance mean that it is often the longest race on the Golden Trail Series calendar and often rewards a different type of runner than other GTS races. For this year’s preview I included a lot of information about the history of the course including past winners, past racers, and plenty of trivia about Kilian running the race (he has won it 11 times after all). Enjoy!Note: Discussion this year’s runners doesn’t start until around 19:30, before that I talk about last weeks races and Zegama history. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Return of the past two season Champs-Remi and Elhousine are back racing baby! The first European race of the 2025 GTWS is kicking off and we’re starting to see the density of competition that we’re used to in Golden Trail races. More Kenyan athletes are running even than last race in China, which is sure to make the race exciting to watch. Will we see a repeat of last GTWS race with the Kenyans coming out hot and some of them fading back, or will Remi and Elhousine racing change the tactics? On the women’s side: will we see Caroline Kimutai repeat for another win or will Joyce Njeru bounce back from two races not up to her previous year’s potential? Time will tell, but hopefully this preview teaches you about some new runners and helps you make your Fantasy Freetrail picks! Author’s Note: There’s a spot in the middle of the podcast where some jets are taking off in the background (I’m recording from deployment), feel free to just skip ahead 30-45 seconds and I begin talking again. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe