Let's Talk Trail Running

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

Transvulcania Ultramarathon is a 74km (44.7 miles) race across the Canary Island of La Palma that has about 4,350M (14,000 feet) of elevation gain as runners cross the beautiful island’s varied terrain. It has heat, steep climbs, and endless descents. This year’s race features GOATs like Ruth Croft and Blandine L’hirondel on the womens side and Dakota Jones and Dmitry Mityaev on the men’s side. Join me as I discuss the runners racing and make my picks for Fantasy Freetrail/discuss who to consider for your picks. I’m currently in 3rd overall on the Fantasy Freetrail Leaderboard which is NUTs. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Zach Miller, Francesco Puppi, AND Rod Farvard?!?! Oh my this race is going to be exciting. Join me as I discuss the dynamics of the last Golden Ticket Race before Western States this year and dive into some of the backgrounds of each of the runners. I include my picks for top 5 for both races and also include some other racers who have a strong chance of making it top 5 as well. Feel free to comment and let me know who you have in your top 5 or anywhere you think I got it wrong. Enjoy!Fun Fact: Basically every time I watch the Zach Miller documentary by Billy Yang on Youtube I end up in tears by the end. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

There are four opportunities to get Fantasy Freetrail Points at four different races this weekend. Four races means I’m doubling up episodes, the first preview of which will be a double whammy of Madeira Islanda Ultra Trail (MIUT) 115k and the GTWS Great Wall Race in Chengde, China. We’ve got the return of one of the GOATs to the racing scene in Katie Schide at MIUT 115k and the chance for some new Kenyan runners to make a big splash at the second GTWS race of the year. Enjoy!Disclaimer: Had some jets takeoff near where I was recording around the 18 minute mark. I stop talking for a bit but if you skip ahead about a minute I go back to talking. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Can Remi take back the crown? Will Patrick be able to finally win the overall title? Can Sophia Laukli return to the top of the running world? The first Golden Trail World Series race of the year is here and I couldn't be more freaking stoked! Here's a preview of the athletes racing the most competitive sub ultra trail event in the world. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Another trail race is here and this time it’s a US Trail Long Team qualifier for the Gorge 100k. The top 2 (I’m pretty sure) spots will automatically qualify for the long trail team for the US and will go on to race at the Trail World Championships in Spain later this year in September. I also included some short discussion on my picks for the Calamorro Skyrace which I wasn’t able to get a podcast out in time for unfortunately. Here is the link to my write up from my Big Alta 28k race weekend that I mentioned in the podcast. Enjoy! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

Join me for a combined episode as I break down the Chianti 102k & Acantilados Del Notre race predictions, preview, and picks. We've got two of the all time GOATs of trailrunning (hopefully) lining up-Jim and Kilian. They will be joined by last year’s UTMB champion Vincent Bouillard and a host of other accomplished Ultrarunners for what should be an epic showdown. I also try to shine a light on the first race in one of my favorite series (with some of the most scenic courses in the world)-the skyrunning world series. For whatever reason (potentially diluted competition because of so many events) this series seems to get largely overlooked in the US. The Subhub does a good job of podcast previewing races but other than that the races don’t get much attention. Hopefully, I can help change that! Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe

It's that time of year again- Freetrail's very own Big Alta trail races in Marinwood, CA! Join me as I discuss the athletes racing both disances and make picks for Fantasy Freetrail. Get full access to Robrunsround’s Substack at robpross123.substack.com/subscribe