Disclaimer: this is my personal view on changing aspects in ultra running. This is not meant as an open or direct criticism of any of the described phenomenon – its meant to describe my personal view of effects as well as side effects of described phenomenons and to open the perspective of what ultra means to me.
In ultra running every runner is constantly confronted with decisions – and the way the runner decides or, more precise, how the runner copes with being confronted with these decisions defines the outcome of the ultra run. There is the very common saying: „You can’t judge a book by its cover“ and this simple saying gets a deeper meaning when related to ultra running. On the one hand you can’t tell the current status of a runner during an ultra run just by looking at them – how is/are the current energy level/feelings/motivation – on the other hand there is a deeper meaning of this expression with regards to ultra running. As the runners during long physical activities have to source energy from unusual places, they get confronted with a deeper layer of themselves. The above mentioned decisions during and ultra run may sound trivial – how to deal with current and short term issues (mostly around gear, nutrition and weather), how to answer the famous questions of „why exactly am I doing this“, where to source energy/motivation/grid from to not surrender when things are going sideways (as they always will to some degrees) – but the confrontation with these questions paired with physical exhaustion is ideal to trigger this deeper layer of things.
You can’t see if a runner is – coming out of a really bad/exceptionally good week of work – if the runner has worries/joy from personal situations with friends/family/loved-ones upfront the race – if the runner is returning from an injury – if the runner has trained exceptionally bad/is in the shape of his life – if the runner has long term issues/worries/anxiety/illness in life or if the runner has all things in live well sorted and is in full focus.
All these things influence – whether unnoticed by the runner or not – the ability to handle the ultra run decisions. To the good, or to the bad. Thats why a certain part of ultra running remains unpredictable and we see all the small wonders or personal catastrophies out there. Humans pushing way above what seems possible to them considering the „facts“; as well as humans not being able to continue from one second to another without obvious reasons. To me this is one of the most wonderful things about ultra running. The unpredictable outcome – humans walking the line of what is doable to learn something about their abilities and to form a deeper connection to themselves; with regard to ultra running as well as with regard to their daily live itself and their inner well-being. So it’s a very thin line – taking all the above into account – between making it to the finish line or not.
This beautiful thin line is more and more affected by external factors since a few years – summarized by the question of how much attention fits to ultra running. With the constant growth of social media in ultra running and the established new business model of being an influencer and an ultra runner at the same time the good old times of ultra being a safe niche of endurance enthusiasts seem to be over. On top of the influencer with ultra running being their job there are the usual side effects once money starts to dominate the game. Figures in the background start to build teams of influencers and side account families/businesses simply existent to further increase the followers and clicks of the main accounts – a whole new business concept. To many of us it was/is a shock to see this concept rolled out in ultra running. We may have thought our niche is deep and secure enough – or resistant enough (as we claim to be experts in terms of resistance) – we clearly were mistaken. A coexisting side-bubble formed within a very short period of time. As with all bubbles sharing the same basic topic an interaction between these bubbles is inevitable. Some saw this happening with fear, anger or skepticism – some welcomed the wind of change. And here we are with a new reality and another decision to make: how to deal with these new facts. Many answers have been given, many fights have been fought, many discussions executed and the usual (a)social-media blaming and framing is ever present on the usual platforms.
To me there is no clear answer – no clear good and bad. The new phenomenon won’t vanish and there will be a growing visibility of the influencers. The only possible path forward is coexistence. Every runner is free to choose which events to pick and – more importantly – to choose the amount of social media consumption and creation. Some effects of the new world are inevitable: if the money behind the social media game attracts all the talented runners to offer them to earn money with their sport, we will soon have a separation between (semi) professional athletes „teams“ and the rest of us. This is a normal process in a capitalized world and not necessarily a bad thing as long as there are events for both groups and not a full take-over of all ultra run races by the sponsored side of things. An example where this separation won’t work is the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship. In some countries there is the tendency that the very talented Backyard Ultra runners are all united in one team/under one brand with the result that the teams attending future world team championships will mainly consist of these runners. If that is really in favor of the initial idea, motivation and concept behind Backyard Ultra and if that goes along with the supportive character of celebrating endurance and unity in ultra running; probably not. Once there are individuals who are treated differently, get more attention and receive more professional support compared to other runners within the same event, things get questionable. If a real team can be formed among those runners is unlikely. Even if the runners itself may not see it and if I wouldn’t blame them for their wish to professionalize, it changes things and I guess its always wise to check twice with whom to collaborate, witch which brand to go along and which contracts to sign.
Some words about the impressions (and the way some countries manage to create wonderful events solely dedicated to the spirit of ultra running) during the 2026 Backyard Ultra WTC:
To me there is a clear difference between the above-described trend compared to individual runners who accept brand sponsorship to support them with running gear/nutrition etc. In times with rising race entry fees and rising costs of normal living it gets more and more difficult to enter big races. Any support on an individual level – going along with some social media tags/ads – may support runners to free some money to spend on gear/entry fees and to attend their dream races. If you take into account that races such as the Spine in the UK or MOAB240 in the US (representative for many others) require several thousands if not ten-thousands of dollars (including race entry fee, travel, gear, accommodation etc.) it is natural that any support helping to finance this is welcome. It would get really problematic though, if there were shortcuts (money opens doors) for the „elite“ teams to these races. Or if there would be deals like: my brand will sponsor e.g. your live-stream/timing system if I get 5 selected runners into the race for free. But let’s see how things develop. Ultra races – also the big ones – should always remain accessible to everyone. There is already enough pressure from companies like UTMB (representative for may others) inventing silly qualification schemes with the solely purpose of generating more money for the brand and overtaking more and more „smaller“ races just to double/triple the entry fees. Money is taking over the world of ultra running from both the RD side as well as the described sponsored runners‘ side.
With all the said one could conclude that the good old times of old-school ultra running may have come to an end. But that is not the case. There is still hope. There are events and RDs (still) resisting the pressure and organizing races with reasonable (although rising) entry fees and a great community around. If those remain resistant there are still choices to make, there are still challenges out there for everyone. It is our responsibility to keep those events alive.
Apart from this, there are the ultra-runners themselves. There is us. Ultra running does not always need to happen within events. Ultra running means to me to feel independent and free out there, celebrating endurance, celebrating how experience grows and how this changes things. Experience and endurance grow hand-in-hand and extend what is doable step-by-step and with that ease the confrontation with the decisions while running ultra I mentioned at the beginning. To me this is a unique and wonderful experience. And I am not alone. There are tons of like-minded people out there. Together with 3 of them we decided – under pressure of another thread to the world and to official races (Corona) back in 2020 – to start to offer private ultra run challenges to our friends and the small community around us. While running in events was banned we felt the need to just bundle some nice .gpx tracks together, call it a slam, set a time limit for each run and a time limit to complete the whole set und just set them lose. To make sure there were still challenges to accomplish, still possibilities to run long distances without the need to create them yourself. After the pandemic was gone we kept doing this and meanwhile offered thousands of km in various regions in BeNeLux and Germany. The feedback from those attending is amazing. Although or maybe exactly because they plainly follow a track on an electronic device they experience adventures. It starts with organizing themselves upfront the run and to find answer to questions like: when is the best time to start?, where to resupply?, do I want/have someone to support me?, do I go alone or with a group (with the downside/upside of being dependent or at least linked to some other runners performance)? and it ends with the experience during the run: to run without the safety net of an organized event means to be totally free but also 100% responsible for everything you may do and encounter. We created private social media groups to exchange experiences to log progress and completion and to just share the adventures. To read about those highs and lows, to follow the shared tracking links, to discuss the little details and to see people fighting with themselves and the routes and show grid and endurance without being part of a big events they payed money for and without getting any official result listing, is simply amazing. It’s raw, it’s direct and many may not see the sense or the charm of it but to me this is the basis of ultra running. To see all the stories unwinding and the feedback from the runners is exactly why we invented those challenges.
The circle closes right here. Although some or even most of these adventures are shared on social media they have no real impact. They are not made to go viral. And not necessarily because of the follower amounts of those who share them but because of their content, their „nature“. These stories are not about hunting souls, not about becoming the last soul/survivor of whatever, not about being bigger, better or louder. And as these are exactly the click-generation features the algorithms do not care about them. And this may not be a bad fact at all. Because some people are indeed truly interested and truly fascinated about the stories. Stories about the variety of ways to learn and live endurance, stories about overcoming hurdles one would never encounter in organized events and last not least stories highlighting all the tiny details out there with enough time and peace and quiet to fully embrace them.
Enough time to fully and truly (re)connect to nature and surroundings, enough time to stop mid run to admire the sounds of our world, enough time to admire the dewdrops on the half-frozen blades of grass in the pale morning light, enough time to hear the symphony of creaking planks beneath nimble feet, enough time to admire the sun’s reflection in the water droplets on the forest leaves after the long rain. Enough time to make peace with oneself and enough to truly merge with the surroundings and to finally end up with the feeling of being a very tiny yet relentlessly moving dot in a vast universe. Unhinged and free.
This is a style of ultra running no one can take away or change so it seems to me the good old times are now – or, even better – the good old times are always there for those who want to see them.