Reflections on Progress and Continued Challenges – iRunFar

From September 25 to twenty-eight, a number of the world’s high mountain working and path working athletes gathered in Canfranc, Spain, for the 2025 World Mountain and Path Working Championships (WMTRC) to symbolize their international locations in 4 completely different occasions. Traditionally, many high runners have opted to skip the world championships for numerous causes, together with busy race schedules, sponsorship conflicts, and monetary issues. In its third working, this yr’s occasion introduced within the deepest fields throughout all 4 of the championships occasions — plus under-20 races — indicating a shift in how the occasion is perceived and valued amongst skilled off-road runners and their sponsors.

With the following WMTRC scheduled for Cape City, South Africa, in October 2027, now is an effective time to look again on Canfranc and ask the place the occasion stands within the international path and mountain scene, the place it sits within the athletes’ minds and priorities, and the way it may be grown and improved sooner or later.

The WMTRC is a results of World Athletics’ imaginative and prescient of working with the three globally acknowledged governing our bodies for mountain working, path working, and ultrarunning: the World Mountain Working Affiliation (WMRA), the Worldwide Path Working Affiliation (ITRA), and the Worldwide Affiliation of Ultrarunners (IAU). The occasion, now held each different yr, combines the longstanding Path World Championships and the World Mountain Working Championships right into a single occasion that includes Lengthy Path, Brief Path, Uphill, and Up and Down races.

In some ways, the third version of the mixed international federation-driven championships got here of age.

That is definitely true when it comes to numbers. On the inaugural WMTRC in Thailand in 2022, which was postponed from 2021 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, 642 athletes from 49 nations participated. The next yr, in Innsbruck, Austria, the variety of runners had virtually doubled to 1,190 throughout the varied begin traces, with athletes coming from 68 international locations. At Canfranc, there have been 1,298 racers on the beginning traces from 70 international locations. You’ll be able to learn extra concerning the historical past of the Path World Championships by means of 2023 for extra background on the occasion.

By way of efficiency, the racing at Canfranc was definitely a giant step up, with a lot deeper fields, leading to extra aggressive races. For quite a lot of causes, a number of the present stars of the game, together with People Jim Walmsley, who received the boys’s Path World Championships Lengthy Path, and Katie Schide, who received it for the ladies, focused a nationwide vest and a world title over extra profitable paydays at different races.

On this article, we study a number of the limitations that the WMTRC has confronted in attracting high expertise and why, regardless of these limitations, high runners proceed to prioritize the occasion. We talked with full-time skilled runners Francesco Puppi (Italy) and Schide, in addition to Britain’s Andy Symonds, who has mixed a full-time day job and a household with competing at a excessive stage for a few years, together with wins on the 2016 Laveredo Extremely and 2011 Les Templiers 80k, and a fifth place on the 2019 UTMB.

Whereas Schide says, “I might say, after conversations with different athletes and my very own expertise, the Path World Championships, a minimum of for the longer distances, hasn’t been held to fairly the identical stage of status when it comes to model consciousness or recognition as some extra business occasions,” the occasion is rising shortly and has the potential to ultimately maintain a high spot within the path racing calendar.

A number of limitations exist for occasions just like the WMTRC in attracting skilled runners, significantly when contemplating the occasion’s future.

Prize Cash

Trendy-day skilled runners make their residing from a mix of sponsorships, prize cash, and bonuses for wins at main occasions, and it could be naive to imagine that prize cash at occasions doesn’t issue into choices to take part in sure races. The WMTRC should deal with competing in opposition to year-round business sequence, such because the Skyrunning World Sequence, the UTMB World Sequence Majors, the Golden Path World Sequence, and the WMRA World Cup — all of that are vital attracts for athletes in lots of working disciplines.

World Athletics gives funding for nations to deliver athletes to world championships — a part of the rationale the occasions exhibit larger range than typical business races — however the funding quantity pales compared to the prize cash related to bigger occasions. To encourage high runners to take part within the WMTRC, some main nations supply their athletes a coaching stipend in the event that they prioritize the occasion. For instance, in 2025, French athletes taking part within the WMTRC weren’t allowed to line up at races for a time period beforehand, together with on the UTMB World Sequence Finals held only a month earlier, however they obtained funds to offset potential prize cash payouts from missed races.

Nonetheless, for high skilled athletes, the prize cash on supply on the WMTRC, even when supplemented by their federations, is comparatively modest in comparison with different occasions.

On the UTMB World Sequence Finals, the highest 10 in UTMB, CCC, and OCC all obtain prize cash, with the winner of UTMB strolling away with 20,000 Euro. Winners of CCC and OCC each obtain 13,000 Euro. Along with the Finals, the UTMB World Sequence Majors occasions additionally pay out 5 deep, with the winners of every occasion pocketing 5,000 Euro. The Golden Path World Sequence provides a complete prize purse of greater than 300,000 Euro throughout the race sequence, together with 15,000 Euro for a sequence win, and three,000 Euro on supply for the winners of every particular person race. The Skyrunning World Sequence provides 93,800 Euro in prize cash for the general sequence rankings unfold among the many high 10 athletes, with a prize of 15,000 Euro for particular person sequence winners. The WMRA World Cup provides a complete prize pot of 30,000 Euro, with the sequence winners every receiving 5,000 Euro.

By comparability, the full prize cash accessible at WMTRC was a modest 24,000 Euro prize purse for every occasion, cut up between the women and men, with 5,000 Euro for a win and prize cash going 5 deep.

Given the participation within the WMTRC this yr, it’s clear that cash isn’t the one driving pressure for high athletes, and it’s obvious that athletes who goal the varied business sequence are additionally eager to symbolize their nation in a nationwide vest on the world stage.

Puppi, whose resume consists of wins on the 2025 CCC, Lavaredo Extremely, Canyons 100k, and Transgrancanaria, says that for an expert athlete, “You can begin with the idea that an athlete is racing the place it is sensible from a monetary perspective. I additionally take a look at issues from a working perspective and talk about with my coach, ‘What will we wish to enhance and concentrate on this yr, and what are the very best alternatives to compete with the very best athletes on this planet?’” Puppi is fast to confess that not each athlete will get to make these decisions freely, saying, “Perhaps I’m in a privileged place, that I don’t have to fret that a lot about it. I imply, it’s not that I’m making a ton of cash from the game. I feel I simply wish to stay merely, and I worth different features in sport greater than an excellent excessive bonus or an excellent excessive payday. I additionally come from a tradition in Italy that values sporting the nationwide vests far more than different racing alternatives.”

For Schide, winner of the 2025 Hardrock 100 and 2024 UTMB, who’s undoubtedly on the high of girls’s path working proper now, it’s about selecting races that get her excited. She says, “I notice that’s form of a privilege I’ve at this level in my profession, that I don’t want to focus on one thing for any person else simply to show a degree. However I additionally assume that as a result of I at all times goal races I’m enthusiastic about, I’ve a greater likelihood of performing effectively as a result of I present up actually glad and motivated to be there, often coming in from coaching that I used to be glad and motivated to do, as a result of I’m going to a race that I’m glad and motivated to be at.”

Schide believes in taking a protracted view of the monetary payout of selecting sure races, saying, “Generally that can imply selecting races which may not essentially have the most important bonus or the most important payout. I feel in case your solely purpose on this sport is to earn money, then there are higher methods to try this than by solely selecting the races that encourage you, however I feel that to be able to preserve longer-term success and simply happiness within the sport, it’s essential to comply with what’s motivating you intrinsically.”

Sponsorship Conflicts

When competing on the WMTRC, athletes race of their nationwide staff package, which is commonly sponsored by an organization aside from their private sponsors. Whereas this was a serious barrier up to now, with some manufacturers reportedly discouraging their athletes from racing at world championships as a result of they wouldn’t be representing their sponsors, this barrier appears to have softened lately. Athletes are nonetheless allowed to put on their sponsors’ sneakers and use numerous different merchandise, however the visibility is proscribed in comparison with a business race.

Symonds is sort of open on this, saying, “I acknowledge that my sponsor shouldn’t be significantly fascinated with my collaborating within the Path World Championships — not least as a result of I have to put on clothes from a competing model. Having mentioned that, it’s not one thing I’ve been inspired to keep away from in favor of other business races. This isn’t, nonetheless, the case for all runners. Those that are 100% professional and are optimizing their earnings from working are naturally prone to be inclined to favor a giant business occasion the place they will probably stroll away with a number of thousand Euro, extra likes on the web, and extra sponsorship alternatives.”

Symonds continues by saying, “As path working turns into extra well-liked and mainstream, it’s more and more seen as a business alternative, attracting manufacturers, sponsors, organizations, and random companies who may not have something to do with the game however can see business acquire from investing or being related to it. Some great benefits of this are that it permits extra athletes to make a residing from working on trails and over mountains, and consequently, it will increase the extent of competitors at occasions. One of many downsides, nonetheless, is that athletes, extra usually than up to now, will make choices primarily based on cash, somewhat than the love of the game.”

Symonds factors out that that is principally a difficulty for these on the very entrance of the fields, and says, “I personally have at all times seen working as a interest. I don’t compete to earn money — I’ve a day job for that. With that in thoughts, my private decisions as to the occasions I participate in are typically primarily based on the standard of the occasions, the fantastic thing about the programs, and the extent of competitors I’d discover on race day.”

Progress of the WMTRC

The expansion of the WMTRC has led to it changing into an more and more essential occasion on the path working calendar, and mixing the Path World Championships and the World Mountain Working Championships has accelerated this development.

Based on Puppi, “The earlier standalone Path World Championships or Mountain Working World Championships had been one-day occasions. Now it’s a four-day program which feels extra like the correct championships that occur in biking, triathlon, or observe and subject. I feel traditionally, the fields in mountain working have at all times been actually sturdy, however much less so with the Path World Championships. Since Thailand in 2022, when World Athletics mixed the 2, it has been far more aggressive, and that’s confirmed by the numbers and the way shut the time gaps are closing between main runners.”

Symonds, who ran within the Mountain Working World Championships as a junior way back to 1999, additionally believes the mixed occasion is nice for the game, saying, “It’s attracting extra and sooner athletes, which is reflective of the game normally. I’m of the opinion that it’s a superb factor that the “mountain” and “path” occasions have been mixed, as the game does endure from being pulled in lots of instructions, below completely different, competing federations.”

On the opposite finish of the Path World Championships expertise spectrum is Schide, who competed for the primary time this yr after greater than a decade of racing ultras. She says, “One of many causes I focused WMTRC in Canfranc was as a result of I knew that there could be a aggressive subject there, and perhaps it could entice barely completely different folks than I might have run in opposition to at UTMB.” She’d additionally run into scheduling points, having positioned her yr’s predominant concentrate on the Hardrock 100 and felt that UTMB could be too near put collectively one other high quality efficiency. Schide appreciated the occasion’s capacity to host all kinds of runners, saying, “I additionally felt prefer it was a cool technique to deliver completely different runners collectively. We’re usually at completely different occasions in several elements of the world, and even when we comply with different elements of the game, it’s fairly uncommon we’re truly all racing in the identical place.”

With its development and more and more aggressive fields, the occasion has gained credibility with every version. For some, like Puppi, the possibility to symbolize their nation has at all times held the Path World Championships as a worthy endeavor. Puppi says, “The credibility has at all times been there. For me, the championships have at all times been essential, and it’s at all times been a precedence in my calendar. Personally, if I needed to make a listing of the highest, most high-profile occasions in our sport, the Path World Championships, for positive, could be in my high 5.”

The deeper fields have led to an elevated media presence on the WMTRC, an element that’s drawing extra eyes and a focus to the occasions. Puppi feels that elevated media is nice for the occasion, “From a business standpoint, extra media, extra communication, and extra involvement from the manufacturers ensures the occasion shouldn’t be solely related for the elites but additionally for the broader basic public. Leaving apart the elite, sponsored runners, that’s the place the worth actually can develop for the followers of the game, and for manufacturers to assist encourage people who find themselves not even into path working, however who may probably uncover path working due to the world championships.”

Scheduling Issues

With off-road working changing into more and more well-liked, there’s a rising variety of races vying for the eye of high athletes. Whereas this is a matter for all athletes, it’s particularly related for the long-distance specialists who should fastidiously schedule their peak efforts all year long, solely competing at their high stage two to a few occasions yearly. The proximity of the WMTRC to the UTMB World Sequence Finals a month earlier this yr definitely required decisions by many athletes. Coaching for and working a race like UTMB a month earlier than the Path World Championships wasn’t seen as appropriate, so many longer-distance athletes, together with Walmsley and Adam Peterman, ran the shorter CCC or OCC races as a substitute. Puppi additionally ran CCC, and received. Others, like France’s Vincent Bouillard, who received the 2024 UTMB, skipped the occasion totally to concentrate on the Path World Championships.

Shorter-distance racers are sometimes capable of get well extra shortly and race extra continuously, however their peak efforts should even be thought of within the house of a yr. Most of the main runners within the WMRA World Cup, in addition to the Skyrunner World Sequence, that are typically shorter races, had been on the WMTRC. Frédéric Tranchand (France), Manuel Merillas (Spain), and Luca Del Pero (Italy), all of whom featured prominently within the Skyrunner World Sequence, positioned within the high six within the Path World Championships Brief Path occasion.

Discovering a spot within the race calendar that works for each the short- and long-distance specialists is extremely difficult. Schide says, “ I feel crucial factor for conserving the Path World Championships an attractive choice to essentially the most variety of folks attainable is to maintain it away from these key weekends that exist already within the calendar, just like the final weekend of June, when now we have the Western States 100, the Damaged Arrow Skyrace, Lavarado Extremely, the Mont Blanc 90k, and Marathon du Mont Blanc. Then additionally, conserving it away from the UTMB weekend.” Schide goes on to supply some choices and their professionals and cons: “Both inserting it early within the season, like Could, which is hard for folks residing within the mountains the place it snows within the winter, and it’s arduous to coach outside, or later within the yr when the [race calendar] is much less crowded.”

Puppi, who received CCC a month earlier than WMTRC, says of the scheduling, “This yr was not preferrred. I feel it may be just a little later within the season, mid-October perhaps and even November.”

Ultimate Ideas

The WTMRC present a venue for off-road runners from all over the world to come back collectively and compete on a world stage that’s distinctive to all others on the racing calendar. Though mountain and path working have their star athletes who can present headlines, these races should not nearly them. Runners of all talents, from all nations, together with these ending effectively down within the subject, generate curiosity in their very own international locations, offering that priceless trickle-down impact that conjures up the following technology of path runners. For almost all of opponents on the championships, it’s nonetheless extra about fulfilling a childhood dream of representing their nation than ending on the rostrum or claiming a bonus from a sponsor.

The continuing dilemma for all competing organizations and governing our bodies is attempting to maintain these easy goals in athletes whereas putting a steadiness between the fact of the commercialism wanted to develop and maintain the game. For the three athletes interviewed for this text, it’s evident that, regardless of their success, all of them nonetheless possess a pure love of working, and though there may be an acceptance of the trendy commercialization of the game, attempting to steadiness that actuality whereas not dropping the just about childlike pleasure of working for its personal sake will at all times be essential to them.

With the 2027 WTMRC scheduled for Cape City in 2027, it’s as much as the organizing committee and federations to create an occasion that can proceed to construct on the momentum generated up to now three editions. It’s additionally arguably as much as manufacturers, business occasion organizers, and different stakeholders to assist federated competitions like these, the success of which might be thought of a key element of a completely fledged sport.

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