Although athletics races were disputed since ancient Greece, these were often disputed in stadiums. The first time recorded that a few men ran in the mountains with the aim of arriving first that the others with common rules for all the runners was in Scotland the year 1040, when the king Malcom Canmore organized a Hill Race in Braemar with the aim of selecting its postman’s. Surely this was the first competition (with some rules of the game) that was played in the mountain. In this case, although it was not the goal of survival, but getting a job, we still can’t talk about an activity motivated just for the pleasure of doing it.
During the following centuries we found references in the use of runners to bring messages and mail, from Filípides in ancient Greece to the American Indians in the eighteenth century working for mail companies that could travel up to 150km between Canadaigua and Niagra. Running and runners were used as a means of transport.
Fell Running
The transition from running for necessity to running for leisure and sport began to solidify in the rugged landscapes of the British Isles, giving birth to the sport known today as Fell running.
The formal establishment of mountain competitions driven solely by the pleasure of running occurred in the United Kingdom during the 19th Century. The term “fell” refers to the high, uncultivated hills and moorlands of Northern England and Scotland.At that period several fell races were born, usually in short distances, between 2 and 5 kilometers, in 1820 trail running appears as a discipline in the outdoor games “Hare and Hounds”.
In a manuscript headed “Calendar”, from the late 18th early 19th century, we can see a long list of Fell Races that took place those years. In a description we can see how some of those races were nude running. “Held on December 24th (one may have presumed that this was a summer sport), and raced over 10 miles at Gisburn, Yorkshire, the entry notes that ‘the Shephard did not accompany Stump above 3 miles before he gave up. When Stump put on his clothes and ran the remainder of the race at his own ease” In Bill Smith’s book Studmarks on the Summits, from 1985, he quotes the following passage in Lancashire Legends, by J. Harland and T.T. Wilkinson, headed ‘Foot Races by Nude Men’: “A correspondent in Notes and Queries says: “During the summer of 1824 I remember seeing at Whitworth in Lancashire two races, at different periods, of this description. On one occasion two men ran on Whitworth Moor, with only a small cloth or belt around the loins. On the other occasion the runners were six in number, stark naked, the distance being seven miles, or seven times round the moor. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of spectators, men and women, and it did not appear to shock them as being anything out of the ordinary course of things. It is with reference to this usage, no doubt, that the Lancashire riddle says – As I was going over Rooley Moor, Rooley Moor shaked, I saw four-and-twenty men running stark nak’d; The first was the last and the last was the first The answer is – The twenty four spokes of a wheel”.’ The races recorded in this manuscript appear to have taken place throughout the year 1824 and across numerous locations largely in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
During this period races start to pop up in the UK, in 1824, a fellrace in Whitworth Moor, in 1832 Braemar Gathering (6km,310m), in 1845 is the first edition of the Alva Games (1,6km, 400m) and 2 years after fellraces at Lothersdale, Burnsall, Grasmere, Hallam Chase…
In 1895 a race The Ben Nevis Race was born. Starting at Fort William, the runners must go up to Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland, and run down, with 16 kilometers and 1500 meters of altitude, establising itself as the benchmark since then of the emergent fell running to United Kingdom.
The Fell running rounds
Driven by industrial wealth and a strong sense of national pride, the Victorian middle and upper classes (often doctors, lawyers, and especially clergymen) sought to “conquer” the unclimbed summits of the Alps and Himalaya. The mountain was viewed as the ultimate physical and intellectual challenge. Often running through local terrain was the physical and technical preparation of those alpinists to prepare expeditions and climbs abroad.
One of those climbers was Reverend J.M Eliot, who in 1864 linked the summits around the church at the head of Whasdale in 8 hours and a half. He was part of the 2nd ascent Matterhorn by Whymper’s route on 26 July 1868 and was killed performing an un-roped incautious jump on the Scheckhorn in July 1869. Doctor A. W. Wakefield of Keswick (one of the team on the 1922 Everest Expedition) took up the challenge in 1902 with a round of 11 mountains in under 24 hours, and the following year increased the round to 20 mountains.
Context: The Pedestrian’s
In the tradition of running through the mountains, the British have been undoubtedly pioneers, in the same context of the search for human limits and inner exploration during that period, drove during the second half of 18th century runners to explore how far they could run. In 1759, Georges Guest run 1000 miles in 28 days in Birmingham, 3 years after Foster Powell did the 100 miles distance in 21h35 and the same year 120 miles under 24 hours and 50 miles in 7 hours. In 1873 he run 400 miles from London to York and back. By the end of the 18th century, and especially with the growth of the popular press, this long distance challenges gained attention, and were labelled “pedestrianism”. Powell and other runners as John Barrett and Robert Barclay (who run 110 miles in 19 hr 27 min in a muddy parkin 1801 and 1000 miles in 1000 hours for 1000 guineas in 1809), Emma Sharp who was the first woman to complete the challenge of 1,000 miles in 1000 hours on 1864 or Ada Anderson, walking 1,500 miles (2,400 km) in 1000 hours. The sport known as Pedestrianism become very popular during the 19th Century not only in UK but in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
In the other side of the Atlantic, Edward Payson Weston, became a professional long distance “Pederestian”. In 1861, he walked 478 miles (769 km) from Boston,to Washington, D.C. in 10 days and 10 hours because he lost betting against Lincoln 1860 presidential election . In 1867, Weston walked from Portland, to Chicago, covering over 1200 miles in 26 days, winning $10,000, as a part of a betting gamble.
In the United States a series of women’s competitions were staged, special indoor tracks were built in some towns, and intra-community long distance pedestrianism came into vogue. Along with sensational feats of distance, gambling was a central attraction for the large, mostly working-class crowds which came to pedestrian events.
In the United Kingdom, a “Long Distance Championship of the World” was created in 1878, and staged over six days, which became known as the “Astley Belt Races”.
In the following years, runners from the Lakes District increased that distance, linking more and more peaks in one day. Thus in 1870, Thomas Watson traveled 70 kilometers climbing 3000 meters and at the beginning of the twentieth century Johnson de Carlisle reached 110 kilometers and 5500 meters, It will be Dr. Wakefield from the village of Keswick, in the heart of the Lake District, who will run the same circuit in 1905 faster and will establish the codes that encompass the essential challenge, to cross the maximum peaks of more than 2000 feet on foot and return to the starting point in 24 hours, establishing this starting point in the center of Keswick. This would lay the foundations of the movement that appeared during the following decades, where runners begin to run connecting the fells or munros, the hills that dominate the country, from North Scotland to Wales. In 1932, Bob Graham links in 24 hours 42 fells in Lake District starting one of the best-known circuits or “round” in the fell running: the Bob Graham Round.
Fell running popularity keep increasing and national championships started to be organized since the 30’s, as well as the most famous races like Ben Nevis or the Three Peaks Race with the marathon distance. During the late 30’s and the beginning of the 40’s Charles Wilson will be the great dominator, while in the following years Dave Spencer and Peter Hall will take over.
In 1955, Kathleen Connochie, was 16 when she took part in Ben Nevis race, being the first female finisher.
In 1970 a Fell Running Association was established to manage the races and decide the national calendars and the next year the Bob Graham Club is born with all the members who had finish the route in less than 24 hours.
In those years, Jeff Norman, Olympic at the marathon in 76, won 6 times in the Three Peaks race and set numerous long distance records in the Lakes District, and Dave Cannon, winner of the Paris Marathon in 1980, dominates the races at Ben Nevis. It is precisely Cannon who will help in the transition from fells to asphalt one of the most outstanding runners, Kenny Stuart. Stuart who ran the marathon distance in 2h 11 minutes in 1986 was the winner of the Ben Nevis or Snowdon races battled with his rival John Wild or the first International Mountain Championship in Italy in 1985. A year before he set a record for the Ben Nevis race that has not yet been beaten. That same year, Pauline Haworth also set a strained female record breaking the hegemony (7 wins) of Ros Coats, who established a female record for Bob Graham Round.
In the 80’s it was the boom of the rounds throughout the island. If in the year 1968 the Original Mountain marathon of 80 kilometers was held for the first time introducing the long distance, the following years with Ramsay linking the Scottish munros in 24 hours in the year 78 (Ramsay Round) and the following years the rounds on Glen Coe, Cullin or Cairngrom marks the beginning of this movement. Billy Bland, the winner of Ben Nevis in the 78 surprised everyone when in 1982 he traveled through the 42 summits of Bob Graham Round in just over 15 hours and a half.
Mountain running
In the early 20th century, mountain guides and running clubs from mountain areas start to organize races to the summits. In 1904, in the French Pyrenees, the first edition of the Course du Vignemale was disputed, a year after, also in the pyrenees the Championat du Canigou, races in spain took place in Basque country in 1912 with the Pagasarri Cup in Bilbao, Copa Sant Llorenç in Catalonia in 1914, or the races that Alpine club of Peñalara organizes in Madrid with the Guadarrama tour since 1916, Copa del Hierro in 1923 and Copa 3 refugios in 1927.
In Italy, the beginnings of mountain running took place during the first half of XX century. In 1922 is the first edition of the famous Ivrea-Mombarone and the following years numerous small races among villages in the mountain regions of the Aosta Valley or Piemonte started.
Since then, the movement did not stop growing. If in Great Britain the Fell Running was a consolidated sport, practiced and regulated for years, in the rest of Europe races were becoming more popular in mountain areas. During the fifties many races appear, Giir di Mont (1961), Trofeo Malonno (1963) or the Bianchi memorial (1963) in Italy, the Besseggløpet (1961) and uphill races as Stoltzzekleiven opp (1979) a 800m distance race with 300 meters of elevation in Bergen, both in Norway and the Lidingoloppet in Sweden, which in the first edition, in the year 1965, had already 644 participants who didn’t stop to increase edition after edition until more than 15,000 today. In Switzerland, there were long races such as Le Tour des Dents du Midi with 53 kilometers (1963)
The Tour des Dents du Midi was first attempted in 1962, by Fernand Jordan, and organized by the Daviaz Ski Club in 1963, making this striking mountain massif the site of Europe’s first alpine footrace. In 1968, the immense success of this competition inspired a study on the feasibility of creating a multi-day trail for hikers avid to explore the Dents du Midi.
In Switzerland, shorter races between villages from the bottom of the valley to small villages or mountain cabins, as the Trophée des Combins (1967), Ovornnaz-Rambert (1976), Tour d’Hérémence (1977) among many others, and the one that is without a doubt the most well-known, the race of Sierre-Zinal that was disputed for the first time in 1973.
Jean-Claude Pont, Dr. of Mathematics, Professor of “History and Philosophy of Science” at the University of Geneva and a certified Swiss mountain guide, once imagined a running event set in the spectacular mountains of Anniviers where people could “rediscover the virtues of physical effort and regain bodily fitness by taking on a unique running challenge”. It would also considerably contribute to the development of the Anniviers Valley.
In the first edition of Sierre-Zinal 422 runners cross the finish line. Cross-country skier Edi Hauser wins ahead of the pre-race favorite, Olympic champion Gaston Roelants.
Following the success of this first edition, Jean-Claude Pont was contacted by Noël Tamini, founder of Spiridon magazine, who wanted to promote mountain running. The two men created the Coupe Internationale de la MontagnE (CIME), the first edition of which took place in 1975.
The first season took place in 1975 with 18 races in five countries (Switzerland, France, Italy, West Germany, and the United Kingdom). Renowned races such as Sierre-Zinal and Sierre-Montana in Switzerland, the ascent of Mont Ventoux in France, the ascent of Monte Faudo in Italy, and the Ben Nevis race in the United Kingdom were featured on the calendar. The calendar reached 52 races in 1980 and then saw its record number of events broken in 1986 with 67 races
When the first World Mountain Running Trophy was established, the IAAF showed no interest in the CIME, considering the events to be amateur races, particularly because men and women of all age categories started at the same time. Interest in the CIME declined in the early 1990s until its last edition in 1995.In Italy, mountain races were generally shorter and both ascent or ascent and descent without high elevations and began to be organized in committees, such as the CROMA in the Aosta valley founded in 1975 joining the races in regional circuits and cups. In France, races such as the Cross du Mont Blanc (1979), the Montée du Grand Ballon (1981) were pioneers, and in Germany (Berglauf in 1974), Austria and Slovenia (Smarna Gora 1979) the first uphill races would also appear.
America’n trail running
In the United States, after the naturist John Muir run up Mount Shasta, 4322 meters in 1874, many runners wanted to climb faster, a few years later, in 1883, Harry Babcock did it in less than 4 hours and during the 1920s there were numerous runners to try the challenge. First Norman Clyde lowering at 3 hours and then Barney McCoy set another record that staid until 1925 when an official race took place. David Lawyer won the first edition and set a new record that was not beaten until 1985 when Robert Webb dropped for the first time under 2 hours.
One of the first trail races was the Dipsea Race in San Francisco in 1905, a 7 mile and a half race leaving Mill Valley and climbing the mountain before going down to Stinson Beach, the curious thing about this race is that a handicap system is applied: The youngest, children’s of 6 or 7 years old, or the eldest, 80 years old, will be the first to start, and gradually runners will start until the elite, who leave the last ones. In this way, the fight for victory gives the same possibilities to all, being won from children of 8 years old to grandparents or world elite’s.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the passion of mountain running stretches all over the world, where races begin to emerge climbing up and down the most emblematic peaks of each region; in 1908 the Mount Marathon in Alaska was born, in 1911 Mount Baker marathon in the state of Washington, in 1913 also in Japan with the Mount Fuji mountain race … The origin of these races usually starts at the pub or place of the village, where two friends were betting if one of them would be able to climb to the summit that is behind in less time. And after a duel, the challenge becomes an open race to everyone.
During the 1930s uphill races start to be popular in the United States, such as the Pikes Peak Ascent, Mount Washington race or Mount Shasta race, and in the fifties the movement gained strength in the United States with the birth of the Pikes Peak Marathon, this race follows the route of its little “sister” the ascent, who had been held since 1936, From the village of Manitou Springs to the summit of the Pikes Peak, 4302 meters and once reached the summit, runners turn halfway back to Manitou Springs, on a 42-kilometer, 195-meter course. This was one of the oldest marathons in America. In August 1956, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the most famous mountain in Colorado, Dr. Arne Suominen, a veteran Finnish marathon champion and strongly critical of the use of tobacco, challenged smokers and non-smokers to run up and down to the top, to prove that smoking was a important factor of physical abilities loss. Of the 13 runners that took part, only 3 were smokers, including Lou Wille, who, after smoking two packs a day, had won the Ascent race several times by the end of the 30’s. Lou came out like a rocket and arrived to the summit in front of Suominen. Even so, in the long descent, he could not stand the pace and had to quit, like the rest of the smokers. Suominen said pleased at the arrival “I proved what I wanted, I finished the race and none of the smokers did it!”
The race was the first marathon in the United States to open participation to women since the first edition, but it was not until the fourth edition in 1959 that a woman, Arlene Pieper, finished the marathon, becoming the first woman to officially finish a marathon in the American soil.
During the fifties the great dominator was Calvin Hansen with 5 victories and in the 60’s Steve Gachupin with 6 wins. Also marathoner Chuck Smead, one of the first Anericans to travel overseas to race in mountains, winning Sierre Zinal’s 4th edition won PPM in 1972. During the seventies, the cross-country runner Rick Trujillo had a promising future competing for the University of Colorado but preferred the mountains to the stadiums. “This (see how fast I could climb up to a mountain) is the only reason to run.” From the heart of the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, Rick train from very young, in the passes and summits around 4000 meters, and since he started racing he began winning, becoming the most influential American mountain runner during that decade and winning 5 times Pikes Peak and starting other courses like the Imogene Pass run in his beloved San Juan Mountains or the race at Crested Butte. Rick Trujillo was also one of the pioneers in mountain ultra running, when in the 90s he won 100-mile races such as the Hardrock 100 or linked the 52 peaks of more than 14,000 feet (4,000 meters) of Colorado in just 15 days.
The 100 miles
The first precedent of a 100 miles on mountains was from 1867, when The New York Herald reported that eight Tarahumara women had competed in a 100-mile trail race. The competition was between two rival Tarahumara villages that were about ten miles apart, Bocoyna and Sisoguichi. Each village sent their four fastest women runners. The course was around an oblong mountain located somewhere between the two villages. The runners needed to run around it 14 times for a distance of about 100 miles. Guards were posted around the course to make sure the race was competed fairly. Crowds of people came from many villages to witness the event.
The race started at 6:35 a.m. “The whole bevy were off at the word go, amide the wildest excitement, and the betting commenced.” After the first loop of about seven miles, five women were together in the lead. The only stops they made were to accept prizes along the way, drink water or eat pinoli, “a simple gruel made of parched corn, ground and sweetened with sugar.” After about 92 miles only three women were left in contention, but by the last lap, the lone contending runner from Sisoguichi had fallen off the pace. The two winners were from Bocoyna, and were “received with the loudest shouts of joy by their towns people.” The women finished in 13:25. One of the women who finished had given childbirth just ten days earlier. Heavy betting took place. Horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, cats, dogs and other items changed hands. At the finish nearly everyone was “on the ground drunk.” This is the earliest known 100-mile mountain trail race, which was held 110 years before Western States 100.
Before the 1960s, most of the ultrarunners participating in ultradistance races were professionals (walkathlons indoors or The Pedestrian challanges). It was a spectator/betting sport. Only the 90-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa raced since 1921 was an exeption to that, so the general public never had serious thoughts that they too could run ultradistances.
As the Great Depression hit, events for professional ultrarunners dwindled and dried up in America. But rising from the tragedy and ashes of World War II, ultrarunning events slowing appeared again, this time for amateurs looking to test their endurance.
North America contains large natural areas with paths of hundreds or thousands of kilometers that cross it. The Pacific Cost Trail runs from the south to the north on the west coast and the Pacific crest trail through its rocky mountains. The Colorado Trail crosses this state vertically and the Appalachian Trail that follows the east coast for 3500 kilometers. From the moment that these paths were created at the beginning of the 20th century there were people who wanted to do the journey as fast as possible. So in 1948, Robert Speed earned his last name running the 338 kilometers that separate the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in California with 4421 meters with the Yosemite valley. This trail, the John Muir Trail, was created at the beginning of the century from an idea of the naturist John Muir, who died just before it was carried out and it was named as a tribute to him.
That same year, Earl Shaffler made the 3500 kilometers of the Appalachian Trail in 142 days and a few years later he repeated the feat in just 99 days. In the year 1955 Emma Gatewood was the first woman to do the AT non-stop in 146 days.
In 1951, Cash Asher, a journalist and author, was the publicity man for Padre Island. He came up with the idea of holding a race to walk the length of the island end-to-end, thinking this would be a way to get more publicity and attract tourists. He named the race “Padre Island Walkathon.” (The term ultramarathon would not be used until 1964. The “walkathons” were then held in indoor halls) The race was a three-day stage race started in 1953. The point-to-point race ran along the sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. Those who put it on were very forward-thinking, previously long endurance races (in routes) were mostly limited to professionals. This race was for everyone, old, young and women during an era when female participation in endurance events was viewed as inappropriate.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy unintentionally played an important role. That year saw numerous 50-mile races on honor of the his assassination. the JFK 50 in Washington was one of the numerous 50 miles races that appear that year. Kennedy had challenged officers and the military to meet the requirements that Teddy Roosvelt demanded from his soldiers “be able to run 50 miles on foot in 20 hours to keep his place.” When the then known as “Kennedy Challenge” became public numerous non-military citizens wanted to try the challenge.
Soon after running events were created and the term “ultramarathon” was first used around 1964. Steve Seymour arranged in 1965 a 24-hour race at the indoor Los Angeles Athletic Club. It was called the “24-hour Last Day Run” and was held on Halloween. Steve started the enthusiasm for this event by participating in it and going the furthest distance; 50 miles in 17.5 hours.
100 miles running races have their roots in horse endurance rides. Much of the experience and practices of those rides became part of trail 100 mile runs that were established in the 1970s and ‘80s.
In 1955 Wendell Robie, a businessman and outdoorsman from Auburn, California had a discussion with an associate about whether a horseback rider could cover 100 miles in a day. He got riled up about it and vowed to prove it could be done. He wanted to conduct the ride on a trail he had particular interest in, a historic trail used by miners in the 1800s between the California gold fields and the silver mines in Virginia City, Nevada. Wendell named the trail, “The Western States Trail.” Some years before, in 1936, at Woodstock, Vermont, the Green Mountain Horse Association 100 MileRide was established as a horse ride race as well. During the 50’s and 60’s many of those horse races were raced in the west cost, future 100 miles running races inherited from them many of the same procedures of aid stations, course markings, trail work, crews, medical checks, and the belt buckle award.
But ultra running organized competitions didn’t appear in the mountains until the late 70’s and 80’s. Gordy Ainsleigh has a big role on that when in 1974, ran what would later become the Western States 100. Gordy was an experienced long distance horse rider, having completed the 100-mile Tevis Cup endurance ride. In 1973, Gordy’s new horse came up lame just prior to the race. With encouragement of a Tevis Cup board member, he decided to try covering the course on foot the next year, competing with the horses. He finished in 23 hours, 42 minutes. One other runner attempted the same feat in 1975, dropping out at 98 miles and the next year, Ken “Cowman” Shirk did the same in 24h30 and in 1978 they decided to organize a race reserved for runners, the Western States Endurance Run. In that first edition it was a woman who complete-it, Pat Smythe in 29:34 hours and the year after Skip Swannack did-it in 21h56 minutes.
During the 80’s many were the long distance races who began to be organized around the US. The Old Dominion 100 in Virginia that same year and in the early 80’s Wasatch Front 100 in Utah, the long Alaskan Mountain Wilderness Classic of 241 kilometers in Alaska, or the Leadville 100 in Colorado among others. In 1986 the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning was created recognizing the runners who completed in one year the 5 races of 100 miles Old Dominion, Western States, Vermont 100, Leadville and Wasatch. In the following years the list of 100 miles races did not stop growing. In 1986 the particular Barkley Marathons appeared. This race, inspired on 1977 escape of James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., from nearby Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, when he covered only 5 miles in 55h. Founder Gary “Lazarus Lake” thought some could make 100 miles in that time and organized the race consisting of 5 loops of approximately 20 miles through dense forests and peaks between orientation and overnight life in less than 60 hours. A year after it was the long Badwater, 10 years after Al Arnold run this route for the first time, following the route from the lowest point in the United States , at an altitude below sea level at Death Valley, to the start of Mont Withney (highest summit of California) 235 km after, with temperatures above 50 degrees. In 1992 it was the turn of Hardrock 100 in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, beginning a fruitful growth with more than 150 races of this distance in the 2000s.
With this explosion of long distance races, the athletes get excites to run the numerous long trails on the country, so in 1982 a group of 6 friends found themselves at the beginning of the John Muir Trail not to do it all together but to see who could go faster. 4 days and 21 hours later Don Douglas arrived at Yosemite, and one day later Nicki Lewis.
The previous year, in the Arizona desert, Allyn Cureton went from one side of the other to the Grand Canyon in little more than 3 hours and returned to the starting point in less than 6 hours. This route known as Rim To Rim To Rim has been one of the most popular trails in recent years due to its harshness, starting with a 1000 meters downhill to reach the river before climbing up to the other side.
In the first edition of Hardrock 100 in Colorado, the winner was David Horton, a very prolific runner with more than 100 races in 100 miles in 10 years! This university professor was the first to use the athletic preparation of ultrarunning in the long trails as when in 1991 he run the Appalachian Trail in only 52 days! He was the first to prepare a long trail as a race, with dedicated support team following him and giving him food and water and to train specifically for this goal.
In the 90s, the figures of Ann Trason, who with 24 years began in long distance races, and during the nineties won no less than fourteen times the Western States. The races were held for men, and the legendary Leadville 100 formed a team of five Tarahumara to win it, in a media edition of 1994 among the runners of this tribe of New Mexico, he would run for many hours and the Awesome Ann. In the end the Tarahumara Juan Herrera was able to overtake against Trason, who established a female record that still stays. At the same time, in California, Tim Twietmeyer dominated ultrarunning winning 5 consecutive times Western States 100 until the phemomen Scott Jurek made an outbreak in the world of long distance, achieving 7 victories and record at WS100, amongst numerous triumphs in ultratrail races or in asphalt, such as Badwater or Spartathlon, or in the 24-hour world championships. In the mountain, he also won once the Hardrock 100, which was dominated in those years, the early 2000s, by the unstopable Karl Meltzer (more than 100 victories in 100 miles races) among men and Diana Finkel and Darcy Piceu among women.
80’s An International Sport
It was at the beginning of the 80s when the races began to be internationalized. Until then the participation in mountain races was mostly local or national with a few exceptions, but in the eighties this changed radically with runners traveling from north to south of Europe or crossing the Atlantic to compete.
At the beginning of this decade the American Pablo Vigil would come to the old continent to race and win up to 4 times Sierre Zinal (1979-.1982) establishing new records that would not be surpassed until the Swiss Pierre-André Gobet, author of the Mont Blanc record in 5 hours will win in his local race in 1989.
WMRA
It was the year 1984 that the Committee for Mountain Running was created to manage the mountain running at an international level, later becoming the WMRA, the world mountain running association. This committee will organize from then on a world championship, where in the first edition celebrated in Italy in 1985. The englishman and fell runner Kenny Stuart will be the first mountain running world champion.
In the 1980s, Colombians came strong into mountain running world. This races with a format of around 10 kilometers and not very technical give them the possibility to show its full potential. Jairo Correa was the dominant, with a victory for the world champions and two in Sierre Zinal of the 5 conquered by his compatriots from Colombia. Among women, the dominance of these races was the alternation between the French Isabelle Guillot, Veronique Billat and Marie Subot and the englishwomen Sally Goldsmith and Veronique Marot, who was also the fastest woman to run a road marathon in the 80s, with her victories and world records in Chicago and London.
In the 90’s, while in England, Ian Holmes, winner of the race at Ben Nevis 4 times and fell running championships and a doublet at the Climbathon in Malaysia, a race that since 1984 went up and down in the jungle and the granite walls to the top of Mount Kinabalu over 4000 meters in Borneo island, an American, an Italian and a Mexican disputed the global hegemony. Ricardo Mejia, was a small Mexican of just over one meter fifty able to run on any slope, and during the 1990s he got nothing more and nothing less than five wins at Sierre Zinal and five more at Pikes Peak Marathon among many other victories. Matt Carpenter, living in Manitou Springs, make up to twelve victories in the home race, reaching a stratospheric record in 3 hours and 16 minutes to complete the 42 kilometers of the Pikes Peak Marathon.
In 1999 WMRA launches a World Cup – as Grand Prix – the first global series for classic mountain running. In the early 2000’s Marco de Gasperi was a strong uphill runner and one of the best downhillers and this allowed him to reach up to 5 world titles, the same amount as New Zealand’s Jonathan “Jono” Wyatt. In fact, both of them alternated on time in each mountain running world championship, the up and down for Marco and the uphill for Jonathan. Jono was a strong runner, getting the New Zeland records of 5,000, 10,000 meters on track and half marathon and participated in the Olympic games in Altanta and Sidney in the 10.000m and marathon. Despite its qualities in the flat, Jono was able to transport this quality to the uphills, where he was almost unbeatable. So, in 2001 he was the first and only one to get under 2:30 hours in the race of Sierre Zinal.
Among women, in WMRA, after the domination during the 90’s of Swiss mIsabella Moretti it was the English Angela Mudge and the Czech Anna Pichrtová who dominated the mountain races, from Skyrunning to Sierre Zinal.
In 2002 WMRA is recognized by IAAF and in its championships, alternating uphill (around 8-10km uphill race) and classic (10-15km up and down), we see an increase of east African athletes, specially from Uganda and Kenya.
Skyrunning
It was 1991 when Marino Giacometti, alpinist and runner from Valtellina, organized the first race of ascent and descent to Mont Blanc summit from Courmayeur, although that edition won by the alpine guide and skialpinist Adriano Greco had opnly three participants initiated a movement that did not stopped growing. In 1993, when Carpenter achieved his record at Pikes Peak, Giacometti organized the first edition of the Fila Skyrunner Throphy, where with the mentioned runners and Italians Fabio Meraldi or Bruno Brunod began to race-record at the most emblematic summits of the world: Mont Rosa skymarathon (1993) and Mont Kenya for Meraldi, Aconcagua for the trio Meraldi, Brunod and Jean Pellissier, Matterhorn and Mont Elbert for Bruno Brunod, Castle Peak for Carpenter, Breithorn and Ecrins for Pellissier or Iztaccihuati volcano for Mejia. They also performed flat marathon’s in hight altitude where Carpenter ran the distance in less than 3 hours at 4300 meters high and 3 hours 22 minutes at 5000 meters in Tibet.
Under this movement and Marino’s federation FSA (Federation for Sport at Altitude – 1995) they also started organizing the first vertical kilometers in Italy, looking for the steepest routes to climb 1000 meters of elevation as fast as possible, and the first competitions with a very technical character, where one had to use ropes, glide in snow fields or scrambling like Sentiero 4 Luglio, Trofeo KIMA, Sentiero delle Grigne, or the race to the summit of Aneto. In 1995 the first Skyrunning world championships were disputed in Cervinia on a race going up in the glaciers to the summit of Breithorn, of more than 4000 meters, and going down showing the runners sliding on the ass in the glacier to go faster. In a fierce battle between Mexicano Mejia and the valley runner Brunod, the Italian used his downhill abilities to become the first winner. in 1995 Giacometti founded the Federation for Sport at Altitude (FSA) that will become ISF (International Skyrunning Federation) in 2008. With that in 1998 the first Skyrunning world Championships are held in Cervinia – then SkyGames from 2000-2010 featuring a Skyrace and a Vertical Kilometer among other competitions. After 2010 it became again Skyrunning World Championships again.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the appearance of new mountain races of this style spread throughout the world, with races such as the Zegama-Aizkorri, Dolomites Skyrace, Maratón Alpino Madrileño… It was then in 2002 that the Skyrunning began the World Series grouping races of this style throughout the world, from the Climbathon in Malaysia to Zegama. Catalan Agustí Roc, Ricardo Mejia or the English champion Rob Jebb and the French Corinne Favre and the English Angela Mudge among women were the dominants during the first years of the 2000’s.
In one of these first races of Skyrunning, in 1996, from the town of Alagna in Piedmont to the summit of Mont Rosa, about 4600 meters high, took part a 16-year-old boy trained by Adriano Greek. This adolescent was Marco De Gasperi and would be one of the great dominators of short mountain races (WMRA) at the beginning of the XXI century.
Mountaineering
Mountain running and specially skyrunning has its origins very linked to alpinism, the pioneers were alpinists who were taking those routes up the mountains in a very fast way and organizing races up the climbing routes of those summits. Here you can read about the history of fast mountaineering.
Ski mountaineering
Ski mountaineering would be the first type of skiing used, either in Scandinavia or Asian countries, to travel in the winter months when snow covered everything. and for that reason they used animal skins to place under the skis and not slip.
The first competitions were born during the 2nd half of 19th century. In California in the 1860’s some races in the wild mountains, in 1883 a race between snowshoes and ski mountainnering is disputed at Colle Pragel in Switerland, in Italy, in the end of the century and begining of the XX some local races in the mountain villages are disputed and in 1915 Peñalara Alpine Club in Madrid organizes a “Marcha de esquí de montaña” with 3 summits to climb and ski down, and in the 1920’s in Austria some civil races appear (May race, Vulture race).
The competitions in mountaineering ski had a big military component. The borders of European countries as Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany or Austria are in the mountains, so they had alpine soldiers. This Militar Patrouilles did some races in skis during the winter as preparation and to compete between diferent military groups since the begining of the XX century. This races in patrols of three or four persons. This format was introduced to the Winter Olympics in 1918 in Chamonix on patrols of 3 skiers. In the next Olympics they added shooting in the competition in a sort of ski mountaineering biathlon. During those years, this patrouilles races become more popular in the alpine countries (Gosau, Germany, Poland, France, Italy). May 28 in 1933 is the first edition of Trofeo Mezzalama, a race from Cervinia to Gresoney traversing the glaciers and peaks over 4000 meters, such as Castor or Lyskam. In june is the time for Tour du Rutor, also in Aosta valley. A year after the “Scuola Militare Alpina” is born in Aosta, their soldiers will won the following editions of the race as well as the gold medal in Garmish Olympic Games in 1936, that same year is the first edition of Trofeo Paravicini in Lombardia. This is the begining of the profesionalism in ski mountaineering, related to this military training centers. At that time competitions were only alowed for men. In the Mezzzalama of 1935, Giusto Gervasutti from Torino ski club was injured and the replacement was the skier and alpinist from Bolzano Paula Wiesinger. she took his military uniform, covered her face with sunglasses and his cap, and took part instead of him, but the cheat was discovered at a check point of the race at Rifugio Quintinon Sella and they got disqualified. During the II World War Mezzalama was not racing and when it came back in 1975 it was then alowed for mixed and female teams.
During the World War II, the Swiss army organised a race to test the abilities of its soldiers. The first military edition of Patrouille des Glaciers, between Zzermatt and Verbier was held in April 1943.
In the following years many races will appear in Italy and Switzzzerland. Trofeo Canizi in 1945, Trophée du Muveran in 1948, Tre rifugi in 1953. And during this time, in 1948 the ski mountaineering was in the Olympic games for the last time.
In the Pyrenees the first races also date from the end of the 1920s, also in teams of 2 or 3, such as the race of Puig d’Alp – Puigllançada in La Molina that began in 1927. In 1959 is the first Rally del CEC, a multi day race that was changing location every year in the oriental pyrenees. And in 1965 the Nuria-Set Cases race and the Travesia Andrés Regil in 1969.
In the Alps, during the World War II races like Mezzalama and Patrouille des Glaciers stoped and they not reappear until the 70’s, and with this many more races in the alps. (Trofeo Pozeti-Biona and Rober Olando in 1970, Pizolada delle Dolomiti in 1973, Dolomiti di Brenta in 1975). They used large cross country skis with skins under and the “sorcière” technique to go down. Races become more and more popular in the mountain regions in europe but it was not until 1975 that the first world championship was held in the already famous Mezzalama. In the 80’s the first official national cups appear, among them, the Catalan Cup was a pioneer in 1985.
The following year started what is known as the Tour de France of ski mountaineering; La Pierra Menta disputed in teams of two people with 4 stages at the French Beaufortain. Then the competitions were regulary played in all the european countries, mostly by soldiers in the Patrouille’s races and alpinists in the civil races, as we can see alpinists like Patrick Gavarrou (French champion), Christophe Profit Catherine Destivelle, or Erhald Loretan (organizer of Trophée des Gastlosen) among the first teams. French, Italians, Slovaks and Swiss teams were the winners of the international races.
During the 1990s, the dominator was the Italian skyrunner Fabio Meraldi, combining his talent running in skyrunning in the summer and doing ski mountaineering in the winter or even participating in the first sport climbing competitions. He won 10 editons of Pierra Menta, 5 among Adriano Greco, 4 with Enrico Pedirini and 1 with french Thierry Bochet.
In 1988 the first ski mountaineering federation was created (CISAC , then ISMC 1999 and ISMF in 2008). They organize a European Cup since 1992 and European championships since 1992. Since 2001 the European championships hold also Individual races and in 2001 it was the first World Championships under ISMC in Serre Chevalier with the 2 disciplines. Ducognon/Oggeri and Murada/Boscacci in teams and Valérie Ducognon and Stéphane Brosse in individual were the first world Champions. In 2004 a World Cup with 4 to 5 Individual races started. That same year in the World Championships the Vertical Race (only uphill) and relay (short 10 minutes circuit x 4 relays) were added, and in 2012 the sprint (a 3 minutes race) too.
During the beginning of 2000, transalpine skiers dominated the world scene, with Frenchman Stéphane Brosse as the first ambassador of modern ski mountaineering, with more specialisation required. The Italians Manfred Reichegger, Dennis Brunod and Giacomelli, the Swiss Rico Elmer or Troillet, french Florent Perrier and Patrick Blanc in the men and Swiss Cristina Favre-Moretti and Alexia Zuberer, the Italian Gloriana Pellissier and Roberta Pedranzini and French Corinne Favre among women ocupated the most part of the podiums.
In recent years, mountain skiing has followed several paths on one side in classic races for teams organized in circuits such as the Grande Course (with Pierra Menta, Mezzalama, PDG, Adamello, Rutor and Altitoy) and federative races, championships and world and continental cups, on a path to Olympic games under the ISMF. In this more specialist competitions, Italian army Damiano Lenzi, Robert Antonioli and Michele Boscacci, french William Bon Mardion and Kílian Jornet Burgada dominated in the men and Laëtitia Roux and Mireia Miró Varela in women.
Verbier Ski Mountaineering World Championships // FULL REPORT from Verbier Ski Mountaineering on Vimeo.FKT’s
The underlying principle of the FKT—pushing the human body to its limit on a fixed, difficult route—is rooted in traditional endurance sports and mountaineering speed records that existed long before the term was coined, you can read the history of going fast mountains, where times were recorded in a large amount of summits since the 1800’s.
We have also seen the Fell Running Rounds (UK, 19th Century) that probably are the strongest predecessor to the modern FKT.
Thru-Hiking Records (Mid-20th Century) are also a strong predecessor in US: As long-distance trails like the Appalachian Trail (AT) and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) became established, ambitious hikers and backpackers began informally challenging the fastest time to complete the entire route.
The modern FKT movement gained its name and structure at the turn of the 21st century in the American trail running community.
In the beginning of the 2000’s, the term FKT (fastest known time) started to be dialy used by a generation of ultrarunners.
In 1999, Fred Vance, put in place a old idea he had of linking as many 14’ers in a 100 mile push and put out the Nolan’s 14, climbing the 14 peaks of 14,000 feet in Leadville region.
In the late 1990s, endurance runners and adventurers Buzz Burrell and Peter Bakwin put some efforts during the 2000s by beating the times in routes like the John Muir Trail. They found that while people had attempted records, the actual fastest time was often undocumented, unverified, or unknown to the public. Frustrated by the ambiguity, Bakwin and Burrell coined the term “Fastest Known Time (FKT)”around the year 2000. The term acknowledged the informal nature of the record—it might not be the absolutefastest time ever run, but it was the fastest time that was publicly known and documented. The duo, along with Jeff Schuler, created a website and online discussion forum (which evolved into fastestknowntime.com) to serve as an informal arbiter and repository for FKT attempts worldwide. This provided the crucial step of documentation and verification, which transformed the casual challenge into a structured athletic pursuit.
Tim Twietmeyer, who had completed no less than 25 times the Western States race ran around Lake Tahoe in less than 46 hours to complete the 165 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail in 2005 and the following year a young Kyle Skaggs established a stratospheric mark on the 160-mile Wonderland Trail bypassing Mount Rainier in Washington state in just 20 hours.
The FKT movement grew steadily in the 2000s and early 2010s, but exploded into mainstream popularity due to three key factors:
The advent of reliable, inexpensive handheld GPS devices and watches made it possible for any runner to accurately track their time and route. This provided indisputable evidence (GPS track data, Strava files) for verification by the FKT website editors, replacing the need for witnesses or sworn affidavits and democratizing the documentation process.
Elite ultrarunners and mountaineers began to prioritize FKTs on major, iconic routes, drawing massive media attention.
In US, the long time stablished route of the Appalachian Trail has a long history of FKTs, in 2015, Scott Jurek’s successful, highly-publicized FKT attempt on the Appalachian Trail, detailed in his book, captured the imagination of the wider endurance community and media.
Another highly relevant route, the Grand Canyon R2R2R has been a highly competitive FKTs for years and most of the competitive ultra runners of the country had put their marks on it.
In Europe, the routes of GR20 in Corsica and speed ascents in summits had been popular for long time. In the 70’s and 80 Mont Blanc summit had a long list of records and attempts, often highly publicized in TV, and the Skyrunners set a large quantity of FKT in most of the summits across the Alps and Pyrenees. In the 2010’s Kilian Jornet project Summits of My Life project and the documentaries about it brought alpine FKT’s in an international audience.
During the last few years, many runners and runners have pointed to these challenges, such as Sue Johnston and Jennifer Pharr Davis who established the absolute records during the 2000s at the John Muir Trail and Appalachian Trail respectively. Among men, runners like Jared Scott, Jared Campbell, Brett Maune, Hal Koerner, Scott Jurek, Dave Mackey, Rob Krar, Anton Krupicka, Andy Anderson or Jim Walmsley, among many others have followed this trend.
During the Covid in 2020, the global cancellation of virtually all organized trail and ultra-marathons in 2020 served as a massive catalyst. Athletes with peak fitness, deprived of official races, turned en masse to FKT attempts as a solo, safe, and competitive outlet. The FKT website saw an unprecedented surge increase in participation in the US during that year alone. This solidified FKTs as an essential, high-profile component of the modern trail and mountain running landscape
European Ultra-Trail
The world of Ultra Trail appeared in Europe with years of delay compared to the United States. When the 100-mile races were already counted for dozens in America, the first competitions were appearing in Europe. Although races such as Sainté-Lyon 81-kilometer road, had been taking place since 1952, the Matagalls Montserrat since 1972, or the Swiss Alpine Marathon of 80 kilometers in 1982, the first 100 mile mountain races didn’t appear and become popular until the 90s.
We could cite two precedents. The first are the Adventure raids that were born during the early eighties with the Alpine Ironman and Coast to Coast in New Zealand, these competitions that combined running, climbing, mountain biking or canoeing were long-distance non-stop races and had immediately a big media interest that popularized them during the eighties and nineties with the Raid Gaulouises (1989) on an international level or the Raiverd (19990) in the Pyrenees. In some of these sections, the teams had to walk on foot in the mountains for ten or fifteen hours without stopping. With this adventure orientation, the Marathon des Sables was born in 1986, a stages race in the Sahara desert. In basque country in 1987 it was the first edition of Hiru Haundiak.
The first 100 miles race organized in Africa (French Reunion Island) was in 1989, with the name of Marche des Cimes, a crossing of the island which will become the Grand Raid de la Reunion, also known as Diagonale des Fous.
The other precedent would be the race around the Mont Blanc, which would eventually become the idea of the well-known UTMB.
It was in the year 1978 when the French Jacky Duc and Christian Roussel started running in Chamonix with the idea to run around Mont Blanc. Less than 26 hours after they were back. The following year Roussel, accompanied by Jacques Berlie, repeated it in 21 hours and 48 minutes and in 1980 was Edith Couhé was the first woman to achieve-it in 28 hours. In 1987, “skier of the impossible” Sylvain Saudan, the pioneer of steep skiing with his first descents in Chamonix and also in Denali or at 8000 meters, organized a Race called “Super-Marathon du Mont-Blanc” to run around Mont Blanc in 3 stages. In a first edition where runners equipped with athletic shoes, shorts and cotton shirts climbed necks above 2500 meters in bad weather between the snow and the fog, the Swiss Werner Schweizer won. The race was disputed during some years and in 1994 it was replaced by a non-stop 4 relay race. After a few years it dissapear until in 2003 when Michel and Catherine Poletti organizzed the first edition of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, won by the Nepali Dawa Sherpa, and having a great success of participants from the first edition and becoming rapidly the world reference for ultra trails.
Like in the US, in Europe it is some long distance popular trails and since the early 2000’s some runners had wanted to run faster. Pietro Santucci run in 2005 the GR20 in less than 36 hours, other runners went to the GR 10 or 11 that cross the Pyrenees or the GR5 to the Alps. Alpinist Enric Lucas, first alpine ascent climb of Annapurna south face, run in 2001 the hut to hut route Carros de Foc in 10h35.
USSR Alpinism Competitions
Alpinism competitions were held in the USSR to clasify alpinist and give them a rang, starting at “Alpinist” to “International Master of Sport”. Those camps and competitions were held all over the country and it were filled with speed climbing, ice climbing, big wall and first ascents disciplines.
From 1935, under the restrictions to travel from the USSR, mountaineering is organized in the same way as other sports. Under a semi-military structure and a system of selections, they rank in categories the alpinists, from alpinist candidate to Master Of Sport in Mountaineering, that allowed them to participate in the expeditions abroad. In this classification system, they used competitions similar to those of other sports such as athletics or swimming. Every year, the government organized about 20 mountaineering camps throughout the country. At least a dozen of thousands of climbers and climbers participated each year in these camps that lasted almost one month and during which they learned how to go to the mountains. Beginners paid only a small part of the cost and were given free time in their usual place of work to be able to attend the camps. After completing the training and climbing a low difficulty summit they were awarded the level of “Mountaineer of the USSR.”
With this minimum level achieved, they were authorized to participate in the “Climbing and Mountaineering Championships” that were organized from regional to national levels. During this championships, depending on the number of climbs and their difficulty achieved, the alpinist was awarded a rank, “3rd class mountaineer, 2nd class mountaineer, mountaineer…” up to Master of Sport. Those who ranked among the top three in regional competitions could participate in the next level until the Mountaineering and Climbing Championships of the USSR. These championships were organized in the mountain ranges across the country, from Pamir, the Caucasus or Tien Shan. In the championships of the USSR, each of the eight Soviet regions could present climbers to compete. All climbs were made under the observation of judges who were sitting on the base of the mountain watching the climbs and scoring the points that each athlete achieved in each promotion according to speed and difficulty, graduated between 1st and 6th grade (the higher on the Russian grade). If an alpinist reached more than thirty points, he achieved the rank Master of Sport. Approximately one of hundred that initiated the program became MoS. There were several categories and types of competitions, such as rock climbing, big wall climbing, high altitude, first ascents or speed climbing.
Since it was about getting the maximum possible points in a given time, alpinists climbed the routes as difficult and as quickly as possible, and to do more, they climbed day and night. This formed disciplined climbers with huge technique and very strong physically. Once one was Master Of Sport, he could take part in the USSR Championships or the selection tests for an expedition. If they were selected they becoming Honorable Masters Of Sport. The level in this competitions was incredible because only about fifteen or twenty of 150 or 200 participants would be chosen to go to an expedition to the Himalayas, with the prestige that this represented and the doors it could open.
Since the beginning of the 50’s, these competitions were installed. In 1953 there were 150 teams participating in the championships with up to 800 IV and V degree routes climbed, the following year 250 teams and 1200 routes of these difficulties, in 1955 up to 413 teams would climb 1634 difficult routes. Of these routes, some thirty were made to peaks of more than 6,000 meters and another thirty above 7,000 meters. This figure did nothing but increase, with people participating in for pleasure and climbing to easy peaks or also with climbers who wanted to climb new routes or virgin summits.
This system of strict and hierarchical competitions for mountaineering remained until the dissolution of the USSR. In the early eighties Vladimir Balyberdin was an exceptional climber, so much so that he was the only one in the history of the USSR to move directly to International Master Of Sport bypassing the previous requirements and rankings. In 1982, at age 32 he became the most famous climber among the Soviets for the first ascent on the west face of Everest, in the Russian style of the time, setting thousands of meters of fix rope and using oxygen . The rest of the equipment they used was quite rudimentary; Cotton shirts and also cotton altitude tents. When reaching the top of Everest, the first thing he announced on the radio was “Going down … What is the next thing I have to do?”
In 1992 he returned to Everest, climbing it in 3 days from the Base Camp without oxygen and only after just two weeks of acclimatization. But his goal was to try to break the speed record that Marc Batard had set two years before in less than 24 hours. Not being satisfied with his performance, Bal, which is how his teammates called him, tried again and reached 8200 meters in 20 hours, without crampons! because their companions had token them with the rest of the material days before without realizing it.
That same year, Bal went to K2, but by then the times were changing in the Soviet country. With President Gorvachev dismantling the communist system and introducing free market, the government funds for the expeditions had dried out and Bal and his colleagues had to learn to move to the complex world of international alpinism and finance the expeditions. Despite these new difficulties for them, they continued to perform great ascents, and Bal also managed to climb K2, becoming the first Russian to climb the 3 highest peaks on the planet, aside from Everest and K2 in 1989, he participated in the expedition that brought the strongest Russian team together to complete the Kangchenjunga crossing, climbing its 4 main summits in 4 continuous days above 8000 meters.
In this expedition there was also the russian mountaineer most well known internationally, Anatoly Boukreev. This Kazakh of hard factions that contrasted with his blue eyes and his gentle smile grew far from the mountains, practicing cross-country skiing, but despite starting at age 21 at mountaineering he quickly showed his talent and became an international Master Of Sport. In 1987, in a competition, he climbed Lenin Peak (7134 meters) in just 8 hours from its Camp Base, 3000 meters further down, and in the same competition he also climbed Communist peak of 7400 meters, raising a rhythm of 550 meters per hour! That same year he achieved another record in the Elbrus. A record that remains today. This allowed him to be selected to participate in an expedition the following year in the Himalayas, where he made his first trip to the Kangchenjunga and that opened for him international doors to work as a mountain guide for foreign companies. During some free time during those trips as a mountain guide he did some high-speed climbs, such as the West Rib of Denali in 10 hours and a half while their clients rested before climbing. In Russia he continued to make incredible ascents in competitions such as his double ascension to Pobeda Peak of almost 7500 meters in 36 hours and another fleeting ascent to neighbor Khan Tengri.
Anatoly continued his successful career as a mountain guide and speed and dificult climbing for his own account in the Himalayas until he died in Annapurna.
Another climber who reached his place in Kangchenjunga expedition in extremis was Alexander Shejnov “Kirghiz’s”. This exceptional and introvert climber had a predilection for solo climbing, but the enthusiasm for this practice was severely punished by mountaineer authorities (in the competitions aside from speed climbing to summits there was the difficulty competitions where it was necessary to show the knowledge to go quickly in a team and to always go down alive, which promoted and rewarded that the climbers climb using the maximum security as possible in the most technical terrain). Shejnov was expelled from the camps, they removed his rank and recognition of his activities and prohibited him from accessing and climbing a certain number of mountains or routes. But this did not stop him and he continued to climb alone. He lived in a separate camp, ate and climbed alone.
During those solitary years he had made unimaginable ascents such as the Ullu Tau wall in 1 hour 45, the solo climb in the difficult route 7 to the Donguz-Orun in only 12 hours or the only climb in this style of the Bezengi wall to the top of Shkara in 12 hours during the winter, among many other activities of this caliber and style.
For all this, and much despite his rejection of the discipline requested and the persecution by the officers, his talent and ability ended up recognizing him as the best Soviet mountaineer in 1989 and included him in the selection for the Kangchenjunga.
Gleb Sokolov, was one of the dominators of these competitions during the eighties, winning several ascent competitions to Khan Tengri and the other summits of the so-called “Snow Leopard” that encompasses the 7 summits above the 7000m of the USSR : Pic Comunisme, Korzhenevskya, Lenin Peak and Pobeda Peak, where he opened a new route in just 20 hours from the base camp. With the ticket for international expeditions he made important openings to the Himalayas as the Central Lhotse and the difficult direct route on the Everest north face.
During this golden age of the Russian mountaineering in the Himalayas, a young climber named Denis Urubko start to climb. In 1990 he enters the Camps and in a few years he was ahead of the most experienced climbers. In 1995, he made the first traverse between the summits of Mramornaya Stena and Khan Tengri. In mountaineering competitions, he achieved several records in a few summits and before the end of the twentieth century he climbed all the summits of the snow leopard in only 42 days, a record at the time. Then he starts climbing at the Himalayas, achieving the Gasherbrum I in only 7 hours and a half and Gasherbrum II in less than 12 hours.
In 2006, he managed to beat the speed record to Elbrus, the highest climb in the Caucasus and Europe, it in less than 4 hours. After that, Denis focuses on climbing 8000 meters summits where he climb new routes, some fast ascents, and he reach all the 14 8000ers and become a specialist in winter ascents.
Precisely the race at Elbrus is one of the few remaining competitions of this period of Soviet mountaineering competitions. Until the end of the 80’s, if the practice of mountaineering was almost exclusively the official doctrine, the decomposition of the USSR led to a new paradigm for the whole country and also for climbers.
In 1987, during selective competitions for the expedition to the Kangchenjunga that was celebrated that winter at Elbrus and where Alexander Sheynov got a new record, the participants talk after the race and the experienced Vladimir Balyberdin “Bal” began to shape the idea of opening these competitions not only to the climbers who had the rank to be able to participate but to all those who wanted to. Organize a race to climb to a glacier summit, not only as a selection to go expeditions or to achieve a rank but as a goal in itself.
The following year he organized this open race and there were many climbers to point in, but the focus was on the four great climbers who had just returned triumphant from crossing Kanchenjunga. Anatoli Boukreev was the winner of that first edition and a few of the following ones establishing still unbeaten record. Since then, Nick Shustrov has been organizing the race year after year with increasingly international participation and other competitions, such as the Pic Lenin, have been reborn with an important flavor of the nostalgia of those years of Soviet mountaineering.
From niche to mainstream sport.
At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, a series of events pushed the sport and give-it a popularity never seen before. In 2005, the Pikes Peak Marathon multiple champion Matt Carpenter run Leadville 100 to show what fast runners are able to do in Ultra distances, he explosed the record by more than 1 hour and a half, running under 16 hours. This feat inspired other college runners to try long distance, passing the focus from more traditional races as Pikes Peak to 100 miles. The next year at the same race, a young runner in his early 20’s, surprised everybody winning the race. His racing style, fast and athletic, its aesthetics, running only with minimalist shoes and a very short trousers, with the torso well tanned and a long free hair, and his philosophy, with proximity to nature and fleeing from the confrontation of competition with others but seeking a personal search in the long distance put Anton Krupicka at the head of a generation of young athletes who came to change the ultratrail world. That victory and his message impacted much more in the next generation than the Carpenter’s race and record. Two years later, Kyle Skaggs, also 23 years old, won the Hardrock race establishing a new record, racing as fast as he could from the beggining and without stoping mutch at any aidstation. A few months later that summer, Kilian Jornet, at 20 years old, won the Ultra Trail of Mont Blanc also running alone from the begining of the race. The 2 previous years had seen the victories of late 59 years old italian Marco Olmo. Ultratrail was no longer reserved for older runners and a fresh air came into this sport, making the young runners to look into the long distance. That same year the best-seller Born to Run book was also published. The book tells the story of Mexican Tarahumara runners, who equipped with sandals were able to win 100-mile races and the stunning Ann Transon and Scott Jurek. Dean Karnazes with his book Ultramarathon brought the trail running to people who lived in cities and entrepreneurs who needed a point of disconnection and challenge. All these events, the multiplication of races around the world and the beginning of social media, making all this information and stories reachable without the need of traditional press began to cook the boom that sport was going to experience in the following years.
In the early 2010’s trail running started to experiment a significant growth. With the advent of platforms like Instagram and Facebook, the scenic beauty and adventurous spirit of trail running have been showcased to a broad audience. Enthralling images and stories shared by runners have inspired a growing community. The blog of Anton Krupicka, the webseries Kilian’s Quest, the Salomon running TV and team structure or films such as “Unbreakable: The Western States 100” did project a modern vision of Trail running inspiring many young athletes.
Until the 2010’s athletes were mostly following one discipline exclusively. We would have those who were competing in Mountain Running / WMRA, those in Skyrunning, those in American 100 miles and those in European Ultra Trails, but there was almost not any cross over within some exceptions. In the 2010’s that flow of information made athletes to move more across disciplines and circuits.
In 2003, Montrail launches the Montrail Ultra Cup, a series of races from 50km to 100 miles culminating at Western States 100, the top finishers at those races were awarded with an entry to WS100, making an origin to the Golden Ticket series.
As the Western States 100’s presenting sponsorship changed and ultrarunning evolved into a true global sport, the Golden Ticket Series was predominantly there to provide North American runners with a chance to gain entry into the Western States 100, while international runners had similar opportunities to do so through the Ultra-Trail World Tour.
The apparition of ITRA (International Trail Running Association) in 2012, after a conference held by UTMB founders and other race organizers, trying to associate all trail races organizations and starting the following year the UTWT (Ultra trail world tour) the first circuit of long distance races with races like UTMB, Western States 100, Tarawera Ultramarathon, Diagonale des Fous, etc. in 2012 the ITRA, together with the IAU organzed the first bianual trail running world championship, focusing on long distance. In 2015 Trail Running and ITRA is recognized by World Athletics and in 2021 the WMTRC World Mountain & Trail Running Championships) are held for the first time in Thailand, unifying in the same event the WMRA (uphill and classic disciplines) and ITRA (short -around marathon distance- and long – around 80km distance disciplines).
In 2018, with the increase of visibility of ultrarunning and a period where Skyrunning was struggling with its identity of more technical races, Salomon, by the idea of its marketing manager Greg Vollet launched the Golden Trail Series, unifying the most prestigious short distance races under the same circuit (Zegama, Marathon du Mont Blanc, Sierre Zinal, Dolomites Skyrace, Pikes Peak marathon) attracting the top short distance athletes and pushing on visibility and livestreaming. Even if before races like Zegama or Sierre Zinal had held live streamings in national TV’s for several years, and UTMB had held some web TV ones,. those were often based on fixed cameras at few points of the races. The 2017 livestream of Mont Blanc Marathon with drones and camera-runners following the athletes during all the race was a inflection point on production and quality, being able to follow the athletes for the whole competition for the first time.
In 2021, UTMB and Ironman made a partnership and created the UTMB World Series. A series of races across the world to qualify for the finals in Chamonix – UTMB.
The number of races increased during this period, and became a global sport, where international events and national circuits can be found in almost every country, as well as a mobility of athletes traveling to attend those events, some becoming so popular that needed to implement entry restrictions, lotteries or different systems to limit the number of participants.
In the competition scene, in long distance athletes like François d’Haene, Xavier Thevenard, Lizzy Hawker, Rory Bosio, Caroline Chaverot, Cournet Dawalter, Zach Miller, Kilian Jornet or Jim Walmsley had a big impact. In short distance, Kilian Jornet, Luis Alberto Hernando, Marco De Gasperi, Remi Bonnet were winning the most important races in the men and Emmanuela Brizzio, Emelie Forsberg, Maite Mayora, Maude Mathys or Judith Wyder among women. In the beginning of 2020’s the number of east African athletes competing at short distance races started to be more relevant, with projects like Run2gether or Kenya Skyrunners pioneering on that with athletes such as Patrick Kipngeno or Lucy Wambui Murigi.
As today, we have 2 major federations governing the sport, with World Athletics (WMRA-ITRA) and the Skyrunning federation (under UIAA, Mountaineering federation), and several private circuits, the most relevant being the UTMB world series in long distances and the Golden Trail Series in the short distances. And many races that are independent but hold a strong weight into the sport.
