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.
1040: King Malcolm Canmore organised a hill race in Braemar, Scotland. From Braemar to the top of Craig Choinich 🔗
1777-1811: 35 nude male races held on Kersal Moor. 🔗
1800 : Fell races (UK) took place alongside other sports such as wrestling, sprint races and heavy lifting events. These games events were often commercial as well as cultural, with livestock shows and sales taking place alongside music and dancing.
1824-1850: Many Fell races in Scotland and Lakes district such as Whitworth Moor, Alva Games, Lothersdale, Burnsall, Grasmere, etc.
1864: the Rev J. M. Elliott links summits around Wasdale Head in ~8 hours, inspiring the “fell rounds” tradition in the Lakes.
1867: The New York Herald reported that eight Tarahumara women had competed in a 100-mile trail race between 2 tharaumara villages
1870: Thomas Watson from Darlington achieved the first Round of all the 3000 footers in the Lakes district. Many runners started to do long distance challenges in the Lakes district after that.
1874: John Muir runs up Mount Shasta. After that, many runners wanted to climb faster. 1883, Harry Babcock did it in less than 4 hours and during the 1920s Norman Clyde lowering at 3 hours and then Barney McCoy. 1925 an official race took place. David Lawyer won the first edition.
1895: First Ben Nevis Race (Scotland). Modern era restarted in 1937.
1898: Reported “Course des Guides” at Chamonix; early guide races preceded modern mountain running
1904: First races in the pyrenees, village-summit-village:
1st edition of Vignemale race (2500m 53km- winner Jean Marie Bordenave in 6h
1905: Course du Canigou (32km-2180m)
1905: First edition of the Dipsea Race in San Francisco
1912: Mountaineering clubs in Basque Country, Madrid and Catalonia organize races and cups.
1912, Pagasarri Cup in Bilbao, 1914:Copa Sant Llorenç, 1916: Cercedilla-Siete Picos-Cercedilla, 1923: Copa del Hiero, 1927: Cross 3 refugios…
1913: A first race up Mt Fuji in Japan. Ran episodically before the Second World War.
1915: First edition of the Mount Marathon race in Alaska.
1921: first edition of Comrades in South Africa
1922: First mountain running races in Italy: 1922 Ivrea – Mombarone, 1933 Cinque Mulini…
1925: Club Alpino Español organizes “Concurso para señoritas” a only women race in Guadarrama
1932: Bob Graham run from Keswick in Lakeland 42 fells in 23h39′ (origin of Bob Graham Round)
1936: First Mount Washington Road Race
1948: First official Fuji Mountain Race. Resumes post-war; modern race begins this year
1948: Long Trails in US: Robert Speed run John Muir Trail. And 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
1951: First SaintéLyon (conceived 1951 as a winter night hike; running allowed progressively later)
1956: Pikes Peak Marathon founded. Dr. Arne Suominen’s smokers-vs-nonsmokers challenge kicks it off to prove that smoking was an important factor of physical abilities loss.
1959: Arlene Pieper is 1st woman to finish Pikes Peak Marathon. A landmark for women in mountain racing.
1961: First edition of Besseggløpet, Norway
1961: First edition of Giir di Mont, Italy
1963: First long trail races in Switzerland, 1963 Tour des Dents du Midi, 1965 Trophée des Combins, And multiple uphill races as Sierre-Montana 1969.
1963: JFK 50 (80km-USA)
1965: Lidingoloppet (30km-SWE)
1970: Fell Runners Association was created in England with a race calendar
1971: Creation of The Bob Graham Club
1973: first edition of La Ciaspolada (snowshoe)
1974: First Sierre-Zinal “Race of the Five 4000ers” created by Jean-Claude Pont. With big success since the first edition with hundreds of participants. First winner was cross country skier Edi Hauser in front of olympic champion Gaston Roelants and the best fellrunners from UK.
1974: Gordy Ainsleigh runs for the first time the Tevis Cup (WS100)
1970’s: Joss Naylor, fell icon with audacious multi-peak, 24-hour Lakeland records inspired a generation. He kept running until his late 80 years old.
1970’s: Jeff Norman and Dave Cannon dominate Fell running and bridge to good performances on road marathon.
1975: Spiridon magazine established the Coupe Internationale de la Montagne (CIME), unofficially known as the European Championship. It brought together mountain races in Switzerland (Sierre Zinal), France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (Ben Nevis…), and later spread to Italy and Austria. It was held until 1995.
1975: fundation of C.R.O.M.A. (Comitato Regionale Organizzatore Martze a Pià) with 5 races in Aosta, Italy
1977: First edition of Western States Endurance Run with fourteen men, won by 22-year-old Andy Gonzales.
1978: Charlie Ramsay runs the Ramsay Round
1978: Jacky Duc, Christian Roussel run around Mont Blanc in 25h50, 1979: Christian Roussel and Jacques Berlie run around Mont Blanc in 21h48. That was the seed to a future UTMB
1978: Pat Smythe is the first woman finisher of Western States 100
1980’s: Chuck Smead and Rick Trujillo.
Chuck Smead wins Sierre-Zinal (1977) and Pikes Peak; Rick Trujillo claims five Pikes Peak Marathon titles and helps organize other Colorado mountain races. in the 90s he won 100-mile races such as the Hardrock 100 or linked the 52 peaks of more than 14,000 feet in Colorado.
1979: first edition of Cross du Mont Blanc, that after became the Marathon du Mont Blanc.
1979: Hundreds Miles races in USA: 1979 Old Dominion 100, 1980 Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run, 1983 Leadville 100,
1979: First edition of Stoltzekleiven Opp, in those years many uphill races appear in Norway.
1980’s: Colombians came strong into WMRA and Sierre Zinal races. 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
1980: Alpine Ironman in New Zeland (run, row, ski)
1981: Oxfam Trailwalker in Hong Kong, a 100km team race began as a Gurkha exercise and since 1986 was an open event.
1981: UltraRunning magazine starts publishing with race results and reports from North America ultra scene.
1980’s: Billy Bland & Kenny Stuart.
Billy runs Bob Graham Round record that stood 36 years among many fell race wins.
Kenny Stuart blistering 1980s fell races; Ben Nevis race course record and transition to marathon with a 2:11h debut
1983: Bjorg Austrheim-Smith was a pioneer in U.S. trail ultrarunning, becoming the first woman to win the Western States 100 three years in a row (1981–83). “Desperate Dreams — I” by Centreburn Productions became the first Western States film shown to a national TV audience.
1984: Six Foot Track Marathon in the blue mountains, benchmark for Australian trail.
1984: 1984–85: WMRA founded (originally the “Committee for Mountain Running”); first World Mountain Running Trophy held in 1985 (Italy).
1980’s: Pablo Vigil four straight Sierre-Zinal wins (1979–82); early transatlantic mountain-running star. He was key on bringing americans to race in Europe.
1984: Mount Kinabalu Malasia
1986: First edition of the Barkley Marathons, Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell’s anti-establishment epic; a culture engine.
1986: First edition of the Marathon des Sables
1987: Elbrus Race First time URSS Mountaineering competitions were open to anybody. Anatoly Boukreev win.
1987: “Super Marathon du Mont-Blanc” around Mont Blanc in 3 stages. Werner Schweizer wins in 15h08
Sylvain Saudan, organize. (precursor UTMB))1987: First edition of Everst Marathon
1987: First edition of Hiru Haundiak (Basque Country), ~100 km / ~10,000 m D+
1988: Kepler Challenge in New Zeland. foundation of NZ trail culture.
1988: Adventure Racing high. United States Adventure Racing Association “USARA” 1989: First Raid Gauloises
1989: First edition of the Diagonale des Fous / the Grand Raid Reunion
1990’s: Helene Diamantides completed a sub 24h Bob Graham Round in 1987 and in the following decade won all major fell races as long races like Dragons back race.
1990’s: Tim Twietmeyer Athlete/Organizer — Five WS100 wins and long-time board leadership shaped the race’s culture..
1990’s: Marino Giacometti pioneers “skyrunning”; global circuit taking the best athletes (Brunod, Meraldi, Carpenter, Mejia, etc) To races up and down the most emblematic summits in the world.
1991: First edition of the skyrace Courmayeur – Mont Blanc 52k won by Adriano Greco
1991: David Horton runs Appalachian trail in 52 days, won the first two Hardrock 100 races. He competed in over 160 ultras with 40 wins. Finisher of Barkleys Marathon.
1992: First edition of the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run (USA)
1993: Hasetsune Cup, Tokio. created as honor of alpinist Hasegawa seeded Japan’s modern trail scene.
1993: First edition Fila Skyrunner Throphy. Skyrunning World Series → FSA (1995) → ISF (2008).
1994: First official Vertical Kilometer (Cervinia, Italy), the start of a new uphill racing format.
1994: Many technical Skyraces started in the following years (Monte Rosa 94, Troffeo KIMA 95, Dolomites 98, Sentiero 4 Luglio 95, Aneto 97, Maraton Alpino Madrileño 97…
1990’s: Ricardo Mejia from Mexico, multiple times Pikes Peak, Skyrunning, Sierre Zinal winner. Kept competing and performing at strong level up til his 50’s. Latin American breakthrough figure
1990’s Fabio Meraldi and Bruno Brunod won most of the Skyraces and breat ascent records in multiple summits including Cervino (Brunod 95), Aconcagua, Mt Kenya, Mont Blanc, Elbert…
1990-2000’s: Matt Carpenter redefined high-altitude performance. 1993 Record at Pikes Peak and 12 wins, multiple Skyrunning wins, then long distance 2005 record at Leadville 100
1994: “Super Marathon du mont Blanc” became a relay race. (precursor UTMB)
1995: First edition of Grande Course des Templiers
1995: Giacometti founded the Federation for Sport at Altitude (FSA) that will become ISF in 2008.
1997: Skyrun South Africa, a self navigated 100km, formative of SA mountain ultra.
1998: First Skyrunning world Championships 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
1999: first edition of “Nolan’s 14“
1999: WMRA World Cup launch (as Grand Prix) – the first global series for classic mountain running
2000’s: Jonathan Wyatt and Marco de Gasperi.
Wyatt and De Gasperi dominated the WMRA world cup and championships over a decade. Wyatt winning almost all uphill editions and De Gasperi the classic ones. They also performed in longer races as Sierre Zinal where Wyatt broke the record in 2003 and in Skyrunning where De Gasperi won multiple races.
2000’s: FKT movement & fastestknowntime proboard — Buzz Burrell and Peter Bakwin (term from 2000; site mid-2000s) made DIY mountain objectives mainstream.
2000-2017: 150 new 100 miles in USA
2002: first Skyrunning World Series, a circuit of skyraces around the world. Forst winners were Agusti Roc and Corinne Favre
2002: first edition of Zegama Aizkorri already with hundreds of spectators building its legend.
2002: WMRA recognized by IAAF
2003: first edition of Transgrancanaria.
2003: Cavalls del Vent as a running route, became Ultra Pirineu as a race from 2009.
2003: Ann Trason – 14th WS100 victory, Ann set multiple world records in ultrarunning and won races like Leadville and Comerades. Reshaped expectations for women.
2003: First Edition Ultra Trail Mont Blanc – UTMB. founded by Michel and Catherine Poletti. It was already a success in the first edition with 700 participants, won by Dawa Sherpa and Kristin Moehl
2000’s: Angela Mudge and Corinne Fabre
They dominate the competitions on this period, from Fell running and WMRA for Angela and more technical for Corinne they won several Skyrunning competitions and classical mountain races. Corine was also the first overall winner of the first edition of CCC at UTMB in 2006.
2000’s: Karl Meltzer — most 100-mile wins more than 100 by 2021; normalized prolific ultra racing & adventure FKTs.
2000’s: Krissy Moehl
Krissy levated the bar for elite women in ultrarunning. she was an early UTMB champion, won hardrock among many other ultratrails and set long distance FKT’s, she was also an influential coach/RD.
2004: First TransAlpine Run
2004 Book: Feet in the Clouds (Askwith) — definitive fell-running narrative.
2005: Scott Jurek 7th consecutive WS100 win, Hardrock winner, Appalachian trail. One of the most influential ultrarunners.
2005: Book: Ultramarathon Man (Karnazes) — brought ultras to the mainstream.
2006: Marco Olmo — back-to-back UTMB wins in his late 50s; longevity inspiration.
2007: First Trail World Championships biannual championships organized by IAU and together with ITRA from 2012.
2000’s: Lizzy hawker five wins at UTMB as well as the IAU 100 km World Championships and multiple FKT’s
2010’s: Anton Krupicka: minimalist movement, blog / film presence; shaped aesthetics of the sport.
2008: Kyle Skaggs (23) wins Hardrock with new record. Kyle, Anton’s and Kilian’s young age victories in 100 miles races brought a new young generation and more “fun” vision of the sport.
2008: Kilian Jornet (20) wins UTMB. For the next years he will influence with multiple victories in short and long distances as well as films and books.
2008: Ultra Trail Australia, 2009 Tarawera Ultra marathon in New Zeland, Otter Trail in South Africa.
2009: Transvulcania and TNF 50 San Francisco. became ultra media showcase and talent launchpad at early and late season.
2010’s: Tsuyoshi Kaburaki is a Japan’s trail pioneer; UTMB podium and Asia circuit builder.
2009: Book: Born to Run (McDougall) ignited a global boom, minimalism debate, Tarahumara lore.
2009: iRunFar website founded by Bryon Powell and Meghan Hicks, brought live coverage of races + professionalized race media.
2010’s: Salomon Films. Kilian’s Quest and Salomon Running TV High-production weekly films give trail running its first binge-able YouTube era.
2012: Film Unbreakable: The Western States 100 (JB Benna) following Geof Roes, Hall Korner, Anton Krupicka and Kilian Jornet 2010 WSER watershed storytelling moment.
2011: First edition of Hong Kong 100
2012: Creation of ITRA (International Trailrunning Association)
2012: First edition of Ultra Trail Mt Fuji in Japan.
2010’s Anna Frost and Emelie Forsberg with their victories in multiple skyraces and ultratrails as well as the content produced in salomon running TV inspired a new generation of women trail runners.
2010’s François d’Haene with his victories at Ultratrails such as UTMB, GRR among many was one of the pioneers of ultratrail professionals. Other athletes like Luis Alberto Hernando, Zach Miller, Xavier Thevenard had also a big influence.
2013: Ultra-Trail World Tour (2013–2021) — first global ultra-trail circuit; prelude to today’s series.
2010’s: Professionalization of the sport. With the exposure from social media and new brands appearing (Hoka in 2009) focusing on trail running more athletes become professional.
2010’s: Endemic media growth. Trail running magazines appeared in different countries in Europe. podcasts, Youtube channels and dedicated websites such as Talk Ultra, Trail runner nation, Mountain Outpost, Aravaipa running, Freetrail, etc brought visibility into the community.
2014: Film: The Barkley Marathons — turned an obscure event into global folklore.
2015: Trail Running / ITRA recognized by World Athletics .
2017: Golden Trail Series: Salomon and Greg Vollet launches the circuit with most emblematic short distance races. Media-centric, elevating broadcast storytelling.
2014-2020’s: Jim Walmsley With his fast start racing style Jim inspired a generation of track and marathon athletes to get into trail running. He has won 4 times and has the course record at Western States and won at races like UTMB.
2020’s: Courtney Dauwalter has won multiple times WSER, UTMB, Hardrock, etc. Widely regarded as one of the best ultrarunner of all time, she pushed the limits of what women can do.
2020’s east african athletes competing at short distance races started to be more rellevant, with projects like Run2gether pioneering with athletes such as Patrick Kipngeno or Lucy Wambui Murigi.
2020’s: Livestreaming Livestreams started to be more and more common in races. Following elite fields in online platforms as well as TV channels.
2021: WMTRC (World Mountain & Trail Running Championships) — unified world champs; first held 2022 (Chiang Mai), 2023 Innsbruck-Stubai.
2021: UTMB and Ironman made a partnership and created the UTMB World Series.
2022: PTRA Creation of the Pro trail runners association.
2024: Jasmin Paris became the first female finisher of the Barkley Marathons. She has won multiple ultra long races as well as technical skyraces and set records in fell rounds.
In terms of International competitions (Circuits and Championships) and its ruling institutions we have 3 main players: Under athletics federation, mountaineering federation and private organizations:
