Hey y’all, we scrolled through 600+ IG posts and 115+ articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Tuesday’s issue so you could head into the weekend without living on your phone. Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:
Last Soul Ultra started Friday in Germany with 160 runners taking on one 4.17-mile loop every hour until one remains. The second-year backyard event has a 24/7 broadcast and billed Harvey Lewis, Andrew Glaze, Mark Dowdle, and Hendrik Boury as its “Big 4”. The women’s field includes returning 2025 women’s winner Kathrin Reichelt, who completed 20 laps, plus Maren Schiller and Imke Salander. At 10:15 a.m. Central, the German Twitch stream showed about 2,600 concurrent viewers and the English YouTube feed about 1,600.
Bigfoot 200 starts Friday at noon PT with several returning standouts among the names to watch. Aaron Kubala arrives after winning Tahoe, while last year’s results include 18-year-old runner-up Brody Chisholm and women’s champion Ashley Paulson. Endurance athlete Robby Balenger is also lining up. The 200.1-mile course carries 44,082 feet of climbing. A fresh Distance to Empty preview says the classic route is back after two fire-affected editions, while breaking down this year’s water, blowdown, and crew-access changes.
Haroldas “Harry” Subertas won The Divide 200 in a course-record 47:29:49.8 on the race’s 322-kilometre course. The official results put Jovica Spajić and Hugo Paradis next, while Brogan MacDougall won the women’s race ahead of Christine Almond and JP Walters. Subertas wrote afterward that it was his proudest 200-mile performance and credited his wife, Lauren; Sinister Sports replied that she helped set up checkpoints because he was moving faster than expected.
Leadville finalized its Willow Fire reroute for the August 22 Trail 100 Run. The course will turn runners back east around Turquoise Lake, removing the Colorado Trail segment near Hagerman Pass Road, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Powerline before rejoining the traditional route near Outward Bound. The revised course remains 100 miles with 13,552 feet of climbing, about 1,940 feet less than the traditional route’s listed 15,492 feet.
Reigning champion Ruth Croft returns to UTMB as one of the favorites to win again, while trying to tune out the pressure that comes with the crown. She told Trail Runner that her goal for a fourth straight summer is to see what she is capable of at UTMB and that she now races for herself rather than outside attention. Abby Hall also switched from CCC to UTMB, calling this year a “soul race” after her 2024 finish and 2025 DNF.
Trail Runner’s new altitude-sickness guide uses Wookie Kim’s near-fatal 2016 Four Pass Loop emergency to show why fitness does not protect runners from altitude illness. Kim flew from sea level to Aspen two days before the run and later developed HAPE, HACE, and severe hyponatremia. High-altitude physician Peter Hackett explains the warning signs and why suspected HAPE or HACE requires urgent help and descent. Current CDC guidance likewise says descent is urgent for HAPE and should begin for suspected HACE in remote settings.
Hardrock announced a non-binary division and said it wants transgender and non-binary runners to feel welcome at the race. The full policy keeps the lottery divided into male and female categories. It directs non-binary applicants to enter under what the policy calls their biological sex unless they also identify as transgender and meet the stated qualifications. Transgender women need at least one year of medically supervised hormone treatment to enter the female lottery, while transgender men can enter the male lottery without restriction. Once selected, non-binary runners can compete in the new division, whose winner will receive automatic entry the following year. Hardrock says it will not require supporting documents unless an entrant makes a confidential eligibility challenge involving a top-three finish.
Jack Jarvis began a planned 13,000K run from Beijing to London with a 50K opening day after discovering his support van had been robbed before the start. The project page says he plans to average about 50K per day for roughly eight months while raising £1 million for the brain-tumor charity brainstrust.
Whitney Pearson completed the White Mountains Direttissima in 35 days with her three children, ages 1, 3, and 6. The roughly 240-mile route links New Hampshire’s 48 4,000-foot peaks and carries about 80,000 feet of climbing. Pearson carried the youngest child, and told Northeast Explorer that one resupply left her shouldering nearly 80 pounds of gear plus the roughly 30-pound 1-year-old in a front carrier.
Kilian Jornet revisited Alpine Connections two years after beginning the 19-day linkup of all 82 Alpine summits above 4,000 meters. He wrote that managing rockfall, crevasses, weather, fatigue, and little sleep was harder than the physical toll, and acknowledged risk decisions he is not proud of. Jornet climbed 34 summits with companions and 48 alone, and reported averaging roughly 8,300 calories burned per day during the first measured week. In a separate new interview, he describes fear as useful information and says panic and summit euphoria can both distort decision-making.
Trueheart Brown joined The Buzz to connect his running with his work as Coconino National Forest fire chief. Brown won a 2022 Black Canyon golden ticket but could not use it because he was assigned to the Pipeline Fire. The conversation also covers what hotshot crews taught him about suffering, why long-suppressed Ponderosa forests need prescribed fire, and how smoke affects runners.
Federal contractors began road construction inside Big Bend National Park near Santa Elena Canyon this month. CBP says no 30-foot wall will cross the park, but the broader Big Bend project includes low-profile vehicle barriers, patrol roads, surveillance systems, and supporting infrastructure. Former park superintendents warn that new roads and construction staging could scar undeveloped terrain and say existing roads and less intrusive sensors could meet security needs. DHS also waived environmental and historic-preservation laws for barriers, roads, excavation, lighting, cameras, and sensors.
Lastly, Runners for Public Lands director of advocacy and education Bryant Baker joined Trail Mix for a practical conversation about protecting the landscapes the sport depends on. The 44-minute episode covers the nonprofit’s mission, pressing issues in 2026, and ways runners and races can leave both the land and public policy better than they found them. I really enjoyed this one and it left me considering ways I can get more involved both personally and through TUM.
Also worth a look:
John Kelly’s Day 3 update said he and Brian Flynn had reached New Hampshire’s White Mountains, with delayed cell service still shaping the update cadence.
Boréalys Mont-Tremblant’s Odyssée race starts Saturday at 5 a.m. ET; the official weekend schedule and live tracker cover the six races through Sunday. No free webcast was confirmed.
Women of Distance’s new Caroline Himbert episode compares her two unsupported John Muir Trail attempts, including what changed on the second trip, the fears she carried, and how solo thru-hiking led her into endurance sport.
Borderlands’ two-part Harvey Lewis profile follows his playfully excessive pre-Badwater taper, his work teaching high-school civics, and the 2010 Spartathlon quit that changed how he handles failure.
Caroline Gleich challenged outdoor businesses to speak publicly, writing that she has lost partnerships for speaking up but believes silence will cost the outdoor community more.
The most viewed links from our last issue:
That’s it for today. If TUM helps you follow the sport without spending your whole day on Instagram, the best way to help it grow is to share this issue with one friend who’d get it. Or simply like this post. Thanks for reading.
Ken
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