Hey y’all, we scrolled through 700+ IG posts and 70+ articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Monday’s issue so you could head into the weekend without living on your phone. Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:
Caroline Himbert lowered the unsupported JMT FKT for women to 3 days, 16 hours, 36 minutes, and 15 seconds. That is 12 hours, 21 minutes, and 45 seconds faster than her 2025 time. Himbert wrote that, after three nearly sleepless nights, she kept moving when hallucinations told her to lie down and eventually reached Happy Isles.
Sierre-Zinal returns Saturday with defending champions Philemon Kiriago and Caroline Kimutai facing fields that include Elhousine Elazzaoui, Mădălina Florea, Sophia Laukli, Anna Gibson, and Jessie Diggins making her debut. The women start at 10:30 a.m. CEST (3:30 a.m. CDT) and the men at 11 a.m. CEST (4 a.m. CDT). In the U.S., the race will be live on HBO Max and FloSports, with live timing and tracking also available; the official following guide has those links and the regional broadcast options. A highlights program is due on YouTube during the following week. WMRA and the Athletics Integrity Unit will also hold in-person anti-doping sessions for athletes, coaches, and managers during race weekend.
For a pre-race deep dive, iRunFar has separate men’s and women’s previews, while Freetrail spends the opening of its latest 79-minute Rest Day episode on the race. Rob Prosser’s 80-minute audio preview adds race history, field-depth metrics, and detailed picks. iRunFar’s on-site interviews add defending champion Kimutai’s course-record goal, Nienke Brinkman’s return after injury, and local contender Oria Liaci’s road-to-mountain path.
Belgium’s Logan Perin won KAT100’s 105-mile race in 21:53:17 on Friday morning. Germany’s Nanna Spirgath led the women at Jochberg when we checked at 9:29 a.m. CDT, while the 75K starts Friday night and the 51K and 24K follow Saturday.
Cody Taylor started an unsupported out-and-back of Vermont’s Long Trail on Tuesday morning. He said he carried 16 days of food for a route he estimates at roughly 550 miles with 135,000 feet of climbing. His public page did not show a usable current status Friday morning.
Oregon lost two more races to wildfire conditions. Daybreak Racing canceled Wy’east Trailfest as the Grasshopper Fire pushed west and expanded evacuation and forest-closure pressure across eastern Mount Hood National Forest. Daybreak will move the race one month earlier in 2027, to July 24–25, in an effort to reduce fire-season exposure. Alpine Running also canceled the Elkhorn Crest 50 after five days of monitoring local fires and unhealthy smoke in Baker Valley. The Friday morning NIFC report listed 48 uncontained large fires across Oregon and Washington, with 18,638 personnel assigned to 52 incidents; Grasshopper alone had reached 43,244 acres and was 23% contained.
A new Trail Runner profile follows High Lonesome winner Ryan Sullivan back to his work as a doctor caring for hospitalized patients. The Monday after the race, he worked a 12-hour shift, sent two patients to the ICU, and called a stroke alert. Sullivan works seven straight shifts followed by three weeks off, a rhythm that leaves room for three heavy training weeks and helps him keep running separate from his livelihood and social-media pressure.
Women of Distance’s latest episode tells Maria Guy’s story beyond her 34:18 Millwood 100 effort. Guy stopped to breastfeed her 10-month-old along the route, and the conversation explores her life as an immigrant, mother, and mountain athlete who found her athletic passion only a few years ago.
A Rocky Mountain PBS profile follows Heath Speckman between two roles: three-time Lead Challenge finisher and Lake County sheriff. When the Willow Fire ignited near Leadville, he helped lead the response in the same mountains where he trains and races. Speckman compared the two roles this way: “If I can do that hard thing, I can do this hard thing.”
HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc now offers medical priority to runners whose post-registration injury or illness prevents a safe start. An approved runner can use priority registration for one of the next three editions, but must first cancel the current entry and still pay the future fee and meet the usual entry requirements. Reimbursement remains separate and depends on cancellation insurance.
Seven Southern Nevada races built by Joyce Forier under Calico Racing are moving to Aravaipa. The transition expands Aravaipa’s Nevada calendar to eight annual events alongside Jackpot Ultras, while Forier will continue producing the rest of Calico’s lineup.
COROS’s Badwater breakdown traces Max Jolliffe’s 20:53:41 course record back to a two-month heat block and a failed Santiago Peak rehearsal where he ran out of fluid. He then planned water and ice about every two miles for the race. Jolliffe said the heat never forced him to throttle back, and COROS reports he never walked a step.
Phil Gore begins Project 168 on August 23 at Forrestdale Lake, running 6.71 kilometers every hour for seven days. Supporters can reserve one lap by donating to Telethon7, then run it beside him; the first batch sold out within hours.
Women’s Running Stories’ essay “White Women and DEI in Trail Running” argues that rising visibility for mostly white women is not the same as broad equity in trail running. Using TrailCon, Broken Arrow, and Western States as case studies, it calls on white women with influence to push for structural change inside the sport.
Lastly, Rachel Entrekin’s “UTMB Training for Idiots” turns five days of course recon around Mont Blanc into the resource she couldn’t find before arriving in Chamonix. She explains how she used trains and buses to link sections, when inexpensive lodging stopped being worth the inconvenience, and why learning the course mattered more than chasing other runners’ Strava times.
The most viewed links from our last issue:
Also worth a look:
Liz Derstine’s final-day Via Alpina account includes thunderstorms, a failed headlamp, and a phone-lit 5d 17h 40m finish, pending FKT verification.
Lily Berwanger set a 2:06:32 unsupported FKT on Mount Sneffels, 3:05 under Sabrina Stanley’s previous women’s mark.
Ultra-Trail Snowdonia is now Eryri by UTMB, adopting the Welsh name as part of a stronger language-and-culture focus.
UTMB Mont-Blanc published livestock guardian dog guidance for runners sharing alpine trails with working dogs and herds.
Corrine Malcolm and Stephen Ettinger are expecting a baby in January. Congratulations to them!
David and Megan Roche’s “A Day in the Life” follows the daily logistics of parenting, coaching, and two-a-days.
Derrick Lytle’s Speedgoat film follows his 35mm process and the discipline of working with 36-exposure rolls.
Borderlands’ “Why No One Can Copy a Ciele Hat” traces Ciele from the “Miles hat” prototype that predated the brand name to its early relationship with The Speed Project.
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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