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Friends,
I’m operating with the thesis that 2024 is the year trail running changed forever. Emerging from the weekend where David Sinclair and Rachel Drake both eviscerated extremely strong course records at JFK50, the pro racing season ended with a thunderclap in a season that will reverberate in history.
To put things in context, let’s take a trip down memory lane. In 2012, Ellie Greenwood was at the height of her hall-of-fame career when she won JFK in a then-CR time of 6:12:01. That same year, all-time legend Max King won in a new CR time of 5:34:58. It was a transformative moment for the sport, in a year where Ellie had also shattered Ann Trason’s Western States CR and finished a unanimous winner of Ultra Runner of the Year, and where Max secured USATF honors as the best trail athlete in America for the second year in a row. These are bonafide giants of our sport’s history.
Nobody sniffed Ellie’s record for 10 years until Sarah Biehl was able to breakthrough and lower the CR to 6:05:42 in 2022. On the men’s side, since Max’s run, two others have owned the JFK standard – Jim Walmsley from 2016, and Hayden Hawks who entered this weekend as the fastest man ever on the course, boasting a 5:18:40 win from 2020.
On Saturday, Rachel Drake built on her TROY-worthy season with a winning time of 5:57:32, becoming the first woman to crack the 6hr threshold in the race’s 62-year history. Equally impressive, David Sinclair continued his incredible season, dominating the field, and lowering Hayden’s mark by ten full minutes, finishing in 5:08:26 – a staggering margin to remove from the existing standard.
For those doing math at home, the women’s and men’s CRs at JFK are now 15mins and 26mins lower respectively, than those seemingly unbreakable marks from 2012. A lot can change in 12 years. Rachel and David stand on the shoulders of giants, but clearly the sport is in new territory. And that’s but one example from this incredible season.
Conversation around the modern step-changes in performance typically revolve around what I’m calling “The Three Cs” – carbon, carbohydrates, & cooling. The equipment is faster, the nutrition products are better, and cooling strategies are surgical. When combined, I’d argue these three variables constitute the overarching story of the 2024 season and are upstream of the record book annihilation we’ve witnessed so many times this year. While it’s impossible to know what Ellie and Max could have run at JFK with the luxury of super shoes and modern fueling knowledge, my guess is faster. Like the transition from wood to composite tennis rackets in the ’80s, such is the nature of a sport’s evolution.
In a recent AMA podcast episode I recorded for Freetrail subscribers, a listener asked “Did 2024 change ultras, making them less art more science? Is this still a soul sport?” Honestly, I think this is a wonderful question that contains two distinct parts. Let’s take them individually.
When David Roche laid waist to Matt Carpenter’s Leadville course record, it was clear the performance was a flawlessly executed science experiment where every tiny detail held immense weight and was backed by peer-reviewed literature. Back in my day, Anton Krupicka was sleeping in a public bathroom, running shirtless across the Sawatch, en route to his victories on the same course.
Tony famously fell short of Carpenter’s Leadville mark on subsequent attempts, where David was successful on his first try. Using these individuals as the oversimplified personifications of the art vs. science dichotomy – the soul shredder vs. the optimized thoroughbred – yes, you could say that science has usurped art at the pointy end of professional trail racing. And 2024 might be the official demarkation when that creeping trend became totally entrenched.
Inherent in the second part of the question – “is this still a soul sport?” – is a suggestion that the scientific precision of today’s athletes feels at odds with the soulful, free-spirited roots of trail running. I can understand why some people would feel that way. Few have moved the needle more than Tony in trail running history, single handedly inspiring a generation with his style and his values, prolifically documenting everything in his blog. But it was never the results that made Tony interesting. It was the commitment and originality he brought to the practice. Though he races far less now, as a fan, I remain completely compelled by his story and the philosophical foundation on which it’s built. Eighteen years after his first Leadville victory, he remains an absolute icon.
Trail running has always been more than data or gear. It will always be more than The Three Cs. Though the 2024 Leadville and JFK performances signal a paradigm shift in trail running history, there will always be room for soul.
They game has changed forever. The game will always be the same.
Miscellaneous Stuff
+ Strava File Of The Week – As mentioned above, please spend time analyzing both Rachel Drake and David Sinclair‘s Strava files from their respective course record victories at JFK. Make sure to follow them both.
+ Trail Runner Of The Year – The third edition of Trail Runner Of The Year opens for voting next Monday, 12/2. Voting will stay open for two weeks, closing on 12/16. We hope you’ll vote and help us celebrate the season in trail running. Our rollout will begin promptly on 1/1/25.
+ Vinny B Activates IG – UTMB men’s champion, Vincent Bouillard activated public mode on his personal Instagram account, dropping a wonderful post. He mentions a “journey to Chianti,” teasing a potential duel with Kilian Jornet with Golden Ticket implications next spring… Eye ball emojis!
+ TRE Reactions from Matt Trappe – My new favorite newsletter is A Matter of Brand by Matt Trappe. The latest send was a thoughtful take on The Running Event – the industry’s largest trade show. I chose to skip the show this year, so Matt’s post helped me get caught up, though it increased my FOMO. An excerpt: “I saw an industry that is oddly enough experiencing both growth and disruption simultaneously. Typically industries invite disruption by becoming stale and stagnant – not this time. Running is going nuclear.”
+ Speedland Road Shoe – Last week at TRE Speedland gave a sneak peek of the forthcoming road commission dropping in Spring 2025. The first road racing super shoe with a BOA fit system, combined with the patented removable plate, this shoe almost makes me want to signup for a marathon. Behold the RX:FPY.
+ Mile & Stone Awards – I’m excited to participate in the first annual Mile & Stone Awards to recognize some of the great people in the trail running industry in 2024. Mile & Stone has become one of my favorite resources in the sport, and I’m honored to be a judge in the inaugural year.
+ Backyard Ultra in the Wall Street Journal – America’s biggest business publication covered the quirky sub-culture of backyard racing. Surprisingly, it’s not behind a paywall (at least for me).
+ Call For Trail Newbies – Our apparel partner, Goldwin, is looking for new trail runners to potentially feature in a film around our race The Big Alta, happening next march. If you fit the description and are keen to run in NorCal next spring, slide into our DMs or email us at hello@freetrail.com!
Love and gratitude,
DBo