Stateside Christian Allen has been on our radar for a couple of years. He first caught our eye after winning several Cirque Series races in 2022 and then blew us all away with a best-in-class rookie season in 2023, which included wins at Speedgoat and podium performances on the World Mountain Running Association World Cup. In 2024, however, he put the trail world on notice when he stepped into the spotlight during OCC as part of the UTMB World Series Finals this past August. With his mullet flowing in the wind, the 2-time Cross Country All-American stormed to the front of the race and led it for over 2 hours before the suitcase of courage fell apart. While it wasn’t the win Christian was gunning for, he gave us a real taste of what he might be capable of.
A few weeks later Christian went back to Europe for the Golden Trail Series Finals in Switzerland where he had a great weekend of racing finishing 6th in the prologue and 8th in the big final. This wasn’t the first time Christian would line up against the likes of Remi Bonet, Patrick Kipngeno, and Philemon Kiriago (ie some of the world’s best) and he wasn’t going to let previous results tell him where he belonged in the field.
“I wanted to stick my nose out in the finals in Switzerland and see if I could get myself placed high enough in the Golden Trail Series to be able to do more of their races next year. With that result in Ascona-Locarno I finished the Golden Trail season in the top 10 and I was thrilled with that. The goal though would be to finish in the top 5 overall in 2025.”
Before coming over to the trail Christian attended Weber State and Brigham Young University and that is where his running really blossomed. He competed in cross country and track events and his coach encouraged the team to explore the trails nearby and that is how Christian fell in love with trail running. He then went on a 2-year mission trip to Japan and that is also where he earned this nickname.
“Pretty much anyone there was given a nickname and since I was super small and scrawny and a runner, they called me Slim the Runner, and that name has stayed with me.”
When he is home in Orem, Utah, he is not far from the Brigham Young University (BYU) training facility where US Olympians Clayton Young and Conner Mantz both train. You thought your training partners were fast – but did your training partners finish in the top ten in the Olympic Marathon? Christian came into trail racing off of track and road fitness and believes that the speed work on the road has been beneficial for him as a trail runner. So much so that before the 2025 trail running season starts in earnest, Christian has the Houston Marathon in January on his schedule. The setup at Houston in terms of strength of field and pacers made it an easy pick for an early season goal race.
“I would love to run in Boston or really any of the other Majors but timing wise that is tricky as they take place when I am racing on trails. Houston fits well into my schedule and I still have to run the marathon time that I think I am capable of.”
Coming into 2024 the big goal this year was racing OCC by UTMB in late August. The Speedgoat win in 2023 earned him a direct entry into OCC this year and since Christian has experienced both races – we asked him to compare these hilly 50km events.
“They are very similar in vert numbers and if someone wants to get ready for OCC then Speedgoat would be a great prep event. OCC though has some steeper climbs and a brutal technical section that I did not care for. It was not very long but tough to run through smoothly. That is kind of where I felt bad physically in the race and that did not help. Also the aid stations at Speedgoat were amazing with volunteers really stepping up to help you with even the smallest details, including having crews cool you down with sponges, and I missed that at OCC. Maybe it was a lost in translation situation, but I felt the aid station crews were much less hands on. Plus there were ice buckets everywhere at Speedgoat and not so much in Europe.”
Christian arrived in Europe at the beginning of August to spend time preparing for OCC. While there he explored the various sections of the course and shared a bunch of details and videos on Strava. He raced at Sierre-Zinal (~30km) in mid-August and finished 14th there. There and in many of his previous races nausea came to the forefront, and to this day Christian is not certain about the causes.
“More recently I started to take Zofran [a prescription anti-nausea medication] and that has helped, but it is still not perfect. Plus I would really like the know the why and not simply try to cover it up. It could be a nutrition issue or possibly an altitude problem, but we have not figured that out yet and that is very frustrating.”
While we and Christian are disappointed about how the race at OCC unfolded for him, he hopes to return to OCC in the future. For the fans that might mean having to wait until 2026. The 2025 event is too close to the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships and Christian hopes to put on a show there. We very much hope so.
