The post The Changing Geography of Trail Running and Ultrarunning: A Look at Nations Represented at UTMB and CCC appeared first on iRunFar.

With the 2024 UTMB Mont Blanc festival taking place this week in Chamonix, France, we wanted to take a look at how the numbers behind these events have been trending over the years. As one of the focal points of the global trail running world, this week of racing has a gravitational pull that attracts many of the best runners.

The UTMB Mont Blanc festival is the venue of the UTMB World Series Finals, each requiring entry via a lottery system. To qualify for the lottery, participants must have at least one running stone (acquired through finishing a UTMB World Series event) and a valid UTMB Index (achieved by finishing an event of the requisite distance or difficulty). Elite athletes with the qualifications are rewarded with direct entry.

So, who actually races at the UTMB Mont Blanc festival? And how have participants’ geographies changed over time? These are the questions we begin to answer in this article. We look at how the geography of UTMB finishers has changed over time, starting with a continent-level view and then diving into a country breakdown to get a glimpse into the shifting tides within the trail running world.

Dataset

The dataset used in this analysis pulls finisher data from International Trail Running Association results. The data spans from 2009 until 2023 and focuses on finishers from the UTMB (100 miles) and CCC (100 kilometers) events. We chose 2009 as a start date because, while the event started in 2003, the organization did not institute a lottery until 2009. We chose to limit this analysis to UTMB and CCC as they are the most popular events, with a roughly similar number of entrants over the years. Using this dataset, we were able to perform a comparable analysis of finishers over time.

The following graph shows the number of distinct nationalities of finishers recorded at UTMB or CCC over the years.

Nationalities Recorded in UTMB and CCC Finishers

Continental Breakdown

Starting with a high-level view, we explore how participation across continents differs for this event. Taking place in Chamonix, it is at the center of the European trail running scene and thus can be expected to boast a large European presence. By plotting the number of finishers by continent over the years, this was indeed evident, with European runners still accounting for a little more than 70% of finishers in 2023 — but a trend of other continents increasing in representation could be seen.

Note that UTMB did not take place in 2020, and in 2021, international travel was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Breakdown of Finishers by Continent

Europe

Digging into the Europe data, I plotted the percentage of finishers coming from each European country. France has the most runners, with nearly 40% of all European finishers in 2023 coming from France. Spain is next, accounting for about 16% of European finishers in 2023. After leaving France, the two other countries that the race goes through, Italy and Switzerland, are also in the top five, along with Great Britain.

Breakdown of Top European Countries

While European presence is still most prominent at UTMB, this event is capturing the attention of trail runners around the globe. Zooming in on the finishers by continent graph to exclude Europe, we can see some interesting upward trends, specifically from Asia and North America.

Breakdown of Countries Excluding Europe

North America

North American runners represented 8% of all finishers in 2023. This growth is led by the U.S., whose growth in representation has roughly mirrored that of the North American total.

From just over 1% in 2009, runners from the U.S. now consist of close to 6% of the entire field. This growth in popularity of the event was highlighted last year, with Americans taking top spots at UTMB, in both the men’s and women’s fields.

Runners From the U.S. as a Percentage of Total Finishers

Breaking down the North American growth by country, we see it is predominantly driven by the U.S. and Canada, with the U.S. hovering around 70% of the share, and Canada inching over 20%. These percentages have remained fairly consistent over the years. The majority of the remainder is made up of runners from Mexico, who accounted for over 7% of the North American contingent in 2023.

Breakdown of North American Countries

Asia

Looking at the breakdown of Asian finishers over the years, we see a different story. The percentage of Asian finishers coming from certain countries has fluctuated significantly over time. In 2010, the vast majority — more than 80% — of participants from Asian countries were from Japan. This percentage has changed over time, now closer to 30%, as more participants have entered the running scene from Hong Kong, Thailand, and China.

Breakdown of Asian Countries

Looking at a breakdown of the number of finishers from Japan, we see that the percentage of overall participants peaked in 2013, at almost 6% and, although slightly lower in recent years, has remained roughly consistent (save for a drop in 2021, when travel restrictions were in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.) In 2023, Japanese runners accounted for 3.5% of total finishers.

Participation of Japanese Runners

This shows us that the growth in Asian participation is due to a quite significant jump in runners from Hong Kong, Thailand, and China.

This growth in popularity can be seen from practically no representation (up until 2016, Thailand had no recorded finishers of UTMB or CCC) to these three countries combined contributing to roughly 6% of all finishers at the 2023 UTMB.

Participation of Runners From Hong Kong, China, and Thailand

South America, Africa, and Oceania

While representation from South America, Africa, and Oceania make up a smaller percentage of total finishers at UTMB, they are also trending upward as a percent of the total. South American runners are led by Argentina, providing around 40% of the continent’s total finishers. Brazil is in second, with around 20%, and Peru is in third, increasing to 12%.

Africa is primarily led by South Africa, which accounts for around 70% of African finishers. The number of unique African countries being represented has been increasing year over year, with nine in 2023, compared to only two in 2013.

In Oceania, Australia leads New Zealand roughly 80% to 20%.

Thoughts and Analysis

Looking at continent and country trends of finishers at UTMB and CCC is an interesting way to observe shifts in the sport over time. Based in Europe, the UTMB Mont Blanc festival has established itself as the center of the European trail running world, and increasingly has attracted runners from around the world.

North America and Asia have seen the largest increases over the past decade, led primarily by wealthier nations who, firstly, have access to UTMB qualifying races in their country, and, secondly, have the disposable income necessary to purchase travel to Europe and the race entries, and carry all the other costs related to participation.

There has been a notable increase in runners from Thailand, Hong Kong, and China. These countries have come to be seen as trail running destinations, with prominent events taking place there. For example, Thailand hosted the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.

There are also several key figures that have continued to bolster the growth of the sport in Asia. Hong Kong native Janet Ng has been president of the International Trail Running Association since 2021. Chinese native Fu-Zhao Xiang recently finished second at the 2024 Western States 100, as well as fourth at the 2023 UTMB. And runners like China’s Jia-Sheng Shen and Miao Yao have also been making a name for themselves at the UTMB World Series Finals for years, leading the way for Chinese racers across Europe.

Many of the nations with increasing representation at UTMB also have notable figures who have advanced the sport in their country. Looking solely at the change in raw numbers of finishers since 2009, Spain — the original home of the GOAT, Kilian Jornet — has seen the largest increase. And when a super star such as the American Courtney Dauwalter crosses the tape first, it can inspire a generation.

Another thing that stuck out from this data, is that we have not yet seen the influx of Kenyan and other East African runners into ultra distances like we’ve seen in short distance trail running and mountain running. At the 2024 Sierre-Zinal, five of the top 10 men and two of the top 10 women were from Kenya.

Momentum like we see in this data around a sport can create a culture that acts as a flywheel for future participation. Several articles have been written about the socio-culture factors that lead to Jamaicans being such great sprinters. The culture built up over time around ultrarunning in a country could lead to certain nations becoming dominant in the sport.

We have questions about what the geography of the sport will look like in the future. Will we see a shift into longer distances from Kenyan runners, as trail running continues to popularize in their country and barriers to entry are better addressed? Will this happen in other countries that are not yet represented? And of course there are the bigger looming questions, will the sport be able to tackle the socioeconomic barriers that prevent full global representation at an event like the UTMB Mont Blanc festival?

As the 2024 UTMB Mont Blanc festival takes place this week, we will will eagerly follow along as runners from around the globe make their way around Mont Blanc.

Call for Comments

• What other continent or country trends do you find interesting?
• Undoubtedly economic factors contribute to countries having high representation at UTMB. What do you think are some other factors?
• Who do you think will win this year’s UTMB?

The Changing Geography of Trail Running and Ultrarunning: A Look at Nations Represented at UTMB and CCC by Zander Chase.