Singletrack With Mathias Eichler

Katharina Hartmuth is the incredible 2nd place finisher of the 2023 UTMB women's race and runs for Hoka. She's joining me on Singletrack from beautiful Zürich, Switzerland where the German is studying earth sciences with emphasis on atmospheric and climate science at ETH Zürich. We talk about the importance of balancing the pro athlete life with the real world and her approach to training as a self-coached athlete. She sees joy as the key to her success and hopes that our trail running community will always stay as welcoming and accessible as it is today.

• Katharina Hartmuth on Instagram
• Katharina Hartmuth on Strava
• Katharina Hartmuth on UTMB

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Electric Cable Car your trail and mountain news!

Samuel Hartman lives and trains in his very flat Ohio but fulfilled his dream to finally race TDS this past week. As a race director himself he shares his observations on being part of the world's largest trail race spectacle. We talk about vacationing in Europe and conquering the 'more difficult' UTMB race. After having followed UTMB from afar all last week his report directly from the ground is exactly what was need to keep the fire burning.

• Samuel Hartman on Instagram
• TINAR Race Series on Instagram
• TINAR Race Series
• The Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance by Adharanand Finn

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Daily trail and mountain news: Electric Cable Car.

The female self-supported Mount Rainier Infinity Loop FKT has just been reset and my mind is blown. I had to sit down with Abby and Kiira who completed this route and learn about their incredible adventure and about the motivation behind it all.

Abby and Kiira didn't just run this for themselves. In honor of their friend Luke who passed away in a climbing accident last year they wanted to use this effort to raise awareness (and funds through a GoFundMe campaign) for the important work the American Alpine Club does with their Climbing Grief Fund.

• Mt. Rainier Infinity Loop FKT
• Abigail Westling on Instagram
• Kiira Antenucci on Instagram
• GoFundMe for the Climbing Grief Fund
• American Alpine Club: The Climbing Grief Fund

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Brittany has had a busy year and it's not over yet. So many races, so many great results and an incredible finish at Beast of Big Creek is setting her up for her first 100 miler, the Oregon Cascades 100 later this month. We talk about all this, and why you should tell your kids to run cross country in high school.

• Brittany Kealy on Instagram
• Beast of Big Creek

The Beast of Big Creek races just happened this past weekend and I am still sitting on boxes on top of boxes in my office. But! I had to take the chance and chat with Eddy Allen from Lacey WA who crushed the Skyrace course in 3hrs 14min.

Thank you to everyone who came out and raced with us this past weekend. We had an incredible weekend. Busy, but so so wonderful. You all did so great out there.

• Eddy Allen on Instagram
• Beast of Big Creek
• Cushman Six

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UTMB is the growing, omnipresent entity in our sport of trail and ultra running, and naturally I have questions. So, I went to the source, and got answers. In this week's episode of Singletrack I have the incredible honor to chat with Frédéric Lénart, CEO of the UTMB Group to discuss their partnership with Ironman, the expansion in the US, it's relationship with the race directors on the ground, and ultimately, UTMB's motivation behind it all. On Electric Cable Car I published an article, not a transcript, with some of the highlights we discussed on this episode; answers to questions that I hadn't seen written down anywhere else.

• UTMB World Series
• The Race that Changed Running: The Inside Story of UTMB
• Addendum to my Conversation with Frédéric Lénart on Singletrack

Hannes is back on Singletrack and we got a lot to talk about since we connected over a year ago. In this chat cover Hannes' personal changes (all exciting and great) to his professional developments, including his nutritions sponsors challenges and of course his recent races at the World Championships in Innsbruck and of course his win at the Eiger Ultra Trail 101. Now we're five weeks to UTMB and Hannes is calm, excited, and completely dialed for another run around the magical Mont Blanc.

• Hannes Namberger on Instagram
• Hannes on Singletrack Episode 229
• Cover pic by The Adventure Bakery

The World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria are already a few weeks back now, but shortly after I sat down with Marcel Höche who ran for Team Germany to chat about his experience of wearing the National Team jersey. We talk about the difference between a race of this caliber and makeup vs. UTMB and of course, his exciting racing plans for the remainder of the year.

• Marcel Höche on Instagram

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Calling in from Innsbruck, Austria is Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps, wonderful supporter of the Trail Running Film Festival and author of the incredible new book: "The Race That Changed Running – the inside story of UTMB". In this episode we chat about his new book – which you should buy immediately, the difference between Euro and US trail running, the challenges our sport is facing as it's growing into the future, and of course the role that UTMB plays in all of this.

• Get the book: The Race that Changed Everything – The Inside Story of UTMB by Doug Mayer
• Run the Alps
• Run the Alps on Instagram

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Steve Auch is back on Singletrack and barely recovered from a massive weekend race directing the popular City und Trail event in Bad Reichenhall in the Bavarian Alps in Germany. We talk about the beauty and the challenges of directing races, the inspiration and the difference between races in the US and Europe and how to transition from behind the megaphone to putting the bib back on yourself.

• Steve Auch on Instagram
• City und Trail
• City und Trail on Instagram
• Zugspitz Ultra
• Rennsteiglauf

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