2017 End of Year Review and Predictions for 2018 Ultrarunnerpodcast.com

2017 was a big year in ultrarunning. Between Jim Walmsey’s bold predictions on huge stages, the rise in popularity and performances of women road and track times, and the overall growth of the sport, these have been an interesting and fun twelve months.

Just like years past (here’s 2015 and 2016), we put our thinkin’ caps on and got together to discuss the standout performances, overall leaders, best gear, silliest trends, “Field of Dreams” matchups, and more. Trying to compare Camille and Courtney, Jim and Tim, and also guess who’ll be pushing the pace in 2018 was no easy task!

This year co-host Sarah Lavender Smith and I were joined by Mountain Outhouse alter ego slash race director slash filmmaker slash elite runner Jamil Coury to get a broad range of perspectives and opinions.

In terms of preparation, we considered similar categories as years past, then added a few as recommended by the Patreon crew.  The three of us decided on the categories 10 days before recording and had not seen each others answers.

Below are the categories. Feel free to respond with your answers to this difficult list.

2017 Year in Review



* Best Trail Performance (M/F)

* Best Road/Track Performance (M/F)

* Best Overall Year (M/F)

* Favorite Race of the Year

* Biggest Story of the Year

* Story of the Year that Exemplifies the Sport

* Most Influential Person or Thing in MUT Running

* Gear (Trends we like/Trends we don’t like.)

* Media (Trends we like/Trends we don’t like.)

* Personal Running Milestone of the Year.



Ultra/Trail Predictions for 2018



* Who will be the standout athlete (M/F)?

* If runners were IPO’s, who would you put money on?

* What do you think will be the big trend in the MUT scene?

* What do you hope will be the big trend in the MUT scene?

* What would be your dream showdown? (A few runners and a course.)



Links Mentioned:

More on Teague O’Connor

My post about cameras on the course.

Here’s Katie Grossman’s article on Guillaume Calmette’s run at Big’s Backyard Ultra.

Here’s Sarah’s interview following her run at Mauna to Mauna.

Here’s the Patreon-exclusive Zach Miller episode from February.

Here’s Myke Hermsmeyer’s Instagram site.

Here’s Jamil’s site for Araivapa Running.

Here’s a link for Sarah’s book: The Trail Runner’s Companion: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trail Running and Racing, from 5Ks to Ultras