What's Gained & Lost When Trail Running Goes Mainstream?

The Money Arrives

Big money has only recently started flowing into trail running. In 2019, Hoka became a sponsor of the Western States 100, a 100-mile race in California's Sierra Nevada and one of the sport’s oldest and most prestigious races. By 2022, the brand had also become the title sponsor of the entire UTMB World Series, and turned a collection of iconic races around the world into a unified global circuit. The brand’s 2025 UTMB Mont-Blanc FlyLab—a futuristic, mirror-lined installation bathed in icy blue light with glowing pillars of alpine landscape photos—served as a home base for runners to grab coffee, demo shoes, and browse new products. Spectators could join in on a scavenger hunt for the chance to win a pair of Mafate 5s.

Other brands have followed, bringing smaller races into the spotlight: Adidas teamed up with Lake Sonoma two years ago, and also hosts Infinite Trails, a 100K team race in Austria, which ends at Alpentherme, a spa and thermal bath resort. Competitors and spectators shed their sweaty sportswear and slip into bathing suits for a massive post-race pool party in one of the resort's giant pools while the winners slosh steins of beer on each other.

The recently relaunched Nike ACG (All Conditions Gear) has also taken on trail sponsorship, officially partnering with Gorge Waterfalls in Oregon this year, bringing along a $75,000 prize purse to kick off the new relationship. In partnership with local adventure company Camp Yoshi, ACG hosted a big campout for the weekend dubbed the Sasquatch Sleepover. Each day, guests could consult a posted itinerary and move between a DJ-manned listening tent, sauna time, happy hour, and a naturalist-guided hike.

“Some of the bigger companies that are out there have swallowed up some of those smaller events. For some races, that’s been a great thing because it literally kept the race alive,” Corey Woltering, an ultrarunner who manages and runs with Merrell's athlete team, tells Field Mag. “There’s also a lot more money going into the sport. Sponsors and brands are putting more money into the finish line, merch, livestream—all of that—but also, athletes are actually getting paid more these days.”

The UTMB model is trickling down fast. Lake Sonoma doesn't draw thousands of spectators or a stacked professional field chasing prize money (yet), but it’s gaining traction as a Western States qualifier, and Adidas is investing now, before the crowds arrive. This year, they hosted a shakeout run, a panel featuring five athletes including Robbie Simpson, who won the 50K, and Emily Hawgood, who took second place for women in the 100K, and a catered dinner the night before. Alongside the finish-line festivities, 150 runners also joined a wine social the day after, where staff passed around light bites and wine samples while race directors Gina Lucrezi and Justin Keller toasted the crowd.

“The energy around the [Lake Sonoma] race was already incredible,” says Peter Orcutt, senior director of Adidas Outdoor North America. “So when we teamed up, we focused on fun ways to enhance the race to make it an even better experience for the growing trail running community.” Race organizers often handle the unglamorous work, like taking care of logistics and marking the course, while brands get creative with activations and amenities. “We get to zoom out beyond the race itself and provide opportunities for the community to come together,” says Orcutt.

Built on top of what race organizers have already been doing to turn more people onto competitive trail running—livestreaming events, robust media coverage, expo villages—these experiences are helping draw more people than ever to trail races. Prestigious races like Western States, UTMB, and Hardrock have become magnets for spectators, with fans traveling far just to watch athletes like Courtney Dauwalter and Rachel Entrekin gruel it out for hours, says Dakota Jones, a Colorado-based ultrarunner who discovered ultras at 17 years old and is sponsored by Nnormal. While they wait to watch their favorite pro cross the finish line, they can demo shoes, hear panel discussions, or dance to a DJ set.

Max Jolliffe, a professional ultrarunner and former surfer, says that if a brand has a real presence and people there, it adds to the vibe of the race day. “When it feels authentic, it's awesome,” he says. “The best activations I've seen are the ones where a brand actually shows up because they get the culture, not just because they want eyeballs on a banner.”

Why Every Brand Wants a Piece of Trail Running

Ultras are inherently social. Competitors are aided by a team of pacers and crew who spend hours or even days on the trail supporting the race—that tends to forge fast bonds. “I do think people have powerful experiences on roads, but I also think that there's something special about leaving the town. You're leaving your safe space. During trail races, people have to show up and be vulnerable,” says Jones. “All of these things coming together is an amazing recipe to help you connect with other people and feel like a better version of yourself.”

Plus, many races take place in remote wilderness areas with trails and campgrounds, so there's less reason to rush off when you finish. “I can go race somewhere fun, and my crew can also be in a really cool place. So now it's like a vacation,” says Woltering. “The crews get to hang out with other people that are crewing and everyone kind of cheers each other on. It's actually a very supportive community.”

Coming from surf culture, where there’s an every-man-for-himself mindset at a crowded break, Jolliffe was struck by how different the vibe was. “Trail running people are just genuinely stoked for each other,” he says. “There's no localism, no hierarchy, you’re just all in it together, and that creates this instant bond. It's the kind of community that makes you want to keep showing up.”

That flourishing community element is precisely what makes trail running an attractive target for brand involvement. As running and social fitness have exploded in the last few years, companies have recognized the value of partnering with existing communities, which have already built trust and a relationship with their members. On sponsors local run clubs, and Nike recently announced their first global sponsorship of The Yard, a boutique gym founded in Australia with franchised locations around the world. Brands can provide financial support to groups that need it, but they can also get their logo and products in front of a targeted, passionate audience. The trail running community has always been strong, but it’s also historically been a lesser-tapped segment than road running.

Jones, however, is wary of how easily the word “community” gets overused. It's a great term, he says, as it captures something real about trail running culture and the collective experience of lifting each other up. “It’s also really easy for brands to co-opt that idea in a way that will sell more of their products,” he says. “And whenever that happens, it cheapens and sterilizes that collective experience.”

The Cost of Going Mainstream

Not all trail runners are happy about the cash showering their sport. Some worry it’s at risk of losing the rugged spirit that made it special in the first place. “There's something really cool about being a very small group of people that most of the world ignores and almost thinks it's crazy, and you go out and do your thing because you love it, just with a few crazy people,” says Jones. “As trail running becomes more popular, that rebel vibe has to fade, right? When everybody's doing the same thing, you're no longer going against the grain or being unconventional.”

For participants, one of the biggest impacts is that access to certain races has gotten harder. It isn’t necessarily caused directly by brand involvement, but by overall growth of the sport. Western States is an easy example. The race is capped at 369 runners per its U.S. Forest Service permit, and this year, over 11,000 entered the lottery for a chance to run—compared to 6,000 in 2022. “A lot of people wait eight to 10 years to even have a chance to race it,” says Woltering.

As with anything that gets more corporate, the race experience at certain events is increasingly familiar, whether you're racing in California, Chamonix, or Chiang Mai (all home to events under the UTMB umbrella). “When you can race in three different countries, at three completely different events, but still have almost the same vibe at the start line and finish line, sometimes it feels a little old,” Woltering says.

Will Brand Involvement Make or Break the Sport?

Brands have brought real benefits, and not just in production value or logistical resources that most race organizers struggled to finance as they operated with more passion than cash. In 2024, Hoka doubled the prize pot for competitors and set a precedent of equal prize money for both men and women. However, the money still isn’t flowing freely at every race: Race organizers of Black Canyon, a prestigious 100K through the Sonoran Desert, crowdsource (and match) the prize purse, despite Hoka sponsorship.

The weekend-long festival atmosphere also pays off for runners and their supporters, who after traveling a long way for a relatively short race, have more events and programming to enjoy while they’re on the ground.

Jones sees room for all of it. “The one thing that I've always liked about trail running is that there's a lot of diversity in the types of events you can do—and I think that remains true,” he says. “There are still plenty of small races that just put a line in the dirt and a bunch of people go out and race. I’m confident I can still do that. Whether that's racing at UTMB or just going for a long run with my friends, I’m not losing the ability to do the sport I love.”

As races and athletes receive more promotion from brands, the audience for trail running widens. “We are seeing a lot of people from different walks of life find and fall in love with the sport,” says Jolliffe. “When I first started running I didn’t really have any friends who were into it. Now I feel like there’s a ton of people who grew up like me, skateboarding and surfing, who have found running later in life.” The space created at busier events benefits more than brands and title sponsors. In 2024, the most popular tent at UTMB’s brand village was the one occupied by the Women’s Trailrunning Fund, whose "Here for the Women's Race" t-shirts became the most sought-after merch of the week. The organization's aim is to uplift women's role in trail running at all levels, not just pro.

Trail running's growth is inevitable. Races will likely continue becoming harder to get into, and the old dirtbag atmosphere will take a new shape—at some events, but not all. But the benefits are real too, and the unique community around the sport, the same one that's energizing interest in it, can shape what it becomes. Small events today might become iconic in decades to come. In the meantime, sitting in the recovery chair at Lake Sonoma, covered in mud, with free beer and pizza in hand, it felt like things were headed in the right direction.