Have UTMB gone too far this time in setting up their event in Whistler, British Columbia? Let's talk about it. Let's start with a little backstory. Most of you will know the history of the UTMB event. Set up by Michael and Catherine Paletti in around 2003, they had the idea to create a race that went the entire circumference of the Mont Blanc massive in France and in doing so they created an iconic event and one that has essentially become the stellar trail and ultra running event of the year. More recently, UTMB joined forces with the Iron Man group to create an even bigger, more powerful organization with huge funding capabilities and enormous negotiating capacity. And UTMB have now created what they're calling the World Series with the finals being the stellar event at the end of August in Chamonix. Now in order to qualify without going into too much detail, you need to earn stones and you can only get stones by taking part in a UTMB branded event. Now in order to facilitate this, UTMB International have been spending an awful lot of time and money setting up these UTMB branded events around the world. They've either taken over existing events and rebranded them or they have set up brand new events. Suffice to say this has created some disquiet amongst the trail and ultra running community. Long before UTMB ever got involved with the Iron Man group, people were beginning to worry that they were taking over trail running and beginning to monopolise the community. Now that they've started to take over established races, that disquiet for some has turned to anger and resentment. Which brings us to today's news that UTMB has set up a race in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Now what's wrong with that you say? More choice for Canadian Trail and Ultra Runners. More chance for Canadian runners to qualify for the UTMB World Series Finals in Chamonix. Well let me explain, there was already a race in Whistler, British Columbia, organised by the Whistler Alpine Meadows group or WAM as we'll call them and Race Director Gary Robbins. Gary's race had been running for six years. In order to facilitate the race, Gary had to speak to a company called Vale Resorts and they own the ski resort on Whistler Mountain where the race is held. Now it's fair to say that even before UTMB got involved, WAM had not found it particularly easy to deal with Vale Resorts. Just a monumental struggle to organise and pull off the 2022 edition. Organising the 2023 edition, Vale Resorts completely ghosted WAM and Gary Robbins. Not turning up for Zoom calls, not replying to emails. By the way just a quick note if you are finding this video useful or interesting then please do consider subscribing to the channel and do click that like button down below and the notifications bell so you know every time we upload a new video. With that on we go. It became very clear to Gary and the team that they were being pushed out by Vale Resorts and it wasn't until the last 48 hours that we all understand why, with the announcement of the UTMB Whistler British Columbia events. Get up in the same location and at the same time of year as Gary's event had been. Now there's no getting away from it. What's happened here is that UTMB have approached Vale Resorts completely independently of Gary and the WAM team. They have essentially sidelined Gary's race and gone straight to the landowner. Remember the money and the bargaining power that UTMB and the Ironman group now have. They have clearly offered Vale Resorts a much better deal than Gary or WAM ever could. But why did UTMB go straight to Vale Resorts? Why didn't they talk to Gary and the WAM team about taking over their race? Well I'm going to read between the lines here because UTMB had approached Gary Robbins with about a different race. The Squarmish 5050 which is a very well known race that Gary organizes. And Gary had turned them down. Not once but twice. UTMB came knocking and Gary said no. However, on the third occasion having spoken to some other race directors, Gary agreed to talk to UTMB. But in those discussions, Gary made it clear there were quite a few non-negotiables. Gary wanted to protect his race, to protect the things that he built up in the years running Squarmish. And he wasn't prepared to give those up, which is quite understandable. But putting those barriers in place will have put off UTMB. So having had those difficult discussions with Gary about Squarmish, when it came to WAM, UTMB International decided to sidestep that conversation and went straight to Vale Resorts. Offered Vale a deal they couldn't refuse, squeezed WAM out of the equation, and set up their own event. Now you might be watching this thinking, well that is just business I'm afraid. Get on with it. Or you might be angry, annoyed that UTMB and Vale Resorts, by the way, have been allowed to behave in this way. You might also feel very sorry for Gary and his team, who've done so much for the trail and ultra-running community and are a small organisation just trying to make a living. People around the world know and love Gary, partly through the films of Ethan Newbury and through his epic, Barclay Marathons Adventures. He's one of the unmistakable faces of the trail and ultra-running community and it's heartbreaking to see small businesses, small race companies being steam-roloaded by the Ironman Group. But what do we do about it? Well, the answer is to support your local running companies, your local trail events, your local ultra-running events. Go and run those races. You may also want to boycott UTMB events, but I'm not about boycotting UTMB events. Anyone who watches this channel, if you know me, look, I love UTMB. I love the enormity of it. I love the sense of community that you do get when you go to Chamony for UTMB week. It's an amazing place to be. But I love my local events too. I love the guys who organised the races here in Sussex in the UK, where I live. The race directors are all my mates and I do their races just as much as I do the big UTMB events. They can coexist together if we support them. Go and sign up for a locally organised non-UTMB event. Look, race sign ups are down since COVID. If you are a race director of a small company, it's tough. I understand that. So we need to support you. So go and sign up for those races. Give them your money and help them to survive. What has happened to Gary and WAM is particularly unfortunate. And I don't think that kind of situation is likely to arise very often. But if you are a struggling race director and UTMB approaches you, you do have a decision to make. You don't have to sell to them. And most likely that will be that. But you may have to fight. You may have to stand your ground. But with the support of the local running community, the people that buy into your race, the people that love your race, the people that will choose you over the UTMB race, then you have a chance. So you're telling me there's a chance. The good news is that Gary is setting up a new race in Whistler, in direct competition to the UTMB event. So I wish Gary every success with that new venture. And if you are a runner in that local area of Whistler, then you know precisely what you have to do. If you'd like to watch a video of me interviewing the UTMB International CEO about race acquisition, then click that link right there. Otherwise, I'll see you on the start line next time. Take care, bye-bye.