From FKTs to fashion fails, it’s officially trail running awards season. Here’s how the trail world celebrates another wild, wonderful year on the dirt.
First and foremost, they represent a celebration of a year that included incredible race results from some of the trail running’s top athletes and some of the biggest cultural moments in the history of the sport. But even if you don’t follow the front of the pack, the awards can serve as inspiration for what’s possible in your own running, knowing that good results come from hard work, consistency, and being relentless in the pursuit. And, what makes trail running special, is that we’re all in this together, and the supportive community around the sport is there to lift everyone up.
Here’s a rundown of this year’s awards, how you can participate in nominating and voting, and when the winners will be revealed.
European trail running newsletter and podcast producer, Mile & Stone, launched its Trail Running Awards last year to celebrate those who are driving the world of trail running forward and to inspire the sport into the future. Awards include the runners and team of the year, but also honors for the best product, start-up, environmental initiative, communication campaign, and social cause of the year. This year’s awards will include 10 categories that highlight the crossroads of sport, business, and impact, and will once again be delivered in a fun and informative evening gala at the Imperial Palace in Annecy, France.
This year’s Mile & Stone Trail Running Awards event will be held on December 9, but there is still time to nominate a candidate for consideration before the deadline on November 17. (Here is the video of last year’s event, which included presentations in both French and English.)
Since 2021, UltraSignup has closed out the year with its Keep Trail Running Weird Awards. We consider the awards a podium finish and celebration for everyone who runs trail and ultra events—age-group runners, middle-of-the-pack runners, longtime runners, and new runners—as a way to honor the beautifully weird, free-spirited, and authentic culture of the trail running community. For the past five years, we have recognized five category winners nominated by the community and five others based on crunching the numbers in our database.
The nomination window will open in early December, followed by voting in mid-December. This year’s winners of the Keep Trail Running Weird Awards will be announced on December 31.
Last year’s nominated winners were Tony Mendez (Best Dressed), Scott Perry (Best Pacer), Heather Westberg (Best Race-Day Fail), Most Inspirational (Leah Kate Vincent), Dwight Swaney (Favorite Trail Weirdo), while the data-selected winners were Ed Ettinghausen (Most Races Complete, Most Miles Raced), Dipak Bhattacharyya (Most Hours Raced), Richard Tenaglia (World Traveler), and Rookie of the Year (Evan Matusevich), plus Grand Prize winner Bethany Andreas, who was selected randomly from anyone that nominated a candidate or voted.
Freetrail’s Trail Runner of the Year (TROY) and Trail Performance of the Year (TPOY) awards are an extension of Freetrail’s mission to elevate the profile of professional athletes in our sport, while helping casual observers and the general public feel connected to their stories with the hope of creating diehard fans in the process.
The Freetrail awards are voted on by the trail running public and sport/industry experts during a two-week window from late November to early December, with winners announced beginning in early January via an ascending countdown format for the top 10 men and women runners and top five performances. Freetrail utilizes a pool of industry experts, media members, and pro athletes whose votes are weighted to boost their influence on the results and prevent results based on popularity rather than actual performances. (Last year’s Freetrail award winners can be found here.)
Beginning this award season, Freetrail will have a new category of Trail Team of the Year (TTOY) that, based on a forthcoming algorithm, will determine which brand team performed the best in 2025. (More details and a link for the voting page will be announced soon!)
UltraRunning Magazine has delivered its North American UltraRunner of the Year awards since 1981 and in recent years has added Worldwide UltraRunner of the Year awards. Both categories are announced in countdown format with the winners revealed in mid-January. UltraRunning awards are determined through a combination of public nominations and voting, point-based rankings, and voting by a panel of experts. (Last year’s award recipients can be found here.)
In early December, the crew at Fastest Known Time produces a list of numerous top FKT results of all varieties from thousands that were recorded and has its regional editors determine which ones are ranked as the best of the year. The winners are announced in early January.
For the past 13 years, veteran ultrarunner and longtime trail community personality and sage Andy Jones-Wilkins has posted his own year-end ultrarunning awards. (He is also a longtime panelist who helps select UltraRunning’s annual awards.) His 14th annual AJW’s Taproom Year in Ultrarunning Awards are expected to be announced in mid-December. (His selections for the 2024 season can be found here.)
Jones-Wilkins admits that his awards are not scientific in any way, and the criteria are made up entirely by him. One of his only stipulations is that an athlete must be a full-time North American resident (regardless of their citizenship), or be a U.S., Canadian, or Mexican citizen (regardless of where they live). Last year, he also offered an analysis of the UltraRunning awards compared to his own ballot.
The Mountain/Ultra/Trail (MUT) executive committee of USATF’s Long Distance Running Division annually presents awards for runners and masters runners of the year for mountain, trail, and ultra categories, plus a contributor of the year award. (Only USATF member athletes who have results in domestic and international USATF-sanctioned races can be considered.) The recipients will be announced during the Mountain Ultra Trail Running Council session at this year’s USATF Annual Meeting on December 5-6 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Last year’s award recipients can be found here.)
