The Freetrail Podcast with Dylan Bowman

Today we welcome the #1 Trail Runners of the Year, Jim Walmsley and Katie Schide, both Americans who currently reside in France. This is the second time each has won our prestigious award and they've both been featured all four years of TROY's existence.     Jim's season was anything but straight forward. He started with a big win at Chianti by UTMB in the spring before an injury prevented him from defending his win at the Western States 100. Luckily, he bounced back in a big way, winning OCC in August and then the Long Trail World Championship in September - the second individual gold medal of his career.         On the other hand, Katie is crowned TROY for the second year in a row. She started with a win at Madeira Island Ultra Trail before winning and setting a new course record at the Hardrock 100 in July. Only three weeks later she was second at Sierre-Zinal before winning the Long Trail World Championship in September.      This episode is part of Freetrail's annual Trail Runner of the Year Rollout -- an opportunity to reflect on the 2025 season and celebrate the athletes who performed the best according to the global trail running community. We're proud to partner with All Conditions Gear to bring the awards to life.    REGISTER FOR THE BIG ALTA     REGISTER FOR GORGE WATERFALLS   Sponsors: Grab a trail running pack from Osprey Use code FREETRAIL25 for 25% off your first order of NEVERSECOND nutrition at never2.com Go to ketone.com/freetrail30 for 30% off a subscription of Ketone IQ Freetrail Links: Website | Freetrail Pro | Patreon | Instagram | YouTube | Freetrail Experts   Dylan Links: Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Strava

Today we welcome the #2 Trail Runners of the Year, Ruth Croft of New Zealand and Francesco Puppi of Italy.      We start with Ruth who is unquestionably one of the best to ever do it. This season, she started with a huge victory at Tarawera, another at the MaXi Race 60k, all building towards UTMB where she won in what felt like a flawlessly executed performance. In doing so, Ruth became only the second person to win all three of the UTMB world final events, showing her career-long consistency and range across distances.         Francesco Puppi posted the best season of his career. Nine races with six victories including impressive wins at both the Canyons 100k in April and CCC in August — the two best 100k performances of the year in the only to 100k races of his career.      This episode is part of Freetrail's annual Trail Runner of the Year Rollout -- an opportunity to reflect on the 2025 season and celebrate the athletes who performed the best according to the global trail running community. We're proud to partner with All Conditions Gear to bring the awards to life.    REGISTER FOR THE BIG ALTA   REGISTER FOR GORGE WATERFALLS   Sponsors: Grab a trail running pack from Osprey Use code FREETRAIL25 for 25% off your first order of NEVERSECOND nutrition at never2.com Go to ketone.com/freetrail30 for 30% off a subscription of Ketone IQ Freetrail Links: Website | Freetrail Pro | Patreon | Instagram | YouTube | Freetrail Experts   Dylan Links: Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Strava

This episode is part of Freetrail's annual Trail Runner of the Year Rollout -- an opportunity to reflect on the 2025 season and celebrate the athletes who performed the best according to the global trail running community. We're proud to partner with All Conditions Gear to bring the awards to life.      Today we welcome the #3 Trail Runners of the Year, Caleb Olson of the USA and Sara Alonso of Spain.    Caleb established himself as one of the best long course athletes in the world, starting his season with a huge win and CR at Transgrancanaria before focusing his attention on the Western States 100 where he won in the second fastest time ever. To close the year, Caleb posted a dominant victory at Australia's GPT100 -- also winning the World Trail Majors overall.   Sara Alonso was arguably the strongest short course athlete on the women's side in 2025, finishing 2nd in the Golden Trail World Series with strong wins at Kobe Trail and Zegama. She also finished 4th at OCC and 2nd place at the Short Trail World Championship.    REGISTER FOR THE BIG ALTA   REGISTER FOR GORGE WATERFALLS   Sponsors: Grab a trail running pack from Osprey Use code FREETRAIL25 for 25% off your first order of NEVERSECOND nutrition at never2.com Go to ketone.com/freetrail30 for 30% off a subscription of Ketone IQ Freetrail Links: Website | Freetrail Pro | Patreon | Instagram | YouTube | Freetrail Experts   Dylan Links: Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Strava

This episode is part of Freetrail's annual Trail Runner of the Year Rollout -- an opportunity to reflect on the 2025 season and celebrate the athletes who performed the best according to the global trail running community. We're proud to partner with All Conditions Gear to bring the awards to life.    Today we welcome the #4 Trail Runners of the Year, Abby Hall and Elhousine Elazzaoui.      Elhousine, our reigning 2024 Trail Runner of the Year, posted another amazing season, winning the Golden Trail World Series for the second year in a row, including victories at Zegama, Broken Arrow, Tepec Trail, and Golden Trail Final.   Abby's major highlight was winning one of our sport's most significant events, the Western States 100. She also posted top-5 finishes in two Golden Ticket events, and finished the year with an overall win and CR at McDowell Mountain Frenzy.   Note: Elhousine joined us from the Sahara desert without great wifi connection. We've cleaned it up as best as we could.   REGISTER FOR THE BIG ALTA   REGISTER FOR GORGE WATERFALLS   Sponsors: Grab a trail running pack from Osprey Use code FREETRAIL25 for 25% off your first order of NEVERSECOND nutrition at never2.com Go to ketone.com/freetrail30 for 30% off a subscription of Ketone IQ Freetrail Links: Website | Freetrail Pro | Patreon | Instagram | YouTube | Freetrail Experts   Dylan Links: Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Strava

This episode is part of Freetrail's annual Trail Runner of the Year Rollout -- an opportunity to reflect on the 2025 season and celebrate the athletes who performed the best according to the global trail running community. In 2025, we're proud to partner with All Conditions Gear to bring the awards to life.    Today we welcome the #5 Trail Runners of the Year, Tom Evans and Nina Engelhard. Tom enjoyed a perfect, undefeated season including winning the 2025 UTMB. Nina might be the biggest breakout star in the sport, winning double Gold Medals in both the Vertical and the Classic disciplines at the Trail and Mountain Running World Championships in September.     Note: We were unable to schedule with Nina, so her portion is a collection of segments from her recent long form appearance on the podcast. Listen to her full episode here.    REGISTER FOR THE BIG ALTA   REGISTER FOR GORGE WATERFALLS   Sponsors:   Grab a trail running pack from Osprey Use code FREETRAIL25 for 25% off your first order of NEVERSECOND nutrition at never2.com Go to ketone.com/freetrail30 for 30% off a subscription of Ketone IQ   Freetrail Links: Website | Freetrail Pro | Patreon | Instagram | YouTube | Freetrail Experts   Dylan Links: Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | Strava