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This article was originally published on RUN.
To the winner goes the spoils, such as they are. The UTMB World Series Finals in Chamonix, France will now carry a prize purse of almost $300,000 spread among top 10 women and men finishers in the three marquee races of the UTMB World Series championship week, the UTMB Group announced on June 18. This year’s UTMB Mont Blanc winners will now earn about $21,500, more than double the prize money Courtney Dauwalter and Jim Walmsley took home after winning the women’s and mens’s races last year.
In addition to the investment in the Finals, the UTMB Group will also be offering bigger prize purses for each of the three UTMB World Series Majors races in Spain, Thailand, and Big Bear, California. The increase in prize money—which will total €344,500 (or slightly more than $370,000) across its entire platform—was made possible largely by Hoka, which signed on to be the title sponsor of the UTMB World Series earlier this year. The UTMB group consulted the Pro Trail Runners Association (PTRA) on how to divvy up the pie.
“We’re happy that the UTMB Group decided to consult the PTRA regarding the new prize money structure for UTMB World Series Finals and Majors,” said Francesco Puppi of Italy, who is a member of the PTRA Board. “This represents an important step forward in the professionalization of the sport and the recognition of the elite athletes, for the prestige, quality and value they bring to UTMB World Series events.”
The announcement comes roughly five weeks after the UTMB Group strengthened its commitment to clean trail running with a sizable investment in anti-doping measures and increased in-competition testing this year.
RELATED: What UTMB’s New Anti-Doping Program Means for Clean Sport
Prize Purses Aren’t Prevalent
This new prize purse dwarfs in comparison to even other endurance sports, like triathlon, track and field, and marathoning. At the new Professional Triathlon Organization’s T100 race series, for example, the women’s and men’s winner at each of the eight races will take home $25,000, and the series winner will win an additional $210,000. That doesn’t include the significant appearance fees athletes are making simply for participating in the series, which totals $3 million spread out over 20 athletes in each gender.
But prize money in any amount is still rare in trail running, as many large races (such as the Western States 100, arguably the biggest 100-mile race in the world other than UTMB Mont Blanc) don’t offer any at all. The North Face 50-mile championship race near San Francisco, California famously awarded a $30,000 prize purse from its inception in 2006 until it disappeared after 2019—awarding $10,000 to the top finishers in the men’s and women’s races, plus $4,000 for second and $1,000 for third.
Prize money was first introduced at the UTMB races in 2018, with a total purse of €35,000 (or roughly $37,000). This pot remained the same through 2021. But after forging a business relationship with Ironman and launching the new UTMB World Series, the UTMB Group has increased the prize money awarded in Chamonix. In 2022 and 2023, UTMB said it paid out about €156,000 in total prize money (or $162,000) to the top 10 men and women finishers of the UTMB, CCC, and OCC races.
That included roughly $10,400 to the winners of each of those races, with approximately $5,200 going to second-place finishers and $3,125 for third. Fourth- and fifth-place finishers in each of those races earned about $1,500, while 6th through 10th took home $1,000.
Starting this summer, the 171-kilometer UTMB Mont Blanc race will have a prize purse of €119,000 (or $128,000) with the women’s and men’s winners receiving €20,000 apiece (or approximately $21,470.) The second-place finishers will receive €12,000 (or $12,882), while third-place will receive €8,000 (or $8,600). The race will pay equal money to men and women through the top 10 places.
With this influx in cash, the UTMB Group is definitively stamping its mark that UTMB Mont Blanc remains the crowing jewel of the race series. The OCC 50K and CCC 100K races will each have total prize purses of €76,000 (or $81,700), with the women’s and men’s podium finishers earning €13,000 ($13,970), €7,500 ($8,060) and €5,000 ($5,373), respectively, and each of the top 10 finishers receiving cash prizes of at least €1,000 ($1,075). In USD, this increase in prize money from last year roughly keeps up with annual inflation.
While this investment in prize money, particularly for UTMB Mont Blanc, is significant, most sponsored trail runners have bonus clauses in their contracts for podiuming at UTMB Finals races (and other key races throughout the year such as Western States and the Comrades Marathon) that pay out significantly higher than the prize money awarded by the race itself. Performing well at one of these races also offers significant leverage for signing bigger base contracts. Injecting more prize money into the sport, however, will also help attract top-level talent and attention, further raising the anti for performing well.
Beyond Mont Blanc
The 50K, 100K and 100-mile distances at each of three UTMB World Series Majors (Europe, Americas, and Asia-Pacific) will each have prize purses of €25,000 ($26,860), with the top five finishing places being paid €5,000 ($5,373), €3,000 ($3,222), €2,000 ($2,148.68), €1,250 ($1,343), and €1,000 ($1,075), respectively.
Given that only a handful of athletes worldwide make more than about $75,000 per year from shoe brand contracts, it seems as if the athletes will embrace the increases.
“It’s great to see UTMB continue to take steps forward in international trail running to bring together consolidated competition with a bigger prize purse,” said Walmsley via a release. “An increase at UTMB Finals, as well as UTMB World Series Majors, gives a lot of incentive for current professionals to prioritize these races and helps inspire the next generation of runners to pursue a career in trail running.”
The new prize purses will go into effect beginning at the Hoka Val d’Aran by UTMB races (the UTMB World Series European Major) July 3-7 in Spain, followed by the Hoka UTMB World Series Finals in Chamonix. The new prize structure will contiue at the 2024 UTMB World Series Asia-Pacific Major (December 6-8 at Chiang Mai Thailand by UTMB) but it will be delayed for the UTMB World Series Americas Major until 2025 at the Hoka Kodiak Ultra Marathons by UTMB. (This year’s Americas Major was held at the Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB on April 26-28 in Auburn, California.)
“First I would say that our ambition is to make a positive contribution to trail running,” Frédéric Lénart, CEO UTMB Group said in an interview with RUN this week. “It was very important as a leader in trail running to have a key role in helping athletes to make a better living from their sport. It was one of the reasons we negotiated the extension or our partnership with Hoka, so we could make this positive contribution together. And, of course, it was based on the feedback we had from the elite runners. And, of course, through the increasing of the prize money we acknowledge their investment and their engagement in sport, and we recognize the role they could play to inspire the next generation of runners.”
RELATED: More Prize Money Is Flowing Into Trail Running. What Does That Mean for the Sport?
