Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running

Anton Krupicka has spent two decades becoming something harder to define than a trail runner. This conversation is about how that happened, why he stopped caring about fitting the sport’s mold, and what it looks like to keep evolving without chasing relevance.
We talk about the injury that changed his relationship with running, the move toward scrambling and climbing, his influence on trail culture, the Leadville comeback, and why La Sportiva still makes sense for the athlete he is now. More than anything, it’s Anton on identity, aging, design, and trying to stay the peak version of yourself without pretending you’re still who you were ten years ago.
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If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
00:00 Anton Krupicka on why trends don't matter
01:30 From trail runner to mountain man
03:52 When the whole landscape opened up
08:24 Identity, trends, and trail running culture
16:45 The Leadville 100 comeback
21:12 The peak version of yourself

Resources / Links
Unbreakable | Western States Film
Anton's 2021 Leadville Race
Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
Borderlands.cc

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Ultra Running isn't Just Running

Presented by Kiprun.
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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack

Trail running is growing fast, but what happens to the races that don’t scale cleanly? After spending one night volunteering at the Wasatch 100 and the next day at a brand-new UTMB race, I came away wondering whether the messy, human parts of ultra running are exactly the parts we can’t afford to lose.
Pacers, old-timers, exhausted volunteers, DNFs, polished finish lines, UTMB, and the strange ways a race becomes more than a race. This isn’t an argument for grassroots over corporate. It’s about why trail running needs both, what each is uniquely good at, and what disappears when every race starts looking the same.
Presented by Kiprun.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
2:22 Races like Wasatch fill the human spirit.
6:09 I love ultrarunning pacer culture.
10:29 Someone else’s problem becomes mine.
14:55 The back of the pack is where I come alive.
16:52 Wasatch rewards staying.
22:04 You can’t manufacture heritage.
26:21 The fragile one is not the one I thought.

Resources / Links
Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
Borderlands.cc

Related Episodes
Ultra Running isn't Just Running

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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack

Ultrarunning rewards people who can keep going. Biel makes you wonder what happens when stopping no longer feels like an option, and where ambition ends and compulsion begins.
Biel is a Brazilian ultrarunner, Speed Project athlete, tattoo artist and printmaker living in Berlin. He has represented Brazil at the 24-Hour World Championships and set records from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Chamonix to Marseille. But the more interesting story is the force connecting his face tattoos, his art and the extreme experiences he says he needs to stay alive.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
02:27 Face Tattoos, Identity + Freedom
05:17 Why Ultrarunning Keeps Biel Alive
07:19 TSP | Chamonix-to-Marseille Record
10:59 24-Hour Racing x The Speed Project
13:07 A Perfect Fit for Biel
18:40 From Nightclub Cleaner to Pro Runner
22:48 Art + Life Beyond Running
27:39 Beyond Records + Limits

Resources / Links
Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
Borderlands.cc
Additional photo courtesty of Tycjan Trzpioloa

Related Episodes
Ultra Running isn't Just Running

Presented by Kiprun.
----
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack

UTMB is the center of trail running for one week every year, and somehow the people most frustrated by it keep showing up. After a week in Chamonix, I came home thinking the problem with hating UTMB is that the race keeps complicating the argument against it.
The fan experience is better than the criticism suggests, TDS might be the hardest race of the week, the women are racing with ego, and some of the most interesting parts of UTMB have almost nothing to do with racing. Ten observations from inside the chaos, including what brands keep getting wrong, what Chamonix reveals about status in trail running, and why everyone should be reading Raz Rauf.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
Presented by Kiprun.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Topics / Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
02:36 The Critics Are at UTMB
08:12 UTMB Doesn’t Have a Fan Problem
12:24 TDS Might Be the Hardest Race at UTMB
16:26 The DNSs Aren’t About Professionalization
20:38 The Women Are Racing With Ego
24:57 UTMB Isn’t Just About Running
28:20 The Ultimate UTMB Flex Is Not Needing Chamonix
30:34 Brands: Embrace the Chaos
32:21 Read Raz Rauf. Read Running Sucks.
35:45 Limiting Brand Activations Made UTMB Better - The Chamonix Mayor was Right

Resources / Links
Like the Wind | Run Culture Live
Running Sucks - Raz Rauf
Borderlands.cc

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Cocodona Has a Fan Problem

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Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
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UTMB is the biggest trail race in the world, but why did it happen in France? The easy answer is Mont Blanc. The better answer has more to do with culture, timing, and the kind of endurance tradition that was already there long before UTMB existed.
Josh talks with Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps and author of The Race That Changed Running, about the deeper conditions that made UTMB possible, from old mountain races and ski mountaineering to the Pellettis’ execution and the way places like Vallorcine turned the race into something people gather around, not just run.
Please give us a follow, rate the podcast, and give a review.
If you’re new to Borderlands, start here.
Resources / Links
Run the Alps
Salt Lake Foothills Trail Races
Josh Rosenthal on IG
Borderlands.cc
Subwhatever

Related Episodes
Ultra Running isn't Just Running

Presented by Kiprun.
----
Borderlands explores trail running through culture, media, and the forces shaping it.
Watch on YouTube
Read on Substack