What UTMB Gets Right About Supporting Women Beyond the Podium
About this episode
Karen Merlin on UTMB, women’s trail running, and growing the sport sustainably.
Karen Merlin, elite athletes and inclusion programs manager at UTMB, joins Jon to talk about how UTMB is evolving its race ecosystem, how athlete feedback drives change, and why women’s trail running is gaining so much momentum. They also get into accessibility, representation, sustainability, and what race week in Chamonix is actually like on the ground.
In this episode Karen shares how UTMB thinks about growth without dilution, how the organization works with athletes and brands to make trail more welcoming, and why visibility, storytelling, and thoughtful policies matter for the long term health of the sport.
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