The Trail Running Awards by Mile & Stone

The Trail Running Awards by Mile & Stone

Wednesday, December 11th, was the First edition of the Trail Running Awards organized by Mile & Stone in Annecy, a meeting place for outdoor enthusiasts. What is Mile & Stone? It's a Newsletter on trail running topics, the market, job offers etc., the Trail Business Club Podcast, the Mile & Stone Connect and now the Trail Running Award organized at the end of the year.

What are the Trail Running Awards?

The Trail Running Awards by Mile & Stone aim to celebrate excellence and innovation in the field of trail running. The event aims to celebrate and highlight the contributions of athletes, companies, teams and initiatives that have marked the year 2024. The event is held at the end of each year to mark and celebrate the end of the trail year. The Imperial Palace welcomed nearly 200 people for its first edition. The duo Frédéric Bousseau and Hillary Gerardi (for the English translation), hosted this superb evening.

Our contact in France, Marine, was there and gave us an overview of this first edition.

Several categories are announced:

󰝋 Trail Athlete of the Year (Female)

🏃 Trail Athlete of the Year (Male)

(I.e. Team of the year

 ???? Communication campaign of the year

👟 Product of the year

⚙️Service of the year

???? Start-up of the year

???? Environmental Initiative of the Year

(I.e. Social Initiative of the Year

The jury, composed of the members below, all experts in various fields around trail running, decides to reward the nominees.

???? To start hostilities, it is Enduraw, Joseph Mestrallet's start-up that won the start-up of the year award. Joseph offers a service to elite athletes. He optimizes athletes' performances by relying on data. He puts mathematics at the service of trail-running.

???? The environmental initiative was won by the Mont Blanc Marathon and the VVX (Volvic Volcanic Experience). The jury was unable to decide between the two.

The observation of the organizers of the Mont Blanc Marathon was simple: the majority of CO40 emissions are the transport of runners going to the race. This year, they have therefore decided to reserve XNUMX% of the race bibs for participants coming by trail (with proof).

About the VVX, it was its eco-logical program” present for 15 years that won over the jury.

(I.e. The Atlas Quest, organized by Cyril Sismondini and his team, was designated a social initiative. After the earthquake in 2023, Cyril and all these volunteers provided maximum help to the inhabitants of this region which was devastated. TheAtlas Quest is a magnificent trail to discover for its landscapes but also for its human side. The locals are very welcoming and happy to see that the trail can bring people to their home.

???? La Matheysins Skyrace wins the prize for the best communication campaign for its live, created in 2020 and still relevant with Fred Bousseau as host.

⚙️ The Service of the Year Award goes to Tibi Live, an innovative solution for race organizers and also for runners’ families. These are GPS beacons that provide live tracking and safety for runners during events.

👟 The Product of the Year award goes to Wise with their Sherpa bag . Guillaume Boccas and Axelle Nardoux are the founders of the brand, today there are about fifteen of them working to develop the brand. The idea for this bag began to germinate during the Festival des Templiers 2023. The base was a sports bra then the idea took shape and more than 12 bag tests were done to arrive at this result!

Finally, on the sporting side:

(I.e. Salomon was named Team of the Year, Vincent Viet and Camille Bryas were present to represent the team.

Katie Schide North Face Female Athlete of the Year and Elhousine Elazzaoui NNormal, the male athlete of the year. Both of them could not be present at this evening but we thank the team for their nomination.

A very nice evening organized by Mile & Stone, and we will be there again in 2025 with perhaps a nice surprise!