UTMB World Series, the global circuit for trail runners, and Strava, the leading digital platform for active people, have announced a global collaboration and published a combined data story depicting the evolution of trail running.
The UTMB World Series is the trail running circuit that brings together the best athletes in the sport and amateur runners in top international events held at incredible venues around the globe.
Strava meanwhile has 150 million athletes on the platform in more than 185 countries so this is a seriously significant collaboration.
Massively increased female participation
There are lots of early findings and some of the standout ones are:
According to the most recent UTMB Index race data, there has been a 2.6x increase in the number of female participants in trail races in the first half of this year compared to the same time-period three three years ago.
Globally, women are particularly strong in shorter distances, accounting for over 50% of participants in Oceania and Africa in 2024.
Europe hosts the largest number of female runners, with over 160,000 taking part in UTMB Index races in the first half of 2025.
In looking at the participation stats for trail running on Strava, remarkable growth has been seen particularly among the younger female cohort.
In the first half of this year compared to the same time-period three three years ago, there has been a 6.5x increase in the count of Gen Z females uploading trail runs globally.
Trail running on the up
And that theme carries through to more eye-catching data.
According to recent activity data from Strava, there has been a 2x increase in the count of athletes uploading trail runs in the first half of this year compared to the same time-period three three years ago.
Similarly, participation in UTMB Index Races in the first half of 2025 was 2.4x higher than the same period in 2022, with over 800,000 race starts in just 6 months.
A clear sign of the discipline’s accelerating expansion and appeal to newcomers in that 42% of these runners were competing in their first-ever trail running event.
