Finally. At last. At long last. We've been waiting. Better late than ever. About blooming time. The wait is over. Where was Waldo? Before pigs fly. The eagle has landed. Long overdue. At the eleventh hour.
Sincerely, if you engage in our mouthful "Pacific Association USA Track & Field Mountain, Ultra, Trail Grand Prix" I don't blame you if one or more of these statements have crossed your mind several times through the Fall. I still find a bit insane to think that this schedule starts being expected in late August or early September, at a time popular ultras were opening lotteries and filling up at cyber time, within minutes. That being said, I had promised it for late October, then late November, and we are now almost at the end of December. Not too many of you have checked in or complained, I much appreciate your patience.
Ironically, one of the reasons of the delay is I sought for help, as part of some succession planning. It's less of a secret for many now, I plan on moving back to France in a year or so, and I'm super grateful to Shiran for accepting to continuing learning the ropes. When I took over from Bill (Dodson) and Hollis (Lenderking) in 2017, I gathered a ton of notes and scribbled them, and ideas, in multiple Google docs. While I see such documentation as super valuable and would have loved to find as much when I ramped up, I realize that it also takes time to read, for busy volunteers. Anyway, I'm still around, and I enjoyed the constructive interactions through the several months lapse it took us to design and finalize the 2026 schedule. Or rather, schedules, read on.
Now, another caveat: if there is something you don't like in the choices, it's on me! At some point, I had to make a few decisions, to balance my strong attachment to our 30+ year old Grand Prix, with the many conflicting options facing us. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, the design was really simpler: mostly the same list of iconic races, year after year, before we got spoiled with amazing events every week, nowadays.
I wrote at length about the foundational principles (
anatomy of a MUT Grand Prix, in 2016, ,
2018 schedule, the
2019 season plans,
the cat getting out of the bag for 2020, only for the season to
get aborted with the pandemic, in August, the
2022 schedule, also released at the end of December, the
return to the new normal in 2023). I will just highlight the main concepts as comments to each race, below. (Photo credit: Google's Nano Banana. Image generation is still one of my favorite uses of AI...)
Highlights:
- First and foremost, we are going with two series again BUT, in 2026, the series will be distinct, like they are in the Road Grand Prix. We'll still have a sub-ultra trail-only series, aka SHORT, and an ultra series, mixing road and trail formats, aka LONG.
- New in 2026, teams will also be scored in the SHORT series.
- New in 2026, age group winners of the SHORT series will be eligible to awards, including following year discounts, and some prize money for the age group leads.
- New in 2026: all scores will count in the SHORT series since the default MUT rule is "best of 7". In the LONG series, we'll stick with best of 7 then. Minima for awards and recognitions remain at 3 scores in both series.
And the corresponding shedule...s then:
1/31: Jed Smith 50K (Sacramento) | The PA club-organized and ex MUT opening tradition. Flat and fast. Rain or shine. Easy access to our Sacramento area-based membership. Note the January date (first Saturday preceding the first Sunday of February, I suppose).
3/14: Marin 50M (Sausalito) | New on our calendar, by popular demand!
5/9: Quicksilver 100K (San Jose) | PA club-organized event. And Western States qualifier.
5/16: Silver State 50K (Reno) | A PA club-organized event.
6/13: SF Half Day (San Francisco) | This was the toughest choice. I'm a big proponent of exploring all MUT formats and, a few years ago, stated that we'll alternate a 100-miler with a 24-hour (timed event format), every other year. But we lost the SF One Day in Crissy Field, to a famous runner boasting an experience with a coyote in the Marin Headlands a few years ago... To make the matter worse, that weekend will see two major 100-milers run in parallel: the Cool Moon 100 which we had as factor 2 race the past 2 years, and the inaugural and already popular and over-subscribed Bay Area 100. I chose to invite you to test your limits on a 12-hour format.
8/2 (Sun): Skyline (Castro Valley) | An anchor tradition where many new comers ventures into MUT.
8/15: Tamalpa Headlands 50K (Sausalito) | Another tradition. Besides, it was supposed to be a National again although the National committee changed their mind late in 2025, awarding that championship to Oregon instead.
9/26: Firetrails Dick Collins 50M (Castro Valley) | We already have another 50-miler but I couldn't NOT pay our respects to one founding spirit of this Grand Prix, Dick.
10/10: Ruth Anderson 50K / 50M (San Francisco)
- SHORT / Sub ultra trail Series (all scores count)
1/10: No Hands Half (Auburn) | We are returning to the endurance capital of the world for a great warm-up of the season in early January.
3/21: Rattlesnake Dick 25K (Cool) | New on the calendar this year, and also to appeal to our North East Pacific Association membership, directed by the Cool Moon RD and active MUT running member, Martin Sengo.
4/4: Diablo Trails Half (Walnut Creek) | Also a return to a diabolic place, conveniently located between the two
4/18: Horseshoe Lake 30K (La Honda) | The longest of our shorter trail races, to give a taste of trail running, toward the ultra format.
9/12: Stevens Creek Reservoir Half (Cupertino) | PA club-organized race. Hint: not a flat half!
10/3: Star City San Bruno Mountain Half (San Bruno) | PA club-organized race. Hint: idem, not a flat half!
Again, special thanks to Shiran for his contribution and time spent diving into this tedious design and editing process. To our fellow scorers, Kendra and David, who accepted to add more scoring work for 2026 with such dual team scoring. And super grateful to all the Race Directors who are offering their event for our consideration in our Grand Prix, as well as generous discounts to the age group champions, not to mention the time and financial burden of sanctioning their event with USATF.
We had 155 of you scoring in the SHORT series in 2025 (73 women, 82 men), and 241 in the LONG one (97 and 144 respectively), we hope you'll join us again in 2026 and invite more and new teammates, to increase the fun of running together as a community, competing both individually and as teams/clubs!
And since I have your attention, PA members should receive an invitation to our upcoming LDR (Long Distance Running) award banquet, which will be held on Saturday January 24, from 3 to 8p, at quite a special and cool location. Be on the lookout of that mailing scheduled on January 3rd!
See many of you again on the trails or the roads, and, in the meantime cheers to you, your families and friends, for a healthy 2026! (Photo credit: Google's Nano Banana.)
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