Ourea Events – 2026 Vision
By Shane Ohly, Event Director, Ourea Events
We wrapped up our final event of the season at the end of November, which welcomed almost 1,500 trail runners to Kendal to take part in the adidas Terrex Trail Run and The North Face Skyline Ultra, both of which are part of the internationally renowned Kendal Mountain Festival weekend of entertainment and activities.
Alongside Open Tracking, we also organised the 5th Adventure Sports Events Conference on the Friday before, which saw nearly 100 race organisers from across the UK join us for a fantastic day of collaboration, networking and discussion about good practice in our relatively niche world of events. The Adventure Sports Events Conference and the adidas Terrex Trail Run are both organised on a not-for-profit basis. For another year in a row, the Trail Run has raised ~£10,000 for Kendal Mountain Search and Rescue Team.
We welcomed almost 1,500 participants to Kendal for our trail races this year ©Joel Jameson Photography
2025 has certainly had its challenges, but as I reflect on the year, I want to focus on the eight events we organised, comprising 19 separate races in Scotland, Wales and England that hosted close to 5,000 trail runners between them. I’m proud to say that we focused on delivering these events to a very high standard, with the participants' experience at the heart of our decision-making, supported by incredibly robust operational and safety management systems that sit there quietly in the background.
If you happen to be a close observer of Ourea Events, you may have noticed that we have not followed our usual pattern of opening entries for the following year’s events in some cases. After careful consideration, we have decided to refocus our business and reduce the number of events we deliver in 2026. I’ll explain why.
Naturally, I keep a close eye on the trail running event market and have observed an unmistakable trend of consolidation and polarisation. The consolidation is evident to everyone with the likes of UTMB, Ironman, London Marathon Events Company (and others) buying event after event, but the polarisation is less obvious. I have observed a trend of participants gravitating ever more toward the most high-profile marquee events. In the UK, examples might include the Lakeland 100 and the two UTMB events. Consequently, participation in the ‘middle ground’ of events (that are not club or volunteer-organised but smaller than these marquee examples) is under increasing pressure, as participants invest both time and money in tier-one events and enter fewer other races.
Data from the Trail Running Association in the UK confirms this, demonstrating that overall participation in organised events has not yet returned to 2019 (pre-COVID) levels. However, there has been a 20% increase in the number of races being organised between 2024 and 2025. It's the classic participation plateau, with many race organisers reporting declining entries as the overall number of participants is spread thinner, driven by a greater choice of events and a gravitation towards the most high-profile events.
This matters because the economics of events work on scale. Most of the costs of delivering an event are fixed (particularly for a professional team), with variable costs like printing additional bibs making up a small overall percentage of the event budget. Losing 10% of your entries makes a considerable difference to the financial viability of an event, and sadly, independent event organisers are reporting this trend in ever-increasing numbers.
The Cape Wrath Ultra: a bucket-list adventure ©No Limits Photography
The increase in the number of races being organised is mainly in this ‘middle ground’, with small one-person teams organising relatively small races with none of the central overhead costs of a professional team. The robust safety management and logistical systems that come with an experienced and professional team are essential for delivering a complex event such as the Dragon’s Back Race or the Cape Wrath Ultra, but less so for these small events. Our philosophy at Ourea Events has always been to strive for the very highest standards at our events, and when we take this all-in approach to these ‘middle ground’ events, we naturally find the entry fee is far more than other races.
Our Tea & Trails experience has been especially insightful. The engaged podcast community gave us unprecedented access to honest feedback from potential (not just actual) participants. The overwhelming message was that the event felt “too expensive” compared to local races, yet those comparisons were not like-for-like. Professionally delivered, fully supported, multi-day events with safety teams, live tracking, entertainment, and infrastructure (such as the Tea Trail Ultra weekend) inevitably cost more to deliver than the in-a-day-and-out-of-the-van ultra.
The Tea & Trails Ultra ©Joel Jameson Photography
The customer is always right, though… Ultimately, the market is speaking loudly and clearly, and two characteristic traits of the trail running consumer stand out:
One. In general, participants struggle to recognise the background operations and logistical essentials for events and therefore place little or no value on them.
Two. Participants love the big-event experiences and are willing to pay a premium for them, with the two UTMB events in the UK highlighting a massive shift in participation from independent races to these events over the last few years.
Before I continue, I want to pause and reflect on the UTMB phenomenon. It’s overly simplistic to criticise UTMB. I’m not going to rehash the history of UTMB here – good and bad. Still, the reality that independent event organisers, the wider community, and the media need to accept is that participants love the UTMB experience. Their events are flourishing… the customer is always right.
The conclusion we’ve drawn is that “middle-ground” events, those more ambitious than local club races but smaller than international-scale challenges, are commercially unviable for a professional operator like Ourea Events with a significant fixed overhead. Where an organisation like Ourea Events really adds value is when we deliver complex, multi-day events. Our strength lies in creating world-class, bucket-list experiences such as the Dragon’s Back Race, Cape Wrath Ultra, and Northern Traverse. These are events that truly justify the scale, professionalism, and dedication of our permanent team - and they are the experiences our participants value most.
Perhaps it is only at our long and very challenging events that participants, almost universally, need to rely on this support that they start to place any value on it. Indeed, I’ve been told a 1,000 times that the Dragon’s Back Race is expensive by runners who have never taken part… but never by someone who has actually toed the line.
Explore the Welsh mountains on foot - Dragon’s Back Race 2025 ©No Limits Photography
In 2026, Ourea Events will therefore be fully committed to delivering fewer, world-class events that inspire, challenge, and transform those who take part. This focus will allow us to bring renewed energy and clarity to our mission, strengthen our business, and ensure that every event we deliver meets the highest possible standard.
In summary, we are changing strategy, and are currently selling, or simply stopping organising a number of our events that sit in the middle ground. We will focus only on events that we believe are, or have the potential to be, world-class. Arguably, the Dragon’s Back Race is well on its way, but the other three events we’ll focus on are the Northern Traverse, Cape Wrath Ultra and Skyline Scotland.
One final thought from me. Authenticity, Aesthetics, Adventure. The triple A of trail running. Where Ourea Events excels is in offering running experiences that lean heavily into this concept. Authenticity: these are events that are pure in the face of the terrain's geographical challenges. Aesthetics: these are natural lines linking logical routes. Adventure: For me, this is the most essential ingredient. Adventure only comes with jeopardy, with uncertainty in the outcome, and no one starts a race like Dragon’s Back, Cape Wrath or the Northern Traverse with a guaranteed outcome. They are just too hard with too many variables. I want to ensure that our events stand apart from the ever-growing list of the same-and-similar trail events.
We look forward to welcoming our participants, crew, and volunteers to another unforgettable year of extraordinary journeys through extraordinary landscapes.
The Northern Traverse has grown in popularity year-on-year ©No Limits Photography
View Our 2026 Race Portfolio
Want to join us in 2026? Whether you want to experience 100km through the beautiful Lake District mountains or take on the adventure of a lifetime through the Scottish wilderness with our 400km Cape Wrath Ultra, explore more below…
Dare to dream ©No Limits Photography