Women seeking to break barriers in trail running took center stage at the second Kaçkar by UTMB in northeastern Türkiye, where athletes from around the world tackled demanding mountain trails across 4K, 20K, 50K and 100K races in a test of endurance against the rugged terrain of the Kaçkar Mountains.
The event, Türkiye’s first and only UTMB World Series race, brought nearly 2,000 athletes from 60 countries across six continents to Ayder Plateau and the Kaçkar Mountains. Alongside the competition, a panel highlighted women’s empowerment through the Run Like Her initiative, a female trail-running training camp held in the Kaçkar Mountains in July.
First of its kind at UTMB, the initiative was created as a movement to motivate and inspire women of different countries, cultures and backgrounds to take up trail running, whether as amateurs or elite athletes and regardless of distance. Organizers said the long-term goal is to achieve a 50-50 balance between women and men in trail races.
“This is a movement, an initiative to inspire women, to push them, to motivate them to come to trail running,” Carole Muller, a lead visionary behind the initiative, said. “It’s open to everyone, so come, run, no matter the distance.”
The panel also brought together Kaçkar by UTMB ambassador Beyza Güzel, Afghan-born, British-based ultra-runner Fatima Painda, elite runner Elena Polyakova and Turkish athlete Başak Ağdaş who spoke about their experiences.
Güzel, who had competed in the UTMB World Series finals in Chamonix shortly before the event, described her connection to the region as having grown since the project began. “Kaçkar by UTMB, for me, is not just a race,” she said. “The Kaçkars are special because even when you are struggling the most, when you lift your head, you see the view. It reminds you again why you are there.”
For Polyakova, the race carried an added significance as a new mother. “I’m a new mother, so during the difficult moments I’ll think about my baby waiting for me at the finish line, and I hope this will be a good example for our son.”
Fatima, who grew up in the mountains of Afghanistan, trail running has also become a way to draw attention to women deprived of access to sport and public life under Taliban rule. “Every woman and girl in Afghanistan deserves to be out there at the start line of any race,” she said. “Mountain is medicine. Nature is medicine.”
Güzel went on to finish second in the women’s 100K, completing the race in 15 hours, 18 minutes, behind Germany’s Joanna Tallmann, who won in 15 hours, 13 minutes.
Türkiye’s Tuğçe Karakaya won the women’s 50K after returning to sport following a traffic accident that had threatened her athletic career. Spain’s Ainara Urrutia Yurreras was second and Türkiye’s Fatma Taş third.
Spain’s Sara Alonso won the women’s 20K, ahead of Ukraine’s Daria Boichuk and Türkiye’s Tuğba Akın. Nergis Durmuş, İrina Petrakova and Asya Esen took the top three places in the women’s 4K Ayder Run
Among the men, Russia’s Dmitry Mityaev won the inaugural 100K in 10 hours, 31 minutes, followed by Australia’s Michael Dimuantes and Ukraine’s Yevhenii Yermolenko.
Spain’s Antonio Martinez Perez won the 50K, while Iran’s Morteza Jafarzadeh topped the 20K. In the 4K, Ömer Asaf Durmuş won the men’s race. The 4K race also carried an environmental message, with participants wearing shirts reading “Running for Climate” to highlight climate change and nature conservation.
