Hey, fam, happy new year and welcome to the free trail podcast. Today, we're kicking off

2026 as we always do with the rollout of Trail Runner of the year.

And this year, we have companion podcasts with everyone in the top five.

So five straight days of podcasting to celebrate the 2025 season and recognize the athletes

that the global trail community deemed to be the best performers.

Today we conclude our countdown with the number one trail runners of the year,

voted on by more than 2,000 trail fans globally,

Jim Walmsley and Katie Shide.

No surprise is there.

For both of them, this is their second time winning trail runner of the year,

and both have been featured in our

countdown all four years of the awards existence, a testament to just how great they've both been

in their long and storied careers. Jim's season was anything but straightforward. He started

with a big win at Keanti by UTMB in the spring before an injury prevented him from defending his

win at the Western States 100. But luckily, he bounced back in a big way, winning OCC in August,

and then the Long Trail World Championships in September, the second individual gold medal

of his career. On the other hand, Katie is being crowned trail runner the year for the

second year in a row. She started with a win at the Madeira Island Ultra Trail before, of course,

winning and setting a new course record at the Hard Rock 100 in July, completing her career

grand slam in the process, but maybe more impressively, only a few weeks later. She was second at

Sierra's and all before then winning the Long Trail World Championships in September.

Another amazing season for Katie taking home the honors for the second time in as many years.

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