A Data-Driven Environmental Scan of the Trail and Ultra Coaching Industry

September 25, 2024

This month, we dig into trends in the growing industry of professional trail and ultra coaching. How many coaches are there? What proportion of runners use their services? Are there trends in the types of services that coaches offer? These questions can be challenging to answer. As small business operators, coaches have a vested interest in keeping data private that might give them a competitive advantage — they have bills to pay.

We may be more aware of which athletes are coached compared to which athletes are self-coached because, as Pam Smith pointed out, a solid race performance might result in the athlete acknowledging the role their coach played when recounting the race on social media, while the coach may also post about the race to publicly congratulate their athlete. I Run Far