✳️ GTWS Enters Asia and Salomon Reveals All
A Trailmix of news and opinions *in a NEW FORMAT*
Hey pals! 👋 Hope you had a superb rest over the holidays. We’re back to it today covering all the big news stories from the last weeks of 2023 to today, and there has been a LOT. This newsletter is also a more graphical take on my previous news format, let me know what you think. Let’s get to it - Matt
GTWS enters Asia
The 2024 Golden Trail World Series will start in Japan and China as it seeks to extend its influence across to Asia.
The series starts in Kobe, Japan, before heading over to Sichuan, China the following week. The close scheduling is to enable competitors to compete in both races without having to take multiple long haul flights.
Non-Traditional races - By adding the Asian races alongside a new race in Poland and the US, GTWS had to drop iconic races such Zegama, broadening the series beyond it’s traditional European beginnings.
📺 Made for the big screen! The Kobe Trail race in Japan is a race created by GTWS in the ‘flower’ style format that it piloted in Italy last year on its 2023 Final course. The looping design is created to increase the number of times in-person fans and livestreaming viewers see the racers and makes it easier for the production crew to follow the race without risking a dropped signal.
Big picture - GTWS move seeks to capitalise on the burgeoning trail running scene across Asia and follows UTMB’s growing presence in the continent.
The IAU (international Association of Ultrarunning) also announced their 2024 100km World Championships would take place in India after a successful (but sweltering) 50km event in 2023.
Compared to the rest of Asia, India’s ultra running scene is one of the smallest, according to DUV database.
GTWS and IAU’s move nonetheless demonstrates the corporate desire to catalyse trail running’s international expansion.
Matt’s take - As GTWS is one of Salomon’s biggest marketing investments, this embrace of Asian races should be set against Amer Sport’s, Salomon’s parent company, IPO. Despite Amer Sport being partially owned by Anta Sports, a Chinese fashion conglomerate, Salomon only receives 15% of its revenue from China, but this has grown 72% since 2021. With its perceived break away from Anta, and consequently China, this move is a way to anchor the business in China and extent its marketing reach to new territories.
World Trail Majors & Skyrunning World Series sets 2024 winnings
The World Trail Majors has set their total prize winnings at €47K for the 2024 series.
The winnings are spread out across the top 5 positions for men and women, with 1st place receiving €12K and 5th place receiving €1K. This is in addition to any winnings each individual race offers.
Additionally, the Skyrunning World Series announced their total pot that is over 4 times larger at €227K across their multiple races.
💶 Grand total - The comparison between race series is made difficult by the different models each is following (e.g. UTMB’s stones system vs WTM’s two race ranking), but according to the announcements of each race series, there is a total €813K in winnings across all major trail running race series.
Step back - as the competition for competitors grows and more sponsors begin to commit larger investments, each race series is increasing the size of its prize money in a bid to stay relevant. As trail running begins to attract non-endemic sponsors these prize pools will increase, but to what extent does it benefit the sport?
Salomon’s financials are released with Amer Sports IPO
Salomon generated $949M in the nine months ending in September 2023 according to Amer Sport’s F-1 document.
Amer Sports started out as a tobacco distributor in Finland set up by students in the 1950s, before entering sports in 1970s by acquiring a Finnish ice hockey stick manufacturer.
Through a series of their own acquisitions and an acquisition by Anta Sports, Amer has become one of the worlds largest sports conglomerates. In the nine months ended September 30th 2023 they generated $3.05bn, up 30% from the previous three quarters.
There’s lots to take in, but some Salomon highlights:
Salomon generates 60% revenue from footwear
Salomon is a wholesale driven business with DTC making up only 22% of it’s revenue mix in 2022, but they aim to grow the DTC side of the equation.
Sportstyle is the fastest growing collection in the Salomon brand with revenue over $80 million in 2022, and over $165 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 (17% of revenue!).
Salomon is boosting it’s branded media investment through TV to grow awareness it key markets.
“Salomon has developed a leading series of running events in some of the most iconic outdoor destinations around the world called The Golden Trail Series (“GTS”). These events are the only running events in the world designed and developed for a global television audience. In 2023, GTS events will be broadcasted on Eurosport across 53 countries. Salomon plans to further increase spending to add events in Japan and Greater China to complement the United States and European races, entrenching Salomon as the leading global brand powering the sport of trail running.” (Emphasis added)
📰 Everything else
Nike had a tragic Christmas with shares hurtling down 11% on news that they’re reducing their sales forecast blaming heavy promotions and lighter consumer spending. In the investor call John Donahoe claimed that their everyday running category needs the most work. Despite all this, Donahoe dropped that trail running is up 20% YoY for Nike triggered by the growth of the sport and the casualisation of outdoor footwear (in other words, Gorpcore gains)
The weather is looking bitter for this years Spine Race that starts today (at one point last year I was going to run the Challenger North… maybe next year). UK Trail running cognoscenti Sam Hill has a fantastic pre-race interview series with the main contenders and the Spine media team.
In an odd move UTMB released its PR request for proposal on LinkedIn in which they mention how they have become ‘increasingly controversial’. After the potential ‘soft boycott’ of UTMB from athletes, this couldn’t come at a better time.
Kailas, the Chinese outdoor apparal brand, has become title sponsor of TorX
I have forwarded the RFP to my agency hahaha
Excellent information and insight as always. I personally want solid content and don't care about throw-away graphics - running likely has the most boring photography of any sport - but the calendar was good and the graph excellent.