Kaçkar by UTMB: When Mountain Marathon Becomes a Sports Tourism Lever

More than 2,000 athletes from 60 countries. That number is not the achievement of any individual, but the scale of a trail running event under the UTMB brand, which has just opened its second edition in Kaçkar, Turkey. Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak personally fired the starting gun. But behind that gunshot, what is the real story? Kaçkar by UTMB is a race in the UTMB World Series – a global commercial trail running circuit operated by UTMB Group (France), with a prestigious final in Chamonix. This is the second time the event has been held in the Kaçkar mountains, Rize province, eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. In sporting terms, it is a mass-participation event combined with elite races, but no world records are recognized – because trail running has no world standard; performance is only relative to each course. The first notable point is the scale. 2,000 athletes from 60 countries is an impressive number for an event only in its second year. The presence of Race Director Johan Essl, a UTMB representative, shows that this is not a purely local race but an official "franchise" of the UTMB brand. The confirmed distances include 20km (some officials participated), but the full menu has not been announced. This fits the UTMB model: each event typically has multiple distances from short to ultra. However, the most discussed aspect lies in the non-sporting dimension. Kaçkar by UTMB is organized with the backing of a series of state agencies: the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency, the Rize Governor's Office, and the Eastern Black Sea Development Agency (DOKA). The sponsors are all national brands: Turkish Airlines, TOGG, Turkcell, Maxis. Clearly, this is not merely a race – it is a state-backed sports tourism project. Minister Osman Aşkın Bak did not hesitate to compare: "We want to associate Ayder and Rize with such organizations, similar to how Davos is associated with economic forums." This statement shows that the ultimate goal is not sporting achievement but destination branding. Sports tourism, according to the minister, "provides significant earnings to the country." This is a strategy adopted by many nations: using international sporting events to attract visitors and promote the country's image. To understand more, it is necessary to know that the UTMB World Series operates on the accumulation of 'Running Stones' – points earned from qualifying races, used as weights in a lottery for a place in the UTMB Mont-Blanc finals. This is the main draw for thousands of amateur and semi-professional athletes worldwide. Kaçkar by UTMB, as a stop in the system, offers participants the chance to accumulate Running Stones while experiencing the high mountain terrain of the Black Sea region. However, information about this mechanism is not mentioned in the original article, nor is there any data on the number of Running Stones awarded. Regarding the course, only the 20km distance is confirmed through officials' participation. Longer distances – the soul of a UTMB event – are not mentioned. With the Kaçkar terrain, featuring peaks over 3,000m and the Ayder plateau at about 1,300m, the ultra distances would certainly be challenging. But without information on distances, elevation, and cut-off times, fans cannot assess the severity of the race. But is sport being overshadowed? Analysis shows that the original Anadolu Ajansı article provides no performance data: no winner, no times, no records, no elite athlete names. All we know is the scale and the event. The minister's claim that "ultra marathon runners are world-class athletes with fans worldwide" is rhetorical rather than factual. There is no evidence that this year's elite field is truly world-class. This is a notable blind spot. In the trail running world, UTMB Group is almost hegemonic in branding. Events in the UTMB World Series are "nodes" in that network, and successfully hosting such an event is seen as an advance in organizational capacity. But sporting achievement – the core value of any sport – is not mentioned. This raises the question: is this a genuine sporting event, or just a tourism promotion campaign dressed in athletic clothing? The biggest risk of this model is the weather. The Rize Governor recalled that in the first year, Kaçkar was "hidden by fog and rain." With high mountain terrain and the Black Sea climate, rain and fog are frequent. This not only affects athlete safety but also ruins the promotional goal: beautiful images, television footage expected to spread. If the weather is bad, the media value collapses. The second risk is dependence on public funding. When funding from the state and development agencies is cut, the event may be difficult to sustain. Dependence on public funding also raises questions about sustainability. DOKA is a regional development agency, funded by the state. If this funding source shrinks for economic or political reasons, the race could face difficulties. Meanwhile, corporate sponsors like Turkish Airlines or Turkcell may see this as a promotional channel, but the level of long-term commitment remains an unknown. However, the opportunities cannot be denied. Turkey is building a methodical sports tourism model, aiming for the 2027 European Games in Istanbul. Kaçkar by UTMB is a stepping stone to prove capacity to host international events. In the long term, if the race is maintained and developed, it could become a familiar destination in the global trail running community, while also creating a generation of domestic athletes. Turkey is preparing for the 2027 European Games in Istanbul. Successfully hosting an international event like Kaçkar by UTMB is seen as a stepping stone to prove organizational capacity, infrastructure, and ability to welcome international visitors. This is part of a long-term strategy to position Turkey as a regional sports hub. For sports media, the lack of performance data is a challenge. A report on a race without a winner, without times, without records can hardly be considered pure sports news. It is like covering a football match without a score. This shows that the purpose of the press release is not to provide sports information but to promote the image of the event and the locality. From Vietnam's perspective, this story has many similarities. Vietnam possesses majestic mountain terrain, from Sa Pa, Ha Giang to the Central Highlands, very suitable for developing trail running. Some races have been organized, but there has been no participation of an international brand of UTMB's caliber. The lesson from Turkey is: for sport to become an economic driver, a long-term strategy, cooperation between the state and businesses, and most importantly, placing sport first – not just using it as an excuse – are needed. In the context of Vietnamese sports seeking to reach the world, learning from the sports tourism model is necessary, but do not let the numbers of scale obscure the true value. After all, what people remember is not 2,000 or 20,000 athletes, but the moments when humans overcome their own limits. And those moments, unfortunately, do not appear in this report.