One More K

Send us a textIn this episode, Markus and Ned welcome elite runner Vlad Ixel, a trailblazing figure in the endurance sports community. The conversation begins with Vlad's impressive racing history, where he shares his journey from his early days to becoming a dominant force in ultra-running. The hosts dive into Vlad's views on Hong Kong’s growing trail running scene and the unique opportunities it...

Send us a textWow, UTMB is over but there is still so much to talk about. Some time has passed since Vincent crossed the finish line in Chamonix, so Ned and Markus reflect a bit more about the past 10 days. Ned is having a grumpy uncle day, so he is let loose to provide some juicy comments on various topics ranging from DNF rate and fading interests in finishers to VIP areas and Hoka shoes. Markus...

Send us a textWe are wrapping up this super intense UTMB Week in Chamonix. Markus is back in Germany, has a 0.0% beer and is discussing the CCC and UTMB results with Ned who tunes in from Los Angeles. CCC saw some great running by Hayden Hawkes, Peter Frano and Adam Peterman. Toni Mccan pushed hard and came first, followed by Martyna Mlynarczyk and Rosanna Buchauer. UTMB felt like the race of elit...

Send us a textWhat a day at UTMB. Day 4 is in the books. We bumped into some great people at the Expo and even got to hear a legend play piano. Kicking off with the OG of trail running in India: Kieren D’Souza. He has spent the last few months in Chamonix to prepare for his 2nd CCC and is excited to kick it off tomorrow. His story is quite incredible and we are looking forward to getting him back...

Send us a textAnother great day of UTMB is done. It is getting busy. Chamonix is buzzing. We caught up with some of the people in the One More K community to bring this festival closer to you. We are starting with Valentin Orange, film maker and part of Kailas, who is doing 100miles this weekend. He shares how there are different elite categories, why he is doing 100miles this year and how he is t...

Send us a textTune in for day 2 at the UTMB festival in Chamonix. We have been interviewing many different people to give you the real stories from the French Alps town. Starting with Florian Lamblin, CEO of UTMB International, who gives us a few minutes of his valuable time. He takes us through his views on Asian runners, what he is most proud of at this year's event and even gives us a predictio...

Send us a textDay 1 of the UTMB 2024 in Chamonix is already over. Here is your uncensored, personal take on the first day of this trail festival. Markus interviews Hau Ha, Vietnam's best runner, who is competing on CCC (100km). She is confident, she is excited, she is calm. And she is cooking her own Vietnamese food here in Chamonix. Is she taking home the CCC crown this year? After that, Ned and...

Send us a textNed and Markus are back as the show besties and chat about the correlation between business success and doing endurance sports. Do public companies perform better when the CEOs are endurance athletes? They review the Leadville100 race and discuss the non-binary category. Is that just a trend or there to stay? Looking ahead, Ned and Markus preview the big UTMB week and introduce a new...

Send us a textMeet Salomon Wettstein, one of Hong Kong’s best ultrarunners and co-CEO of Synpulse8. Salomon champions putting in the hard work and meticulous planning to achieve greatness in ultra racing and business. That made him a very successful runner who finished the super tough Hong Kong 4 Trail Challenge and who won the Lantau70 & Lantau100 and many other races in Asia and Europe. Plus...

Send us a textMeet Christian Toetzke, the Founder & CEO of HYROX, the fastest growing fitness racing event in the world. They started in 2017 in Hamburg, Germany, managed to navigate through COVID-19, and since then have taken over the fitness & endurance world in no time. Christian has a successful career in creating and managing endurance events, so in this episode he takes us through hi...

Send us a textWe are joined by special guest John Ellis, founder of T8, ultra elite runner and commodities trader by day. He takes us through the 8 year journey of founding one of the leading Asian sport brands out of Hong Kong - T8. From having an epiphany during a painful run in Hong Kong, he and his co-founder Mark then decided to bring chafe-free running shorts to the trail and ultra market. T...

Send us a textMeet Grant Giles, one of the most thoughtful and holistic elite ultra performance coaches you will meet. Also dubbed the ‘Buddha of Endurance’, Grant takes us through his unique approach of achieving endurance excellence by focusing on mental training. Over decades of practice with elite athletes, Grant has developed a set of various tools that he customises for each athlete in order...

Send us a textJoin us for this incredible story of Romain founding Uglow and Uglow Sports in 2011 in Hong Kong. He had a vision for starting a high end outdoor sports fashion brand that would become the first one to have 100% stitch free garments. Romain shares authentically how he struggled through various crises, learned his business lessons and became wiser and more persistent over time. His in...

Send us a textWe are joined by Valentin Orange, Vietnam’s best trail runner and now French based athlete and filmmaker. He talks us through his journey from working in the tourism industry to becoming one of the most talented photographers and videographers in this fast moving trail and ultra running world. He shares his insights of how this industry is changing, what it takes to find great storie...

Send us a textIn this week’s episode Ned and Markus dive into the Western States Race. They discuss business trends, key sponsors, guerilla marketing techniques and how the US and Asia are starting to connect more. They also break down the times of the female and male race, the fun facts, and the latest revenue and cost numbers of Western States. In the last part of the show, they go through the U...

Send us a textNed and Markus are going through the latest news in the world of trail running. Lazarus Lake has stopped his adventure to cross America, the Sky Race series saw some African runners win and Southeast Asia had its first Trail Running Cup. Plus, a deep dive into the male and female runners who are going to compete at Western States this weekend. Also, Ned and Markus can’t help it to di...

Send us a textKris Van de Velde is the founder of Asia Trail Master, the number one event series of trail running in Asia. Now coming to its 10th edition, Kris and Asia Trail Master have been instrumental in building up the community in Asia. He joins us on the show to share insights of the last 10 years, how runner’s interests and races are changing and which countries are still growing. Also, he...

Send us a textA very personal episode where Ned and Markus share their lessons that they acquired through running and how they applied them to their business ventures over the years. Valuable insights in how to connect two different worlds into one and keep learning throughout life. Fantastic points to keep getting better in everything you do and never stopping to achieve your goals. Ned highlight...

Send us a textA highly energetic episode covering the latest news in the ultra and trail community. Hau Ha winning Tioman Ultra in an extraordinary effort, Suffolk Backyard is still happening and the Vietnam Backyard took place over the weekend. Discussing the latest news of the Spring Energy Gel scandal, how it is changing the view in the community of influencer promoted supplements, the role of...

Send us a textSpecial guest Ewegene Tan is returning back to the show to share the exciting news of Ironman Asia / UTMB Group acquiring his race ‘Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival’. He digs into the last 2.5 years of due diligence, into what it means for the Malaysian community and what is/is not going to change for his upcoming race, now called Malaysia Ultra Trail by UTMB. Great insights in how t...

Send us a textSpecial guest Guim joins us to share more about the founding of MUDE Sports, scaling it from Vietnam to the world, MUDE’s philosophy to be eco-friendly and not fast fashion, MUDE’s running team, his story of discovering Vietnam’s top talent Hau Ha, plans for Hau in 2024/25 and where he thinks the sport is going. In the news section we cover Spring Energy’s Gel nutrition issue and Tra...

Send us a textSpecial guest JP Alipio is the founder of Cordillera Mountain Race and Cordillera Ultra Challenge in the Philippines, an ultra runner himself and one of the key people in the Philippines’ trail and ultra ecosystem. He is shedding light on how the trail community came about, the founding of his races and the Philippines National Trail Running Team and which PH runners to follow. In th...

Send us a textMarkus’ and Ned’s passion for track Tuesdays, Ned’s insights from his 100M+5K run, going through the results of the Amazean Jungle Thailand by UTMB race (Hau Ha, Vanja, Sange Sherpa, Nhon Do), Sam Harvey winning the Dead Cow Gully but missing the world record, Lazcon update, Cocodona 250 live race update and Hoka replacing Dacia as the main sponsor for UTMB World Series. Wrapped up b...

Send us a textLots of news to cover this week. Courtney crushing it at Mt Fuji 100, Golden Trail World Series moving to China, Katie Schide winning Canyon Endurance by UTMB and a harsh review of the WALMSLEY ‘documentary’ (aka Hoka & Wahoo advertisement). Followed by a quick financial analysis of the Hoka sales and covering the insane application number for the London Marathon. Snippets:(00:00...

Send us a textMeet Jeri Chua, Singapore’s first female that qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona and one of the most accomplished ultra athletes from Singapore. She is the owner of the Red Dot Running Company and a key figure in the Singapore trail/ultra community. Jeri shares her insights on:- why Singapore’s community is special- how demographics are changing - which athletes to...