Kaçkar by UTMB 2026: Turkey bets on sports tourism with 2,000 international runners
core_answer: Kaçkar by UTMB 2025 là mùa giải thứ hai của giải trail running thuộc UTMB World Series, được tổ chức tại cao nguyên Ayder, tỉnh Rize, Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ. Sự kiện thu hút 2.000 runner từ 60 quốc gia với sự tham gia của Bộ trưởng Osman Aşkın Bak phát tín hiệu xuất phát.
key_facts: 2.000 runner từ 60 quốc gia tham dự Kaçkar by UTMB 2025; Đây là mùa giải thứ hai của sự kiện; Bộ trưởng Osman Aşkın Bak phát tín hiệu xuất phát tại cao nguyên Ayder; Race Director Johan Essl đại diện UTMB Group có mặt tại sự kiện; Cao nguyên Ayder nằm ở độ cao 1.300-2.000m trên dãy núi Kaçkar
source: Anadolu Ajansı | 2025
related_qa: Kaçkar by UTMB là gì và thuộc hệ thống nào? — Kaçkar by UTMB là giải trail running nằm trong chuỗi UTMB World Series, điểm đến cuối cùng là Chamonix, Pháp.; Tại sao Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ đăng cai sự kiện này? — Nhằm phát triển du lịch thể thao tại vùng Đông Biển Đen, cạnh tranh thương hiệu địa phương với Davos.; Ai tài trợ cho Kaçkar by UTMB 2025? — Turkish Airlines, TOGG, Turkcell và Maxis — các thương hiệu quốc gia hàng đầu Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ.
On a foggy morning at the Ayder Plateau, as the starting horn echoed across the Kaçkar mountains, Minister Osman Aşkın Bak stood to give the start signal for Kaçkar by UTMB 2026. This was not a moment of ordinary athletic competition. It was a moment when a politician found words for a region's tourism dream.
Two thousand runners from 60 countries — this is the number the organizers presented as evidence of the event's international appeal. But as I followed the analysis of this event, a critical question emerged: Is this a real sports competition, or merely a national marketing project dressed in trail running gear?
The truth lies somewhere in between. And precisely because of that, this story deserves to be told.
In 2026, as an International Communications student in Hai Phong, I accidentally wrote about a former Vietnam women's football midfielder sitting alone in a cafe during World Cup season. The piece reached 180,000 views in 48 hours — proof that readers care about the stories behind sports, not just scores. Kaçkar by UTMB is the same. It's not about who crosses the finish line first. It's about what a sports event can tell us about a nation's ambitions.
Context: When sports become a geopolitical tool
Kaçkar by UTMB is a branch within the UTMB World Series ecosystem — a global trail running circuit culminating in Chamonix, France. Turkey hosting this event is not coincidental. It reflects Ankara's strategy to transform the Eastern Black Sea region into a sports tourism destination, directly competing with Davos for international investors and tourists.
Minister Bak stated plainly: "We want to associate Ayder and Rize with organizations like this, similar to how Davos is associated with the World Economic Forum." This is not a metaphor. It is a national business plan.
A long list of state agencies backs the event: the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Turkish Tourism Promotion Agency, Rize Governorship, and DOKA (Eastern Black Sea Development Agency). The sponsor tier includes Turkish Airlines, TOGG, Turkcell, and Maxis — leading national brands. This is a state-and-corporate model sharing risks and rewards.
For those tracking Vietnamese sports, this model is strikingly familiar. The way international tournaments have been brought to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City in recent years — with involvement from Vingroup, TPBank, and state enterprises — follows the same logic: sports serves as an intermediary for national branding and tourism revenue.
Analysis: What Kaçkar by UTMB truly reveals
First, this is a trail running event in its early brand-building phase. Being only its second season indicates the event lacks a solid position within the UTMB World Series ecosystem. Race Director Johan Essl — a direct representative from UTMB — was present to ensure brand standards, but his presence also signals that this is a market where the parent organization provides more support than it extracts.
Kaçkar by UTMB's participation structure operates under UTMB's unique mechanism: entry is not based on qualifying times but on the Running Stones system — points accumulated from races in the circuit, or through lottery. This differs completely from traditional athletics, where athletes must meet time standards to compete. Trail running has a lower participation barrier, but a higher barrier to becoming a genuinely significant sports event.
One notable detail: Minister Bak described ultra marathon runners as "world-class athletes with large global followings." This claim is accurate about the discipline — trail running has a massive community — but it is not substantiated by any specific elite athlete. Not a single name is mentioned in the source article. No results. No finishing times. No tactical analysis.
This is the biggest blind spot of Kaçkar by UTMB 2026: an event where sporting quality could be measured through specific achievements, yet it chose not to provide any data. It is selling the concept of "sports tourism" before proving the "sports" value itself.
Geographically, the Ayder Plateau sits at roughly 1,300-2,000 meters elevation. The Kaçkar range's rugged terrain creates natural challenges, but weather conditions are a double-edged sword. The Rize Governor recalled that last year, Kaçkar was covered by heavy fog and rain. With Eastern Black Sea mountain climate, rain and fog are not exceptions — they are the rule. And they directly threaten the event's marketing purpose: beautiful images from pristine nature.
I once monitored a trail running event in Sa Pa during winter 2026, when fog descended so low that more than half the distance had to be canceled. Standing on a mountaintop seeing nothing but white, while an excited running field had to turn back — that was a lesson in how weather can completely destroy an outdoor sports event, regardless of how well it was organized.
Contrarian view: Between show effect and substance
Women's sports don't need saving — they need recognition. That is the motto I carry when writing about sports. But with Kaçkar by UTMB, the question reverses: Is sports being exploited for other purposes?
My answer: Yes, but not entirely wrong.
The event is betting on a legitimate business model — sports tourism. According to figures cited by Minister Bak, sports tourism generates significant revenue for the country. To achieve this, they need an event large enough to attract international attention. UTMB World Series provides brand and distribution. Turkey provides location, policy, and resources. The formula makes sense.
The problem lies here: When politicians speak of "world-class athletes" without naming names, when an event boasts 2,000 participants without announcing a winner, when the narrative revolves solely around marketing purpose rather than achievements — the gap between show effect and substance grows wider.
This is a temptation any developing sports nation faces: invest in infrastructure and events, but forget to invest in sports fundamentals. Vietnamese marathon runners have never been placed in a "sports tourism" context — they are measured by performance, records, and the pressure of winning SEA Games medals. But Kaçkar by UTMB is being measured by followers, country counts, and television image quality.
A double standard is forming before our very eyes.
What I have learned after years of writing about women's sports: She doesn't need a medal to prove she has won. But with Kaçkar by UTMB, this event is trying to prove it has won by avoiding the competition itself.
Outlook: Signals to monitor
Despite many shadows, Kaçkar by UTMB remains a noteworthy experiment in global sports-tourism strategy. If the event survives into a third season with an elite start list and specific results, it will become a case study in how a nation builds sports branding from scratch. But if it continues in the "marketing first, sports later" phase, the risk is that the story will lose appeal as competitors — Nepal, Georgia, Taiwan — begin hosting their own trail running events under international brands.
For the Vietnamese market, Kaçkar by UTMB is a lesson in what not to do: don't turn sports into a marketing tool before sports truly exists. But simultaneously, it is also a lesson in what can be done: if you have beautiful terrain, an international brand willing to cooperate, and consensus between state and business — then the path from a small trail running event to an international one is not too far.
The remaining question is: When will Vietnamese runners be present at events like Kaçkar by UTMB — not to showcase numbers, but to truly compete?
The ball rolls through destiny, and I chose to stand still to watch it. With Kaçkar by UTMB, I am observing a ball not yet rolled — merely placed on the field.