Chasing Happily EVO After

Going for glory at the top ultrarunning event in the world, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, involves tackling one of the hardest courses out there while racing against the best athletes in the sport. Training for this race means countless hours spent scrambling up rocky crags, running along alpine ridges, and flying down terrifying terrain.

This year, pro HOKA runner Tim Tollefson is aiming for the top spot in this prestigious race, and has been training tirelessly to have a shot at the win. His backyard of Mammoth Lakes is the perfect training grounds to put his body and gear to the test before taking on the incredible challenge that is the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.

Having a shoe that can hold up to the demands of racing over 100 miles through the Alps is a key component to success at UTMB. Last year, Tim worked with HOKA ONE ONE to help develop a shoe that could carry him to success at the 2017 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. After training in several versions of the EVO Mafate and helping HOKA tweak and refine the shoe, he wore it to his podium finish at UTMB.

This spring, as the snow melted in Mammoth and Tim started training for his 3^rd trip to the race, we visited him to check on his training and learn more about the HOKA EVO Mafate. Not just an incredible athlete, Tim also proved to be an exceptional host, touring us around his stomping grounds and showing us all the best places to run in the beautiful mountains he calls home. With as many stories of epic quests as there are peaks cutting their way up into the sky, Tim's excitement for trail running proved contagious.

Hardly a stranger to athletic success, Tim Tollefson has a long history with running. Having raced in high school and University, and then afterward as he chased fast marathon times around the country, Tim spent years on the road circuit before discovering what he calls his "inner calling" - trail racing.

Tim found immediate success racing on the trail scene. Right out of the gate, he became the 2014 US 50K trail champion and went on to snag 3rd place at the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc in both 2016 and 2017. It is this iconic race - UTMB - that calls to him and keeps him driven in 2018. With laser-like focus, Tim has been training not just for success, but for complete domination.

For Tim, UTMB is not just a big deal, it is the big deal. Lucky for him, living in Mammoth Lakes provides him with the ideal training grounds. Sitting at just under 8,000 feet, the town is surrounded by craggy peaks, an expansive backcountry, and of course the iconic Mammoth Mountain, which tops out at 11,053 feet. With everything from rocky, technical ridgelines to smooth, forested singletrack and icy, snow-capped mountains, there's a little bit of everything and a whole lot of elevation.

Training in the extremes of Mammoth is fitting for a man with extreme goals. Striving for a big result at UTMB means living a lifestyle of intense training, something that works for Tim's disciplined and patient personality. With a racing and training mantra of "It's going to get worse before it gets better", he maintains an incredibly positive attitude surrounding the lows that inevitably come during ultra-endurance endeavors. This perseverance and poise, it seems, is central to his ability to push himself to the limit.

Possibly the single most prestigious trail race on the planet, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, or UTMB, is the crux of many a runner's goals and training. Described by Tim as the "Superbowl of Trail Racing," UTMB is not only one of the hardest foot races in the world, but also one of the largest, attracting over 2,000 trail runners, including some of the fastest men and women from around the world.

Held the last weekend of August each year, UTMB is a 106-mile race circumnavigating Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps. The race travels through three countries - France, Italy, and Switzerland - and gains just over 33,000 feet of ascent in the process. Last year, the top three men all finished the route, which typically takes hikers around seven to nine days to complete, in under 20 hours.

Despite the incredibly difficult course - or perhaps because of it - UTMB is widely considered a pretty special event and, according to Tim, something that should be on every ultrarunner's bucket list. With a culture of excitement and prestige surrounding the race, runners can feed off the energy of the thousands of fans lining the mountainous course.

The huge variety of terrain and conditions that span UTMB's 106 miles make it an especially unique event. Unpredictability is a huge factor, and doing well means being able to plan for the unplannable as much as possible. While Tim has been diligent in his training, he also recognizes the need for gear that can handle the demands of UTMB, and no gear is more important to a runner than his shoes. Because of this, Tim has been actively involved in helping HOKA develop the perfect shoe to tackle any adventure - even an adventure as demanding as UTMB.

At its core, HOKA is all about having fun. Started in order to provide runners a "flying experience", HOKA ONE ONE has always been about creating shoes that allow runners to safely get the same kind of thrilling rush you can feel while downhill skiing, surfing, or mountain biking.

The Mafate was HOKA's first shoe. Designed to be the ultimate shoe for ultrarunning, the original shoe was named after the Cirque de Mafate, an area on Reunion Island off the coast of Madagascar. There, you can run from sky to sea, starting atop a volcano, plunging down into the jungle, and ending at the coast. Because of the extreme conditions and versatility of terrain, the HOKA Mafate was designed as a shoe that could handle just about anything.

The evolution of the Mafate has led to a product that is far more advanced than the original design but stays true to the initial intent: to develop a fast, comfortable shoe capable of handling just about anything.

In order to propel the Mafate forward, HOKA has involved athletes like Tim in the design. After wearing the Mafate last year at UTMB, Tim has become extremely invested this year in the development of the shoe, confident that it will be the perfect tool to inch him closer to his dream. Fortunately for HOKA, Tim's home in Mammoth proves not only the perfect training grounds for him but also the perfect place to test product. Thanks to the versatility of terrain and conditions in and around Mammoth, Tim has been able to put each iteration of the Mafate through the wringer and provide invaluable feedback to HOKA's designers.

All of this testing and tweaking has led to the very first EVO Mafate. HOKA's EVO shoes represent the latest technology specifically designed for the fastest athletes. Tim's excitement about this shoe is palpable, not just because of his confidence in how the shoe will help him perform at UTMB, but also because of what it will help others achieve. While EVO shoes are developed with top-level athletes in mind, they also set a standard of excellence that will allow anyone to tackle anything they might encounter on their own daily adventures on the trail.