Montana native Mike Foote broke into the ultra-running scene in 2011, when he finished the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc as the first American and placed third the following year. In between, he broke the course record at the Bighorn 100 in his home state. The 33-year-old who lives in a yurt has also racked up three runner-up finishes at the Hardrock 100.
Foot came of age in Glacier National Park, working as a backpacking and rafting guide in the summer and on ski patrol at nearby Whitefish Mountain Resort. Glacier’s incredible landscape inspired Mike to run farther. He placed ninth in his first 100-mile race, the Wasatch 100, while winning the Elkhorn 50-miler in Helena during his training.
The Ohio serves as events director for Runner’s Edge, a running store in Missoula, which led to founding the Rut 50K in Big Sky in 2013, one of the biggest trail-running events in America and the only stop on the Sky Runner World Series. In winter, Mike races on snow as a new member of the U.S. Skimo Team. In 2018, Mike set what was at the time a world record for most vertical feet climbed and skied in 24 hours: 61,200 feet.
A board member of the Missoula-based Five Valleys Land Trust, Mike works to protect western Montana’s open spaces through conservation easements. In the fall of 2015, Mike joined TNF runner Mike Wolfe and photographer Steven Gnam on a 24-day run through the Crown of the Continent, an 18-million-acre chunk of land between Missoula and Banff, connecting the Rattlesnake, Mission, Swan, and Flathead mountain ranges and documenting the ecosystems in the name of conservation.
Accomplishments:
- World Record for most Vertical skied in 24 hours (61,200 ft), 2018
- 3 Time Hardrock 100 2nd place (2010, 2015,2017)
- 3rd place Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc, 2012
- Course Record Bighorn 100, 2012
- Crown Traverse 600 Mile Running Expedition, 2015