Trails Snacks- Issue 16, 2024
Trails Snacks- Issue 16, 2024
The Walmsley Edition
Trail snacks- The “Walmsley” edition
It’s here.
“Walmsley”, the movie.
For trail and ultra runners, the legend of Jim Walmsley is nothing new. Like Kilian and Courtney, he is referred to simply as Jim.
It’s been quite a while since a long form athlete movie has made such an impact in the trail and ultra running space.
As of Monday the 6th of May 2024, the 94 minute long movie has almost 278,000 views on YouTube in only six days.
In this click bait, 15 second TikTok age, the numbers so far are quite impressive.
For context, most of Billy Yang’s most successful athlete pieces like 2014’s “Western Time” about Sally McCrae’s Western States runs at 28 minutes and at present has 595k views. 2020’s “Zach”, about the balls to the wall racing style of Zach Miller comes in at 38 minutes and currently has 642k views on YouTube.
Most of the recent athlete focused, trail running movies sit in the 10-20 minute time frame.
There are some significant longer form movies, like the Netflix boosted “Where dreams go to die” and one of the original ultra running movies “Unbreakable” but with the external factors of Netflix and the fact that Unbreakable was only available on DVD until 4 years ago means it is hard to see where “Walmsley” will fit amongst these great films, especially given it was released to the public on YouTube for free.
Whilst the movie starts off introducing Jim, one could be forgiven for thinking it was just as much about introducing the juggernaut that is UTMB.
The film introduces Jim perfectly, in all his athleticism, tenacity and weirdness, perfectly highlighting the little details, the “Jim-isms” as his wife Jess calls them, that bring humanity to an otherwise extraterrestrial athlete.
There are so many little moments scattered throughout intended to remind viewers that he’s “just like us”. He gets lost in the bush, he obsesses over his Strava and his gear, and his favourite ice cream is pistachio, ok maybe not that, but a lot of other things.
Even Jess’s first meeting in 2016 with Jim was just like ours.
“He came on like fire and everyone was like who is this hot headed guy”, she says in the film. “He came out so forward and would state his goals to everybody which were super outlandish at the time”.
As someone who saw Jim for the first time at Tarawera Ultra in 2017, I can attest to that version of Jim. He said he was going to win, he predicted his finishing time to the minute and then he executed it, bumping his head on a tree, almost knocking himself out, and moving along the course so fast that the marshals and markings weren’t ready for him.
Despite being “brought to you” by Hoka and Wahoo, at no point does the film feel like product placement. I think his truck and coffee habit gets more air time than his Wahoo watch.
The film documents Jim’s attempts at UTMB and the couples ultimate decision to move to France. There’s a lot of running, yes, but there is also a lot of grocery shopping, cheese smelling and drooling over very fancy looking French pastries.
If some of the content seems familiar, it’s probably because a lot of the same footage has been used to create the fantastic “Jess et Jim” series about the move and other Wahoo short films and ads that have been put out in the past few years. It’s all smooshed together with UTMB live stream footage which if you watched the race also feels a little repetitive. Having being handcuffed to the livestream the past few years, I knew what was coming and anticipated the key moments in the race so the highlight was the behind the scenes clips in the lead up to the race, the preparation it takes to try to be the best and control the controllables.
Even if you are a Jim uber fan and have devoured everything Jim for the past 8 years, there are nuggets here you haven’t seen. This is Jim as you have never seen him before.
One of the key moments of the film is the conversation captured between Jim and Jess at the Vallorcine aid station (80km/160km) in the 2022 UTMB when Jess tells a visibly upset and distressed Jim that “it’s ok, just do your best”. Another reminder that this sport is hard, for everyone, no one is immune, not even Jim. Jess continues to re-assure him as the race continues, but Jim has burnt all this matches and has no choice, if he wants to finish, to shuffle quad-less to the finish line, something we have all done, just maybe not at the pace Jim was doing it.
There are so many lessons and takeaways for aspiring runners in this film. I find new nuggets and pearls of wisdom each time I watch it.
I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying that he eventually pulls it off and wins the UTMB. It’s a masterclass in perseverance, patience and dedication but also a friendly reminder to all ultra trail runners to hold out hope for that second, third and forth wind, because all of a sudden you might feel good again, like nothing had ever happened, like you haven’t been running for an entire day and you might just go on to have the race of your life.
The films overarching success remains that even the best are not perfect on the first attempt. As Jim says, you learn the most when you get kicked in the teeth, and you have to get up and try and try and sometimes, try again, until you ultimately reach your goal, whether that be winning the biggest ultra trail race in the world, or getting to the finish line before the cut off.
As film maker, Ansel Dickey says in his recent interview with Finn Melanson, the film is a reminder to of the importance of simply trying.
Also: In the vain of Courtney’s “Robot Robot” t-shirt, I feel like Hoka should get on board Jim’s “Zombie Zombie” vibe.
Associated content
Just in case you couldn’t get enough of Jim, here are some of my favourite Jim centric pieces of content. Personally, I’d start with “Jess et Jim” and the Some Work All Play podcast (just skip the first few minutes of shameless fan grilling from the hosts!).
Podcasts
Finn spoke to DP and film maker about the film and spending time with Jim
Jim’s post UTMB 2023 podcasts.
YouTube
Wahoo’s Jim and Jess series- See above, or check out the ‘Walmsley’ playlist on the Wahoo Channel
Found on the 49- The Story of Jim’s first Western States
How One Wrong Turn Changed Jim Walmsley’s career (Lighting the Fire Episode 1)
Jim Walmsleys 2017 Western States Race (Lighting the Fire Episode 2)
There are an absolute tonne of iRunFar pre and post race interviews for pretty much every big race Jim has done. Head over to iRunFar’s YouTube to find them all. The page is sorted by race.
I hope you enjoyed this Walmsley themed Trail Snacks.
Feel free to share this with your trail running pals, so next time you are stuck on the treadmill, you have hours of Jim content to remind you why you are doing this silly sport.
Happy recovery.
Brilliant trail snack! Thank you.