Jackson Cole is a professional mountain runner with La Sportiva. He sat down with us to talk about the sport of mountain and trail running, and what it took to transition from being a track and cross country runner into one of the best mountain athletes from New Zealand. Jackson talked in depth about his training while a college runner at Adams State University, his introduction to mountain running by setting Fastest Known Times in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado, his recent success in mountain and Sky Running, as well as his 26th place finish leading Team New Zealand at the World Mountain Running Championships in Spain.

Topics include:

• Mountain running, trail running, ultra running
• Adams State Cross Country
• Fastest Known Time
• Threshold Training
• World Mountain Running Championship
• Sky Running
• European vs. American Trail Running
• Running Nutrition
• Canyons 100k

Some of Jackson's recent accomplishments include:

1st Meet the Minotaur Skyrace - Alberta, Canada. (Skyrunner World Series)

1st Alyeska Cirque Series - Anchorage, Alaska (Cirque Series/ Alaskan Mtn Running Grand Prix)

4th Matterhorn Ultraks Extreme - Zermatt, Switzerland (Sky Running World Series)

6th Sky Running World Champs VK - Soria, Spain

FKT Ten Mile Traverse - Frisco, Colorado

FKT Borah Peak - Lost River Range, Idaho

FKT Bitterroot High Five - Bitterroot Range, Montana

Jackson on Strava

Jackson on Instagram

Classic Running on Instagram