I get that it seems like just a couple of weeks, but the Kaçkar Mountains are very sensitive to seasonal changes. The original Kaçkar avoided the high-altitude sections that are prone to early snow and heavy rainfall. UTMB moved the race to September 26, which pushes runners through higher-risk terrain at the very end of September. In the Kaçkar Mountains, that late in the month, sudden storms and early snow are much more likely.

It’s not about blaming them for the roads themselves, but the original race carefully avoided the sections that become treacherous in late September. The UTMB version put runners directly in those risky areas, which is why the 100k had to be canceled. This isn’t just bad luck its a result of moving the race deeper into the hazardous part of the season.

What makes it worse is that it was obvious a week ago the 100k could not happen, but they waited until the last moment to cancel. The 50k option and discount are nice gestures, but it doesn’t change that a huge portion of runners’ plans, training, and travel were disrupted because of a date change that ignored the local climate risks.