Morgan Elliott Pre Whiteface Skyrace Interview

A two-loop skyrace sounds straightforward until you’re halfway through lap one and realize the real battle is in your head. We sit down with Morgan Elliott just before Whiteface Skyrace in upstate New York, where family is nearby, the terrain is steep, and the season is already packed with travel, racing, and big expectations.

We get into what makes Whiteface different: a double-loop format, ski resort climbing that can feel brutally simple, and the mental math of how hard you can push when you know you have to do it all again. Morgan shares how he thinks about effort management, why he’d rather negative split than go out blazing hot, and how tricky it can be when multiple races start together and the early pack might be running a shorter distance.

From there we zoom out to the US Skyrunning Series and the larger skyrunning world, including how points, finals, and prize purses shape a season without fully defining it. Morgan talks about chasing experiences as much as results, why Alaska’s running community feels more like Europe’s fan culture, and the honest truth that winning without real competition can feel like nothing. We wrap with a fun detour into iconic courses like Quest for the Crest and Broken Arrow, and what great course design really takes.

If you care about skyrunning, trail running strategy, mountain racing culture, and how elite athletes stay motivated, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a training partner, and leave a review with the race you most want to see Morgan take on next.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:05

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Morgan Elliott Joins Before Whiteface

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Elliott. Welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How's it going, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Good. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Yeah, I'm so excited to catch up with you. Obviously, it was great hanging out a couple weeks ago back at Broken Arrow and uh so excited to chat and catch up now to talk all things whiteface skyrace, man. Um you've obviously had a really busy, busy season thus far. How does it feel uh now to to to be I don't know, be up in upstate New York and getting ready to go uh tackle one more challenge?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Yeah, Skyrunning's kind of unique and different where there's three different types of series going on and just sort of wrapping up the Skyrun Air World Series, being able to have done four. Now it's kind of switching focus on doing three races uh in the US. So it's really cool that they focus on bringing it back because it's been a minute um since it's been just a series here in the US. So yeah, they it's in New York. I have family in New York, so it's good to catch up with my mom and my aunt and my uncle that live out here. Uh just 4th of July family reunion. But yeah, it's different. Feels like the season's just starting, starting to like click that way. Um, even though it really feels very mid to late season for me so far.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

I know, dude. You've been racing for a minute, and you've been all over the world racing, which is even you know, even kind of cooler. So it's probably nice to be to be back uh you know in the northeast and you know, kind of a home state and getting to see family and all that good stuff. This race should be should be a good one. Um I just kind of see like what do you what are your thoughts on a race like this? I and specifically the course, because it's a double loop. Most of the races, whether it be sky racing or even something like Broken Arrow, um, generally one big loop or you know, some are out and back, things like that, but never two loops, which kind of adds a different degree of uh maybe mental uh fatigue, if you will, to racing and things like that. Does that cross your mind at all, or you just kind of just do what you gotta do?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

No, I definitely do what I gotta do. I only found out that it was a two-loop course because my mom's coming out and she's looking at the website. She's like, oh, you have to do two laps. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Uh but two loops, it is what it is. One, it's nice to know what you're getting into on the second lap. I'm not gonna preview the course um just because I like to keep things exciting. Not because I'm pretty lazy. Uh yeah, it just showing up, it's gonna be fine. But when you have a two-lap course, you get to see what you did, how much energy you can um you can expend for the second lap. Um, so that's always kind of cool. But you know, when it's racing, you know, it it's fun seeing other people on the course a little bit more, like two different times. Um but

Two-Loop Course And Ski Hill Reality

SPEAKER_00 3:50

yeah, you do what you gotta do. But it that is kind of like US racing, which is very unique than the other races I've been at.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

It's true. Yeah, it is it is different, it is unique. It's a beautiful area. I'll definitely give it that. And this course is, I don't know, from what I understand. I talked to Dan Kurtz and Andy Wacker who have raced it not long ago, uh, back when it was like US champs and stuff. I apparently offered to you were in that race. Yeah, when you come off the road, apparently it's pretty slow. Like it's just like the kind of the 30% ski ski hill, if you will, and just pretty slow going, not a lot of uh road. So that's a mixture of I guess clut hiking and running, if you will. Um you like that type of type of running, or are you more uh what what do you prefer style-wise?

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yeah, uh I'm trying to sound excited about it. Uh yeah, it's it's a ski resort, so it's yeah, feels a little uncreative in my opinion. Um, but when your legs are pretty beat up and tired, it's you know, it's kind of nice to have that downhill um of the road. But no, uh if I wanted to perform and have a little bit more of an edge, I would prefer it to be a little off trail, um, have it be a little bit more technical. And I kind of feel like I advance a little bit faster along the course than my competitors. It's just more my niche being able to have more obstacles in my feet um than just like open 430 fast stride. Like my gate is not very long, especially after I'm training and doing all these climbs. I have a really smaller, uh shorter stride. So it's not ideal and it hurts way more. Um, but can't change it. That's that's the course. So I'll just adapt for it.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Have you uh looked at all at uh the start list? Uh as far as the competitors go. It seems like there's there's a good mix between the sky race and the mountain race, which uh apparently will start at the same time. So Tim Ukar will be in the mountain race. So you'll have a few fast guys to go out there with. Um I feel like you might find yourself alone on the second loop. Um, how does that make you feel uh as far as that goes? Like trying to reconcile that, like you're gonna have to just kind of set the tone and set the pace for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Yeah, I like to come off that I don't know anything about this race, but that's good intel. Um yeah, Timmy Pars a legend. That's pretty wild to think that he's making a trip out to Northeast. I'm wondering. Um, anyways. Uh yeah, you will want to put eyes on who's in the right bid as you uh my goal is to not go out blazing hot, um, just be conservative and then try to do my best to negative split. Um it's gonna be the goal. I'd be a lot stronger on the second loop. Um,

Start List Pressure And Negative Splits

SPEAKER_00 6:35

but it's gonna be tricky knowing that there's two races going off at the same time, one being shorter than the other. And uh, you know, I might end up getting pulled um to go with that group um and then realize, oh, I got another lap. But so yeah, that that's good to know.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Um if you have great success at this race, which it seems like you will, obviously, with a lot of things, this sets you up really nicely for the US series. And the US series obviously has a great prize purse. You only have to do one race to qualify for the final, which is Kismet. Um, how did how would that make you feel? I mean, that this is this really sets you up in a good position if you do well here, uh, that you're one step closer to a nice prize purse and being the champion.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I think about it so much as like that. Uh I'm gonna go down to Beast of Big Creek. I'm gonna enjoy the series while I can. Um, so that race is part of it. I think the goal is to get more points, and uh I I thought you needed to do two races. Um they're back and forth and then the final.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

They I think the latest Intel is one now, but it's hard to say.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Okay. So hopefully they can all kind of like connect and get the rules down. That'd be good. Because I even want to go to Alaska, even if I don't need the points, I'd still like to go to Alaska and do that race. Um, because that that would be pretty nice to see the whole series in the circuit. Because when they used to have it, I think you had to do three races plus the final. Um, and that was a lot of fun when I had to travel out to Audi Power 4 and Aspen, and then like El Paso or Broken Arrow or Run the Rut, um, all these iconic uh races, and then the series just kind of split away. It was just so fun to meet other people and go to these different places. And I know Alaskan culture is really fun, and uh I'd like to see those athletes out there. Um but yeah, I mean, if that's what it is to get the prize money with two races, I mean, that's cool. That'll be fun.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah, the uh it's funny you bring up the Alaska race, the ski talk uh skyline scramble. I'm happy, I'm so happy that like there's gonna be an even another race now in Alaska, and that like that scene is starting to get built up. I

US Skyrunning Series Points And Prize Talk

SPEAKER_02 8:55

was doing a lot of covers this week for Mount Marathon and just had like major FOMO, man. I was talking to Kyle Richardson, and in the background you see all these you know amazing pieces at like sea level. It was like, oh my god, like Alaska is just something different. So yeah, if you can you can make the trip out there, highly, highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Yeah, they're fast runners. Um cool to throw down and get humbled. Yeah. Yeah, big time.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, it's uh it's just a different scene. I feel like their their running scene, uh, just community-wise, is just different than like the lower 48. Like uh for instance, like in Colorado Springs, like with uh being on the board of pikes, like I shout from the rooftops. I'm like, yo, we we need to get like more fans out here to the race, and you know, whereas like you look at like Mount Marathon, there's like a thousand people plus in the street just like going crazy cheered on these roads.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

So I think they really are in tune with endurance sports and um just like outdoor adventure sports. So I think Alaska is almost adopts it, kind of like the Europeans adopt it, like especially in France. They're very much European sport, like Tour de France, and um the fan base is bigger. I I have that sense with Alaska, uh that they just have more of appreciation for what the human body can do in like the wilderness setting. So here in the US, it's a little different in the lower states.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah, no, no doubt. It definitely is. It's growing though. I think that the scene is changing and evolving. I mean, you were just at Western States, so you got to see, I mean, obviously, historical year with all these athletes, and I'm sure that was an amazing experience as well. So different different locations and locales definitely uh make it fun.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

So what else do you have uh besides the US series? What else do you have on your calendar for this year?

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Yeah, so after um KissMet, there is five to six days. I have to be in Gomera. Um so it's a Sky Running World Championships, um, which is separate from all the World Uh series and separate from the US series. Uh, so I'm gonna go out there and do that, the first one being the BK and then the short trail. Um, and then I have to switch gears, and I'm I need more light points for uh the US Skyrunner World Series. So I might go do uh another race north of Spain um before I do the final, just outside of Valencia, Demens. Um so then I got that. Then I think my season's gonna be kind of wound down at that point in November. So just kind of chill um until I look at the calendar to see what to do next spring. Nice little needed break.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Where do you think you uh will settle this year? Do you think you'll be back in Colorado Springs or an area like that, like back in Colorado or Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

See how much I I miss the winter. But I have a buddy that lives out in New Zealand. I might go

Why Alaska Feels Like Europe

SPEAKER_00 11:55

visit him. Uh I like to, I don't know, it kind of just goes off the vibe of what it feels. Might stick around uh California or stick around Colorado. Yeah, I just kind of play it by ear. Yeah, it's it's kind of fun just to have that loose, lucrative no place I call home necessarily, except for Colorado. Salida's home base. That's where the PO box and the storage unit is. But yeah, it's fun just to be able to bounce around for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Absolutely. Shout out to Salida. Amazing town. Yeah, love Celida. Um, all right, man. Well, last question. What would it mean for you just personally to win a race like this? I I know I kind of mentioned it before, like obviously it sets you up for a great rest of the season, but uh for you to be especially in the northeast, kind of quote unquote proverbial home soil, if you will, with family, getting to watch and and get the CU race, um, what would that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Uh yeah. It'd be okay. It'd be cool. I, you know. Um I I know there's not that much competition signed up for this race, so what will it feel to me? It really won't feel like much if there's not really any competition. I know this isn't the answer you want.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

It's all good, it's all good. It's a tough point. I mean, tough point. Yeah, I mean, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

I get points, but I mean, I feel like the races I do, like I was just at Broken Arrow. I it was uh a hell of a race, big prize money, and it brought in some awesome competition, and I had a lot of fun um getting to see that competition face on. Um, and then to show up to a race where I I'm being told that um there's just nobody signed up for it and I win it. It's just I mean, to be honest, I I feel nothing. I need to have competition to feel something. Um and I get it. Yeah, so I mean, yeah, my family's here. I mean, they'll say, Oh, you did great. This is just like if there's nobody in the race, it just doesn't feel like anything. It's not that special.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Yeah. It's a it's an unfortunate point in the calendar where you got Quebec Mega Trail,

World Champs Plans And Living On The Road

SPEAKER_02 14:10

and then it's also on July 4th weekend, which kind of kills like not, you know, kind of cuts down the amount of people signing up. So hopefully this is a good, you know, catalyst and starting point to, you know, to grow the race and get more uh athletes out there. It is a bit of a bummer though. I was hoping for a larger, definitely a you know, for a larger lead on the field.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

That's why I haven't even looked at the the race lineup. I just don't care. I just don't know. And I'll just show up at the starting line and be like, oh, okay, oh, okay. There's a couple of good guys here. This would be great. But you know, I I really hope when I did my first ultra or my first sky race, um, nobody absolutely knew who I was. I came out of the woodworks of just like training and seeing that course and like, oh, I want to race against some of these fast guys that I know might be showing up, um, who were like first second. So like I have my fingers crossed that like there's a young gun who has this goal of wanting to race a Sky World series or you know, the US Sky Series. Maybe somebody like me when I was younger, like that's what I wanted to do. And he just has a day, and we just rally back and forth, and he has like great experience. I have a lot of fun, and you know, it's something for somebody else to like build off of. And like that would be cool um to have just somebody else who is targeting the series and kind of launching his career. Like, I'm very much open to the fact that that could happen. Um, that would be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yeah, no, I agree. Hopefully, we get some some fast uh young ski athletes out there, man. So who knows? Maybe uh some Nordic skiers show up. Yeah, that's true. Could change some things. It's very true. I got a question for you out of left field. Do you see? Yeah, no, this one I was thinking about this the other day because I was looking at uh the quest for the crest. I went like a few years ago, maybe like five years ago or four years ago, and did the uh the 25k version and was kind of kicking myself I didn't do the 50k. Do you still have a course record on that course? Because that's a very course.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah, that course is epic. Uh and I think now it does summit uh the peak. Matt Mitchell. When I did it, it was the inaugural year, and it didn't sum it. It just went up to Big Tom and ran the crest trail, then dropped down. Um so it extended it and is harder now. So that's kind of why I have that. Um but yeah, it would be cool to see what it would have translated or like if when I did it that year, if I did the whole course that they stuck with. Um, but yeah, so my name will probably be there as default because the course is longer now by substantial time.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

I was like, holy shit, Morgan ran an amazing race there. So now you

Why Winning Without Competition Feels Empty

SPEAKER_02 16:45

still probably ran an amazing race, but now now yeah, you add a little color to it. I like to think I did. That was a cool day.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

That's a cool course, man. That is a that's a great, I think it's a slept-down area of like net North Carolina, Asheville, um, just like the Mount Mitchell area is pretty dope. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

It is a gem of a course, and why I appreciate it and like it so much. They didn't like Sean Blanton, he didn't uh do it on a ski resort. He was creative, he brought in buses, um, bussed everybody out to this small trailhead and organized a kick-ass race, finished at a campground, people camped out, the vibe was great. Um, yeah, that's like that's what's up. That was point to point. Um, and now it's just yeah, it's hard getting permits and hard to figure out where to put people. So as default, we just end up at ski resorts. Yeah. Um that's true.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

That's true. Yeah, it's funny you say that. I was uh, and this is no shit against broken arrow. I got to see most of uh the 23k course when we were out there because I'd never been on it, and I was actually like kind of not disappointed, but like there were sections of it I was like, oh, this is not necessary. Like you could totally make this like an 18k course and it would be way better, or just like more aesthetic, some of the lines would be better. Like I was very surprised the first uh, and this is like me going off on a tangent, but like the first like four miles or three miles is like a lot of descending. I think you gained like 500 feet in the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

So yeah, it's kind of like stringing everybody out, uh, and it gets dusty. I even had like a buff over my nose for how much dust was kicked up sitting in like you know, top 30 uh in the start of the broken arrow. Yeah. And then the first year they did broken arrow, I got to do it, and there was so much snow. It was it felt like an orienteering race. It was so wild.

Quest For The Crest And Course Design Rants

SPEAKER_00 18:30

And we were like constantly going up snow banks, constantly like sliding on our butts, going up cut up stairs. Like Brendan, when he threw that on, that was wild. Um, what a trip. And I and it wasn't a looped course, if I remember, it was like a point-to-point, and he made it work.

unknown 18:47

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Gosh, it was so wild. I I felt like I was in a maze. I was lost on that course. It was so fun. And I was I remember coming into an aid station. I'm like, what do we have? Is the finish right around here? It's like, no, six miles to the next aid station. I'm like, this race is taking forever. Oh, it was so hard. Uh, but it was that was a good time.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

That's crazy. It's amazing to see. I mean, you must be like blown away then to see like what it was then and what it is now.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Like, that's kind of oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah, that year somebody pulled all the flags, um, which was such a shame. Everybody, a large portion of people just got lost and didn't know where to go. Um, the GPS watches, you know, like there's no GPX on these things at the back in 2017. Um, but yeah, you can kind of like we were all spread out. Remember, there's like a clump of like five of us, like, where do we go? Someone's like, the flags continue way over here. We're like, all right. And then I'm like trying to fix the flags that were made in a pile somewhere, like trying to leave the rest of the pack to go up to this other part of the race. And I'm like, oh, this race was awash. And I like finished next to like the second female, which was cool. Wow. That's fun. The times crazy.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Yeah, well, dude, I don't want to take too much of your time. We'll have to uh some point in time in the summer, we'll have to do a um maybe around Beast, we'll do like a full long, like long format, like hour or two chat to uh because I want to get your whole story and like help tell your story. Um, but for today, I'll give you some time back and uh I appreciate you coming

Final Thanks And Race Day Wishes

SPEAKER_02 20:20

on as always. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, man. Wish you the best of luck tomorrow. Uh hope it's an amazing day for you. I'm sure it will be. Um and uh sets you up nicely for it's on the fourth. Did I say tomorrow? Oh my bad. No, that's good. Like I hope not. Well, whoops. Uh yeah, on on on Saturday. Um yeah, man. Appreciate you coming on and thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, thanks for having me, James.