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A great trail race isn’t a distance on a flyer, it’s a line you cannot stop thinking about. I sit down with Connor and Alice, the founders and race directors behind Mountain Tiger, to unpack how a “run it because it’s beautiful” mindset turned into one of the most talked-about mountain races in Donner Summit, California near Lake Tahoe. We get specific about what makes their course work: a point-to-point route that links two ski areas, hits four summits, and avoids the usual trap of adding awkward mileage just to land on a round number.

We also go behind the curtain on race directing. Connor and Alice share the real workload that shows up long before bib pickup: permitting across multiple partners, the stress and joy of race day, and how they build a tight community feel by keeping it one day and one distance. Then we nerd out on the brand itself, from the Smilodon-inspired “Mountain Tiger” name to the punk and metal design language that helps the event stand out in the California trail running scene. And yes, we talk about the free finish-line tattoos and why runners went all in.

Big news closes it out: Mountain Tiger Diablo is coming to Mount Diablo State Park in the Bay Area on October 10, 2026, aiming for a steep, direct, short mountain race around 12 to 13 miles with roughly 4,000 feet of gain. We also dig into their inclusion goals, equal prizes for men, women, and non-binary finishers, plus a free women’s training program with San Francisco Running Company designed to bring more women and non-binary runners to the start line. If you love mountain running, community-first events, and California trail races that feel different on purpose, this one is for you.

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