2025 Trail Running Transfer Ratings Part 2
Hey there sports fans! It is exam number two, let’s get through it so we can get back to drinking Burnett’s Vodka. I just want to say that these moves all appear to be positive moves for these athletes. This group of transfers just make sense and don’t appear to be the result of some brutal contract drama. However, if you have the tea feel free to spill it in the comments.
While some brands are certainly taking their sweet time releasing their shiny new signings, here is the second part of my 2025 Trail Running Transfer Ratings! I believe all of these were announced at the beginning of the year, there haven’t been any “major” announcements recently. Also wanted to give a shout out to Travis Loncar at Freetrail for collecting these moves into one easy to navigate website. Inevitably some signings get lost in the weeds with subpar announcement marketing and Freetrail is making it easier to be a fan of the sport. As always F is the lowest mark, A+ is the highest score, and D’s get degrees.
Hannah Allgood
Dynafit to Adidas Terrex
Dynafit has always seemed wishy-washy on their trail team strategy. So it is no surprise they said goodbye to a couple athletes this year. Luckily for us the German idol of Dynafit trail running remains, Hannes Namberger. My attention was peaked by Hannah Allgood moving on from the ski touring powerhouse towards the three stripe life. This would be a quality move for any athlete. Adidas continues to stack up top-level female athletes living in that 50k-100k realm, it is cool to see. I am very curious when the massive riches of Adidas will be satisfied with their team. From the outside it appears like they can front the money for any quality athlete to make the move. Are they looking to continue this trend or is their hunger for team growth satiated? This is a quality move for Hannah’s future in the sport, this one gets an A from me.
Kaite Asmuth
Saucony to HOKA
Do I have to keep capitalizing HOKA? Is that a thing? I cannot wait for ONE ONE to return, bring back ONE ONE. Katie Asmuth made a move this off-season. This is an exciting move! Saucony seems to only have been half invested in trails for years, I wouldn’t buy Saucony trail stock in 2025. In my opinion, they are no longer exciting in this space. As a company they will need to either release an exciting trail shoe or invest more time and energy into their team. They have always had one of the smaller teams that I am aware of. Hopefully HOKA can provide more resources for Katie as she continues her comeback into trail running. I'll grade this move as B for Katie!
Lotti Brinks
Salomon to HOKA
Another Salmon partnership bites the dust and another HOKA contract is birthed. I think this move is the average of what we have seen this off-season. Salomon decreasing their roster and HOKA increasing their roster. I have the same question for HOKA that I had for Adidas earlier. When will they be satisfied with their athlete roster? Freetrail lists HOKA with 54 athletes, which is huge, in my opinion. Do resources get stretched too thin with a team this large? Of course, I would assume that the European and North American athletes draw from different marketing pools. I can only hope most of these athletes are making at least $30,000. I think Lotti did well here by sidestepping the Salomon instability and landing herself into the trail behemoth that is HOKA. With all this in consideration I grant this move a C.
Cody Lind
Scott to Adidas Terrex
Okay for starters Scott as a trail running brand has confused me for a while now. They have their fingers in a number of outdoor sports, but trail running sticks out as the ugly duck in their portfolio. In addition, I have never seen anyone wearing Scott running shoes in the United States. So this move here for Cody Lind is a great move. He has been uber consistent for a number of years now and seems to always be overshadowed by many others. Or maybe he is just quiet and keeps to himself, that is also a valid option. Terrex is growing by the minute, their roster has become quite impressive in very little time. This is a great move for Cody, I am hopeful he can thrive with increased resources provided by a large company (I think?) like Adidas. Congrats Cody I’ll grant you a B.
Remi Leroux
Merrell to Brooks
This one is for my Canadian readers. Remi is a short distance racing powerhouse and Merrell is an influencer powerhouse, these aren’t the same. Although I will give credit to Merrell for sponsoring the Skyrunner World Series, which oddly enough is something Remi might excel in. Brooks has been one of the bigger movers this contract season and it is very exciting. They have signed some heavy hitters and some younger blossoming talent. I think Remi dropped Merrell in this situation and moved to greener pastures over at Brooks. I will be looking for Brooks to expand their trail shoe offering in the future, I think that is in the cards. This is a decent move. I'll give Remi a C+, a slightly above average rating.
Well that about wraps up part two of the Trail Running Transfer Ratings. I did not cover every move this year, just the one I found the most interesting. There are still a few names I am eagerly awaiting announcements from. I have heard rumors of some big time transfers coming in the spring. All in all these shakes up are fun as a fan of the sport and need more coverage. Now that races are in full swing I am so excited to follow along and see how these transfers shake out. If you have any feedback feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!
