The Ut4M, Ultra Tour des 4 Massifs, achieves what most sporting events are still chasing: it fills its races, retains its runners and gets talked about locally. Its communication challenge therefore lies elsewhere than in acquisition, and that is the subject of this report.

Three findings structure it. Seven months pass between registration and the start line, during which the organisation says little to people who have already paid, and one registered runner in five does not appear in the final count. The student discount already exists, but it has to be claimed by email, which cancels it out. And the event’s two most distinctive assets, its 850 volunteers and its scientific laboratory, are almost absent from its public communication.

The work covers an audit of nine channels with a priority level for each, an analysis of participation data, a brand platform broken down across four audiences, a before-and-after mockup of the registration form, a reworked Instagram profile with three posts, a seven-episode video series storyboard, a runner retention scheme, an action plan aligned with the event’s real cycle, a twelve-month editorial calendar and a set of metrics.

The analysis draws on direct experience of sports events, gained as a volunteer at the Trail du Lac de Paladru: course marking, aid stations, marshalling and timing.

This is an external analysis, not commissioned, based on public information. The Ut4M organisation was neither contacted nor consulted.