Chris Kostman believes in ultra everything. Since 1984, Kostman has been race directing some of the country’s most challenging endurance events through his company AdventureCORPS. Throughout his career, Kostman has organized more than 175 races across the world and also took over race directorship in 2000 of the country’s most notoriously difficult race the Badwater 135 in Death Valley, CA.
In addition to his event directing, he’s an accomplished ultra athlete himself with a wide variety of competitions under his belt. Several of his most unique achievements include being the youngest finisher of the Race Across America (at age twenty), finishing a Triple Ironman in France (a 7.2-mile swim, 336-mile bike, and a 76.8-mile run), and racing 100 miles across Alaska on snowshoes.
1993 Triple Ironman finisher.
Kostman is a self-proclaimed ultra evangelist whose enthusiasm for the extreme has pushed boundaries in a variety of sporting disciplines, including trail running. In line with the 2026 American Trail Running Association theme Roots and Horizons, Kostman is a shining example of one of trail running’s core principles: to discover oneself in nature and to learn from the most extreme tests of its elements. Even after forty-two years of event directing, Kostman continues to encourage his race participants to push boundaries of what they think is possible.
Pride of the Foothills
Kostman had an early introduction to both his future career in business and endurance sports in his hometown of Glendora, CA. This town, referred to as, the Pride of the Foothills, is situated in Los Angeles county at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains, which offered many opportunities for Kostman from his childhood to teenage years to explore endless trail systems and challenge himself in nature. “I started hiking and running trails right in my backyard of Glendora and then eventually summiting Mount Baldy. Even though I was near the major urban metropolis that is southern California, I was lucky to be in the outdoor gem that is Glendora.”
By age fourteen, Kostman’s equally adventure-loving parents and their fellow schoolteacher friends encouraged Kostman to venture into the world of cycling. His ultra mentality was soon to take off—he just needed a proper racing bike and soon he’d be setting cycling records.
Avocado Entrepreneur
Kostman was not only a young athlete and adventurer, but also an entrepreneur. In need of a racing bike to start covering big miles and seriously competing in cycling races, Kostman would have to raise his own money. “We had nine avocado trees in our backyard, and I loved climbing those trees. I started picking avocados and selling them on our street corner with a small stand.”
Kostman’s first business venture was a success. He bought a top-of-the-line bicycle when he was fourteen years old and the day after the purchase, he rode fifty miles to nearby Mount Baldy Village and back. “That road takes you two thirds of the way up that mountain—as far as you can get without hiking or running on a trail. I discovered the freedom and sense of adventure you can have when you can go far. I didn’t drive cars yet, and these long rides expanded my horizons.” The fifty or even one-hundred mile bike rides became a norm for young Kostman.
1987 Race Across America (RAAM).
From Sea to Shining Sea
At age fifteen, Kostman set a major goal for his blossoming endurance career: “By the time I’m twenty-five I’m going to do the Race Across America,” he said to the winner of that first RAAM race, Lon Haldeman. Another of his parents’ teacher friends had introduced him to this historic 3,127-mile endurance race. “The idea of ultra cycling hundreds or thousands of miles was a brand new concept. In preparation for this event, I started cycling as much as I could and seeking out longer and longer races.”
At age twenty, five years ahead of schedule, Kostman achieved his goal and became the youngest finisher of the Race Across America. Additionally, enroute to this finish, he also set world records in 1984 and 1985 riding between San Francisco and Los Angeles (approximately 450 miles). He speaks on being a young athlete in a sport of mostly older, more experienced athletes, “Whether it’s running, cycling, or triathlon, most of the people doing it were in their thirties, forties or fifties. To be a twenty-year-old doing these kinds of rides in 1987 was a huge novelty, but it did help me gain more media coverage and sponsorships to continue doing these races.”
Kostman in the 1996 Iditasport 100-Mile Snowshoe race, Alaska.
Ultramarathons…on Snowshoes
Throughout the 1990s, Kostman expanded his ultra career with a variety of endurance challenges in Alaska, The Last Frontier. “My business card at the time said ‘Professional Cyclist’ and that was very much my persona and identity. But I knew that I wanted to do more than just road bike racing.”
Kostman’s ultra mentality flourished in Alaska. He originally competed in three 200-plus mile mountain bike rides, but eventually pursued popular local activities such as cross-country skiing and most importantly for his ultrarunning career, snowshoeing.
1989 Iditabike 200-Mile Mountain Bike Race, Alaska.
The snowshoe races were a pivotal shift in Kostman’s career, as they were his first introduction to ultrarunning. He comments on the irony of discovering ultrarunning in the cold, freezing temperatures of Alaska, “My background in ultrarunning goes back to racing these self-supported Alaskan snowshoe races in temperatures twenty-five below zero, and now I put on the hottest race on the planet.”
Kostman embraced the simplicity of these Alaskan races, “There was very minimal support. There were only two or three checkpoints through the whole 100-miles. They only served water, hot chocolate and an old-fashioned electrolyte drink called Tang. That was it.”
2025: Kostman with Badwater Cape Fear finisher Erika Small, his “partner in everything.”
Chasing the Horizon
Kostman’s snowshoeing inspired a new approach to ultra sports, one that would become the business motto for his AdventureCORPS company, “Chasing the Horizon”. The motto came directly from his experiences in Alaskan snowshoe races, where Kostman recalls using mountain ridges of the Susitna Range as checkpoints along his racing journey. “I came up with the phrase of chasing the horizon because when I would reach one of the top of the mountain ridges, I’d be able to see the next ridge, and run to that next horizon. Then I’d reach that ridge and run to another horizon all over again.” He further describes his motivation behind the slogan, “I became an advocate for chasing the horizon, and pushing into the “ultra” mindset in any sport. I wanted other people to have the opportunity to share these same types of experiences to explore the outer and inner universes.”
Ice to Fire
Kostman’s expanded on his road bike repertoire not in Alaska, but in the hottest place in the US—Death Valley, CA. In 1990, Kostman was asked to direct a 508-Mile Bike Race through Death Valley, a rugged desert climate that boasts a hottest recorded temperature of 134 degrees fahrenheit! Kostman’s mentor was John Marino, the founder of the Race Across America, and he asked Kostman to direct this event, a qualifying event for the race across the country.
Kostman didn’t realize at the time how this Death Valley bike race would eventually lead to taking over another major endurance event in the area—the Badwater 135 footrace. In the mid-90s, Kostman reached out to the then-organizers of the Badwater 135, to suggest a special award for anyone who completed both Badwater 135 and his “Furnace Creek 508” bicycle race. The first to do the combined bike and footrace “Death Valley Cup” was ultrarunning legend Marshall Ulrich.
Olympics of Ultrarunning
Kostman’s interest in ultrarunning continued to grow as he became director of the Badwater 135 race in 2000. At the time, international hiking shoe brand Hi Tec Sports, the organizer of the Badwater 135 footrace, was searching for a way to transition ownership of the event. Kostman’s 15 years of experience hosting events on the open roads of America, and decade of hosting an ultra cycling race within Death Valley National Park made him the perfect candidate. Kostman describes the takeover and his new visions for the race “The previous owners were a giant international shoe company, but they put so few resources into the race (the staff was only two people). I remember that when I first met with the National Park Service and pitched them my vision of the race being much larger than it was, they were very supportive. I launched the Badwater.com website, and put together a qualifying and application process, a race staff, and the operational plan for the event.”
Kostman’s main vision of the race was to attract athletes from all over the world: “I’d grown up traveling the world with my family, learning languages and embracing other cultures. Death Valley National Park is mother nature’s greatest sports arena, and I wanted people coming here from all over the world to do this event. I saw Badwater 135 could become the de facto Olympics of Ultra Running.”
Kostman held true to his goal. In the inaugural year of the race, the top five finishers were all from outside the US. “That first year was a big success and it’s great to see how the international Badwater family has continued to grow ever since. Runners representing 64 nations have now crossed that hallowed finish line at Mt. Whitney.”
2016: Kostman with his team at the conclusion of the Mt. Gaoligong Ultra trail race in Tengchong, China.
Going International—on Trail
As trail running continued to grow in popularity throughout the early 2000s and 2010s, Kostman shifted his focus from road running to include trail running. Kostman expanded his Badwater brand to include two sister events called Badwater Cape Fear and Badwater Salton Sea which include trail and/or beach sections. He also assisted in launching a 100-mile trail race in China, and collaborated with the Mustang Trail Race in the Kingdom of Mustang, Nepal.
Since its inception in 1984, Kostman’s AdventureCORPS Inc. has produced over 175 events across the globe. But of all the types of events Kostman has been involved with, trail running holds a special place in his heart, “Even though I’m most well-known now for my directing of the Badwater 135 (a road ultramarathon), I have had a great deal of involvement in the trail running world in different ways throughout my life. Trail running is also the reason why I live by the Santa Monica Mountains. We’ve got hundreds of miles of trails that start exactly one kilometer from the front door. Having trails in my life to run, hike, or bike on a daily basis is an important part of being me, and enjoying life.”
2015: Kostman in the Kingdom of Mustang with his cousin Norunn from Norway, where both competed in the special Badwater edition Mustang Stage Race.
Many Faces, Many Places
After decades in the endurance sports world, Kostman has watched the sport grow from the small, local events he knew when he started, to the increasingly diverse and international races he hosts now. “It was a much smaller sport back then. It was almost entirely white American men in their forties and fifties,” explaining some of the barriers to diversity that the sport has faced, “Partially, this lack of diversity was due to the fact that it wasn’t easy to find out about these kinds of events, so there wasn’t a huge pool of runners coming from all over the world or from different backgrounds. Now that has changed dramatically, and Badwater events have been at the forefront of that effort.”
Kostman reflects on his continued efforts to attract runners of all backgrounds to the sport, “I want as many countries and backgrounds on the start line as possible. When you look at social media, there is an increasing number of people in the ultra and trail community, which is amazing because of the way this sport can enrich people’s lives. We’ve had runners from all over the world come to our races. We’ve also had participant ages ranging from eighteen to eighty!”
Would you like to run one of Kostman’s races? Find his races at the AdventureCORPs website here.
Roots and Horizons
Read more articles featuring the American Trail Running Association 2026 theme, Roots and Horizons.
LEKI’s Sven Brunso Shares Roots and Horizons of Trail Running Poles
Roots & Horizons: Finding My Way Home on the Trails
Roots & Horizons: Returning to Leadville (2015)
Roots & Horizons: Krissy Moehl, trail running without a plan
