Has Cowboy Core infiltrated running?

Plus a new South Asian Runners IG account to follow

Why does everybody want to go to the rodeo?

We love Westerns again, don’t we? Everything from Yellowstone (and all its spin-offs) being the most-watched television show during its five-season run, to Beyoncé’s 2024 concept album Cowboy Carter is serving #CowboyCore. Yeah, that’s a TikTok reference, I’m afraid.

I’ve watched Stagecoach Festival grow in real-time over the past 15 years to become the highest-grossing country festival in the world, just a couple of hours east of me. Maybe it’s partly Bella Hadid’s influence (she’s been dating a real-life cowboy for over two years), or Pharrell’s fall-winter 2024 collection for Louis Vuitton that drew yeehaw inspiration from the American West, or maybe it’s a sad reflection of the deranged state of society that’s seen tradwives and homesteaders become culturally relevant again. It’s all part of the same conversation.

We know about trail running’s exponential rise in the same timeframe, with the race locations largely in the American High Count…