The annual Hangzhou West Lake Trail Race fired its starting gun as scheduled. Compared with last year’s disruption by typhoon weather, this autumn’s clear skies, gentle breezes and scattered clouds — with the hills filled with the scent of osmanthus — made it perfect to run happily with friends in the embrace of West Lake’s mountains, enjoying that complete sense of physical and mental release and the comfortable freedom of being outdoors.
As one of the longest-running trail running events in China, the West Lake Trail Race has always held a special place in the country’s trail community. It doesn’t chase extreme competition or scale; instead it embraces a simple, eco-friendly organizing philosophy — more like an annual reunion of old friends.
Every late autumn it attracts many like-minded outdoor enthusiasts to Hangzhou, where between West Lake and the surrounding hills they have a conversation with themselves and enjoy the pleasures of the outdoors.
This year marks the fifth consecutive year the sports brand Mizuno has partnered with the West Lake Trail Race. After five years of growing together, what has Mizuno brought to runners?
The West Lake Trail Race bills itself as the annual gathering of the "world's trail-running fools." Every year, a group of "fools" who love trail running from across the country come to the hills around West Lake to do a few "foolish" things together. Calling them "foolish" is actually a way of life outdoors: heading into the mountains not to conquer or to escape, but to find balance and joy in life at your own rhythm.
At dawn, when a thin mist cloaks the mountains, the runners setting off from the start line wear expressions that are not just the tension of competition, but more the eager anticipation of a beautiful journey.
Threading through the verdant ridges of the Longjing tea fields, stepping over stone steps in the woods slightly dampened by dew, looking up to see the surface of West Lake in the distance when exhausted, exchanging a quick "keep going" with a fellow runner you don't know… all of these moments together form the event's unique charm.
This is an authentic portrait of a comfortable, free outdoor state — it’s not just about running itself, but a way of drawing energy from nature, feeling warmth through exchanges with like-minded runners, and practicing a sustainable lifestyle by taking environmental action (consciously carrying litter off the course).
As one runner put it, the joy of the West Lake trail race is half about the running and half about reuniting with old friends. Here, finishing positions matter less — that sense of being outdoors, comfortable and free, is the real reward.
The event's distinct character is built by like-minded partners working together. In 2025, sports brand Mizuno and the West Lake Trail Running Race will mark five consecutive years of partnership. These five years have not been a simple commercial collaboration, but a deep journey together exploring a comfortable, relaxed outdoor lifestyle.
From the tentative collaboration in early 2020 to the easy rapport now in its fifth year, Mizuno has, through iterations of co-branded products, clearly shown a deepening understanding of this outdoor lifestyle. Early co-branded running shoes emphasized design with a retro slant. Last year the collaborations took a more technical direction, giving rise to a lightweight, durable trail running shoe tuned for beginner-to-intermediate runners and suited to mountain races up to 50 kilometers.
This year, the collaborative running shoe MIZUNO CRUISER WLTR30 NH is more professional and delivers superior performance.As an all-terrain trail running shoe, the midsole uses ultra-light EVA material paired with a supercritical TPU foamed insole to ensure cushioning and support while remaining durable. The outsole features Vibram wet-traction anti-slip technology and LiteBase lightweighting technology, reducing weight without compromising grip.
When a high-performance trail running shoe like this is available, many competitors at this year’s race chose to wear it.
While the performance is excellent, the design carries on the approach of previous collaborations,the upper's colorway exudes a rugged, vintage mountain aestheticand it also pairs well with everyday outfits.
This year, Mizuno also launched a co-branded apparel collection, designed with inspiration from Hangzhou's Longjing tea culture,evoking the natural poetry of the early-morning tea hills, resulting in a style that contrasts fresh tea-garden green with earthy red. Functionally, it uses an ultra-light, compressible design and is reversible—one side breathable and close-fitting, the other warm and enveloping—to adapt to the changing conditions of trail running.
This holistic attention to both visual aesthetics and practical functionality shows that Mizuno is more than an equipment provider — it’s a shaper and companion of a comfortable, free outdoor lifestyle.
This year, Mizuno boldly and sincerely adopted the slogan 'Outdoor LOHAS,' reflecting a deeper understanding of comfortable, free outdoor living.
What does it mean to be an "outdoor lifestyle enthusiast"? It can mean healing the fatigue of the nine-to-five in the mountains and fields; it can mean finding your own slice of peace in a private patch of wilderness; it can be an annual bit of madness—cycling from Shanghai to Hangzhou to pick up race kit, compete, then riding back to Shanghai overnight; it can also be a thousand-mile dash made to keep a promise to an old friend, areunion.
Being an outdoor lifestyle enthusiast means no need for small talk or dinner gatherings — it’s that annual, tacit understanding in the mountains: go for a mountain run together, then each go home on their own, body and mind fully recharged and ready to set off again.
Why has Mizuno adopted the slogan "Outdoor Lohas"? It comes down to two areas of accumulated expertise.
Since its founding in 1906, Mizuno has been deeply rooted in the world of sport, and its "REACH BEYOND" brand spirit drives continuous product innovation. This year’s collaborative running shoes and apparel are highly inventive, providing a solid foundation for a "LOHAS" lifestyle — without reliable professional gear, the "comfort and freedom" of the mountains simply can't exist.
After five years of collaboration with unique events like the West Lake Trail Race, Mizuno has gained a deep understanding that today’s outdoor enthusiasts are pursuing more than just conquering nature — they seek to live in harmony with it and to bring that outdoor mindset into their everyday lives.
It was precisely after the collision of technology and ideas that the slogan "Outdoor LOHAS" emerged. Its aim is to encourage every runner to step out of the city, head into the mountains and countryside, find that uniquely personal, relaxed-yet-balanced outdoor state, and achieve harmony between body and mind.
Therefore, for participants, the 2025 West Lake Trail Running Race felt more like an immersive experience of the "outdoor LOHAS" concept. "Le" (joy) is a mindset; "Huo" (active living) is a choice.
A concept ultimately needs to be made tangible through products. Mizuno's "outdoor LOHAS" concept is clearly reflected in its professional gear.
Mizuno's professional trail running and outdoor range stands out for its cleverness: it not only delivers the robust functionality needed for the mountains, but also demonstrates thoughtful design. From colorways to material choices, it emphasizes blending outdoor performance with everyday life.
A hoodie made from an innovative "active warming" fleece fabric — ultra-light, portable and compressible — that seamlessly transitions from commuting to weekend outings. Layered with a vest, it easily handles outdoor temperature swings; a pair of all-terrain trail running shoes, thanks to their distressed finish, can also become a stylish piece in everyday outfits beyond the race.
What's more thoughtful is that the collaborative apparel line incorporates features of the West Lake Trail Race and imbuesHangzhou's Longjing culture. The colors are drawn from the morning mist over the West Lake hills, and the pattern designs depict the mountains and tea gardens, blending natural imagery with urban aesthetics to outline a nature-inspired artwork full of Eastern sensibility.
This bridges the gap between wild trails and city streets, precisely expressing the balanced beauty of "Professional · Natural · Everyday Life." It also perfectly aligns with the ideal lifestyle pursued by every outdoor-living enthusiast — not separating sport from life, but letting technical gear serve every scenario, allowing the scent of nature to permeate the everyday, and living with greater breadth and quality through that balance.
On the course of the 2025 West Lake Trail Run, we saw not just runners, but a vivid example of a way of life.
Mizuno is a key co-creator of that example.
