The medal is a circular alpine scene held inside a deep navy band. Along the top arc the band carries ALPINE TRAIL CHALLENGE in raised lettering, and along the bottom arc MOUNTAIN LIFE. Inside that band the panel is built in layers rather than drawn flat: snow-capped peaks stand at the back against a sky that runs from deep blue at the top edge to pale teal at the horizon; a blue-toned ridge sits in front of them; dark navy pine silhouettes frame the panel at both sides; and a mint green river winds across the foreground with bright silver-white flow lines catching the light. Each of those elements sits on its own raised level above the base, so the scene reads with real depth. The rim is a matte bronze-toned metal, deliberately different in tone from the silver relief inside the panel, and a rectangular metal loop at the top carries a navy ribbon patterned end to end with white and light-blue mountains and pines.

Trail awards are made in Shenzhen, in a workshop that keeps the layout work, the colour work, the assembly and the ribbon in its own hands rather than spread across suppliers. On a series,what keeps leg two and leg three consistent is what follows leg one: we keep three things on file against each order — the colour reference you approved, the sample you signed off, and photographs of the finished run. A later order is checked against that record rather than against memory. Nothing leaves the workshop before you have seen the photographs of the actual batch.

The artwork is not tied to one event. The two arc bands are separate zones, and the central mountain scene carries no year, no distance and no edition number — so the same medal can go to a spring leg and an autumn final, and return a season later, without the scene being redrawn. Series organisers are the reason that matters: the more legs one design covers, the further the setup spreads, and the more recognisable the series looks from stage to stage. On paperwork, the people who must clear a sponsor logo are usually a legal team and a permit office, and both want to know what the award is made of and who certified it — ask us for the documentation pack and check it yourself before you commit. If your event publishes sustainability figures, tell us what your reporting requires and we will confirm what is available.

Tell us your event name, the wording you want on the two arc bands, and the date the medals have to be in your hands. We will send back a mockup in your own event's colours and wording; nothing is charged for tooling until you have signed that artwork off.
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FAQ:

Q1: How small a run can you take for a trail race?
A: 100 pieces is the smallest run we take, and it is set there deliberately because off-road fields are small. Starting at that number costs you nothing later: the layout is kept on file, so leg two is a reorder rather than a new project.

Q2: We give different awards by finish time. Does that mean several designs?
A: Not necessarily. The upper and lower arc bands are separate zones, and the mountain scene carries no year, no distance and no edition number, so a faster tier and a general finisher tier can share one design — you change the arc line, not the scene. Graded awards are the trail norm, so this comes up on most briefs.

Q3: Will the medals arrive before race day?
A: Allow 15-20 days for the bulk run once the mockup is signed, plus 7-10 days for sampling ahead of it, and a rush schedule is possible from 12 working days; add 3-5 days for air freight, or 30 days or more if you ship by sea. The constraint trail races lose to most often is upstream of the workshop: many courses are on protected land and the entry permits are drawn on fixed late-winter dates, which locks the race date and leaves little slack afterwards.

Q4: Will a medal survive mountain weather and a season outdoors?
A: The rim and the outer band are metal, and the ribbon is the part that meets the weather first, so the honest answer depends on how the medal will be used. Tell us whether it is handed over at a finish line and then kept indoors, or carried through a full training season, and we will confirm which options fit that use before you commit.

Q5: Can we reuse the same medal next season and at the next leg?
A: Yes, and the design is built for it. The scene is undated, both arc lines are replaceable zones, and your layout stays on file — so a series can run one award across several legs and several seasons, spreading the setup over more pieces.

Q6: What about materials and sustainability documentation?
A: Tell us what your event publishes and we will confirm what is available for your order — we will not put a sustainability claim in a quotation we cannot evidence. The paperwork for RoHS, SGS, EN71 and California Prop 65 travels with the order, and you can ask to see it beforehand.

Q7: What do we get before we pay anything?
A: A mockup drawn on your own event wording, a full quotation, and a straight answer on lead time against your date. The layout can go back and forth as many times as it needs to, and the tooling charge only lands once you have signed it off.

Q8: What do you need from us to match our event colour?
A: Give us a Pantone reference, a sample chip or a hex code and we will work to it. We then hold that reference under your order, so the next leg or next season is produced against a stored standard rather than against a photograph — that is what keeps a series visually consistent.