The news desk
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the5krunner rounds up new firmware features and improvements for the week ending September 19, 2026, across Garmin, Amazfit, COROS, Polar, Hammerhead, and Samsung. Bug fixes are excluded. The weekly report comes from the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication that has covered in-depth reviews of GPS watches, fitness trackers, and cycling computers since 2010.
Swedish war photographer Jacob Zocherman spent three weeks road-tripping roughly 2,500 miles across California, Utah, and Colorado while shooting the Western States 100 and Hardrock 100 ultramarathons for Trail Runner. His conclusion: "Everything is extreme in America"—politically, geographically, geologically, meteorologically, culturally. On an individual level people are welcoming everywhere, but on a collective level there is suspicion and disagreement between groups.
DC Rainmaker reviews the Garmin Fenix 9 series in depth. The lineup extends LTE and satellite connectivity to solar models and the 43mm AMOLED model, raises base display brightness to 2,000 nits and Pro to 3,000 nits, and makes titanium cases and sapphire glass standard on Pro models.
The ZOLEO Satellite Communicator is presented as an alternative to the Garmin inReach Mini 2. Both address the same problem in different ways: sending messages and calling for emergency assistance. The original gives no specific prices, specifications, or test data.
Bose has confirmed the Sport Open Earbuds, a clip-on open-ear design priced at $199 with IP54 protection and multipoint Bluetooth. Pre-orders open on 19 September ahead of an October 1 launch, and the design puts Bose head to head with Shokz and Huawei's FreeClip 2.
A Huawei Health app questionnaire leaked plans for a screen-free health band. The questionnaire covers pricing, battery life, AI coaching, and direct comparisons with Whoop and five other competitors. The information comes from user research within the Huawei Health app and is currently planning information at the questionnaire stage.
Garmin tactix 9, tactix 9 Ballistics Edition and Enduro 4 have leaked months before any official announcement. The article examines when the tactix 9 is likely to launch and whether satellite messaging may or may not make it onto a watch used on military bases.
Issue 16 covers Garmin Fenix 8 faults on software 23.31, including podcast volume stuck at the alarm level, missing 25 m pool swim lengths, a dead wrist heart rate sensor, halved battery estimates and broken AirPods audio, plus intensity minutes and recovery time lost on 22.35 and Concept2 rowing distance stopping short.
DC Rainmaker's in-depth review of the Apple Watch Ultra 4 finds its optical heart rate sensor is Apple's best yet, but notes that Apple's white paper only compares timestamps where Apple has data and excludes missing points from error calculations, making the 'most accurate heart rate' claim hard to fully support in real-world scenarios.
Ride with GPS's paid Basic plan unlocks 3D maps almost everywhere, with Premium needed only for the web planner. Garmin and Komoot both gate the feature behind their top paid tier instead.
Trail Runner's essay "Imagine If" expresses gratitude for running itself: the author imagines more brittle bones, weaker tendons, and less robust lungs, and asks whether his resilience and patience are merely a product of endorphins and repeated pounding. The piece ends on "But I can. And I will."
Canadian skyrunner Kalie McCrystal went missing on September 1 during a reconnaissance run on the Matterhorn, which straddles the Italy-Switzerland border. Italian mountain rescue authorities called off the search on September 8, and her family said in a September 15 statement that she likely fell while descending.
Garmin accounts for around 78% of the GPS watches tracked by Runalyze, the largest share by far of any brand. That says more about Garmin's grip on serious, data-focused athletes than about the wider watch market.
Huawei Watch D3's Health Glance one-tap check reads up to 11 health indicators in about 60 seconds, covering heart rate, ECG, and a cuff-based blood pressure measurement. The feature is part of Huawei's TruSense health strategy, but the article also notes it doesn't tell you everything.
Runalyze data shows Coros now outranks Suunto and Polar in device share, but the growth is concentrated almost entirely in its cheapest watches. Nearly three-quarters of Coros devices are Pace models, a low-margin base that leaves little room to fund a shift to premium sales.
Trail Runner editors selected the best 2026 trail running hydration vests from 55 packs, tested across Colorado summer trail runs and a 100-mile ultramarathon in the Swiss Alps. Four categories: best overall, best for short trail runs, best for all-day epics, and best value. Full test results are in Outside's guide to the best hydration vests of 2026.
All of the Above Trail Fest (AOTA), a collaboration between The Venture Out Project and Beast Coast Trail Running, held its fourth running on August 29, 2026. There are no podiums; the 20K is a prediction run, the 5K is untimed, and registration collects no gender information, so the winner is whoever guesses their finish time most accurately, not the fastest runner. The event raised funds for TVOP, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit.
Apple announced the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12, both with the new S11 chipset and a heavily revamped heart rate sensor. Background heart rate readings increase to every 5 seconds and HRV to every 5 minutes. New features include a Readiness Score, a redesigned Health app, and on-device Audio Intelligence arriving later this year.
Chamonix Mayor François-Xavier Laffin says UTMB has become unbearable, with the town effectively turned into one giant outdoor trade show. His office and municipal police tracked brand events, advertising violations and public right-of-way infringements this year, and plan a real framework for 2027 with controls and sanctions after an initial phase of education.
On April 1, 2026, runners gathered for a 50KM event around the Apple campus loop, often called “The Spaceship.” The announcer repeatedly said, “This is not a race.” The event was previously undisclosed. DC Rainmaker has posted a video about it, with more details to follow.
The "Guangyang Cup" 2026 National Race Walking Championships opened and concluded on September 5 in Guangyang District, Langfang. This was the first time the event was held in Hebei, with adult and youth groups across 7 events and 230 athletes from 24 teams. Liaoning's Ning Jinlin won the women's adult half marathon race walk in 1:32:15, while Chongqing's He Xianghong took the men's adult marathon race walk gold in 3:06:30. The event was an important points competition for the 16th National Games in 2029 and explored a "sports + cultural tourism" hosting model.
Comrade Zheng Fengrong, former vice president of the Chinese Athletics Association, passed away in Beijing on August 25, 2026, at the age of 89 after medical treatment proved ineffective. She was the first Chinese female athlete to break a world record in athletics, and during her tenure as vice president of the Chinese Athletics Association she promoted the popularization of athletics, the cultivation of reserve talent, and international exchanges.
The 10th meeting of the 10th Executive Committee of the Chinese Athletics Association was held in Beijing on August 18. It reported on preparations for the Nagoya Asian Games athletics events, approved adjustments to heads of 10th professional committees and role standards, and voted on new unit members and 2025 road running event oversight support fund disbursement. President Sun Yuanfu chaired the meeting, stressing political alignment, deeper industry governance, and coordinated development of competitive athletics and mass road running.
On the fourth competition day of the 2026 National Track and Field Championships, Hubei's Liu Ke ran 20.26 seconds in the rain to win the men's 200m, greatly improving his personal best and becoming the third-fastest in Chinese history. Sichuan won the 4×100m mixed relay final in 40.91 seconds, the first domestic time under 41 seconds after the relay leg-order change and the fastest in Asia this season. A total of 11 gold medals were awarded on the day; Li Chenyang cleared 5.80m and Feng Bin won the women's discus with 62.61m.
On August 14, 2026, the 10th Competition Committee of the Chinese Athletics Association held a meeting in Quzhou. The meeting systematically summarized and deeply evaluated the operation of the 2026 competition system, and committee members put forward improvement suggestions on competition organization, competition regulation formulation, and event supervision. In addition, taking into account the important international and domestic events China will host in 2027 and the national team's preparation needs, the committee proposed systematic revisions and adjustments to the 2027 full-year athletics event plan.
On August 11, the Chinese Athletics Association organized specialized education and training on applying for therapeutic use exemptions. More than 100 team leaders, coaches, and related support personnel participating in the National Track and Field Championships attended. The training was taught by Hu Jia, a national-level clean sport education lecturer, focusing on athletes' safe medication use and therapeutic use exemption applications, strengthening teams' awareness of safe medication use and preventing accidental ingestion or misuse. The Chinese Athletics Association stated it will continue to strengthen anti-doping education and training and improve the level of anti-doping work in track and field.
On July 28, the Chinese Athletics Association organized all staff for special legal training on the Sports Law of the People's Republic of China, taught by Professor Han Xinjun of the Physical Education Department of Beijing University of Technology on "The Sports Law and the Development of Track and Field." The course covered four modules: the core content of the new Sports Law, standardized management paths for the track and field industry, supporting safeguard provisions, and industry legal risks, focusing on marathon event operations, national team and referee management, anti-doping controls, and other practical matters. The association stated it will regularly organize study of the Sports Law and supporting systems, integrating rule-of-law thinking throughout mass events, Olympic preparation, youth development, and other work.
From July 2 to July 5, the 2026 National Youth (U18) Athletics Championships was held at the Huangshi Olympic Sports Center in Hubei, where the China Athletics Association simultaneously carried out a "Clean Track" themed anti-doping education outreach activity that attracted nearly 1,000 participants.
On June 30, 2026, Chinese Athletics Association President Sun Yuanfu gave a special Party lecture titled "Deepening the Track and Field Foundation, Solidifying the Foundation for a Strong Nation," proposing the "Four Firm Grasps, Four Always Achieve." He analyzed three sets of contradictions: competitive breakthroughs versus youth training, mass athletics development versus industry standardization, and deepening reform versus high-quality development, noting that road running events have surged but "marathon chaos" still occurs, essentially equating event scale with political achievement. The association will anchor itself to the goal of a sporting powerhouse and do more to build foundations and benefit the long term.
On June 29, the China Athletics Association held a symposium on emergency responder runners for road running events. Cui Jian, deputy director of the General Administration of Sport of China, attended and spoke. Representatives from the GAS Mass Sports Department, the China Athletics Association, road running event medical experts, emergency responder runners and event organizing committees attended.