2012 featured many jaw-dropping performances—Sage Canaday’s White River 50-mile and Mount Washington (7.6 uphill miles) course records, Timothy Olson’s Western States 100-miler course record and Kilian Jornet’s numerous race wins and adventure runs, and on and on. However, our choice for the open male Trail Runner of the Year was unanimous—Max King.

A Montrail-Mountain Hardwear athlete, King, 32, had a banner 2011, including wins at the World Mountain Running Championships, XTERRA Trail Run National Championship and Lithia Loop Trail Marathon—but his 2012 was off the hook.

Especially impressive was King’s September blitz, where he won USATF Trail National Championships with the Flagline 50K in Bend, Oregon, the 21K XTERRA Trail Run National Championships (fifth time) near Ogden, Utah, and the Ultra Race of Champions 100K in Charlottesville, Virginia, running away with the $5000 prize purse.

King’s coup de grace, though, came on November 17, with his course-record victory at the 50th running of Maryland’s venerable JFK 50-mile, blazing a course-record 5:24:58, a 6:42-per-mile pace.

Underlining his versatility and world-class talent are King’s performances at the late-June U.S. Olympic Team Track and Field Trials, where he PRed in both the marathon (2:14:36, 19^th place) and 3000-meter steeplechase (8:30:54), taking a very-strong sixth place.