The story behind Archipelago Trail Run goes back even further. Years before the event was created, the Ugljan Island Tourist Board used to promote the island’s active tourism at similar events in Slovenia, especially at the Soča Outdoor Festival. That’s where they met Jan Klavora, Boštjan Mikuž, Sara Mavrič, Matevž Hribar and other colleagues.

“They’re wonderful people who put on excellent events of this kind. Year after year, I loved going to Slovenia and watching how effortlessly and warmly they worked. I often thought to myself — something like this could never work down south, in Dalmatia, where the heat and easy-going ‘fjaka’ spirit take over,” Ivan Košta recalls with a smile. It was through those trips that friendship and trust were built — without which Archipelago Trail Run simply wouldn’t exist.

After nine tourist boards from the archipelago joined forces, they worked together on a shared outdoor project covering the islands — cycling and hiking trails, maps, signage — and produced films about cycling, trail running and kayaking, while presenting the islands at specialized trade fairs across Europe. The effort paid off in 2023, when they received the prestigious national tourism award in the “Active Tourism” category at Croatian Tourism Days in Rovinj.

“I drove a van from Zadar to Rovinj and back with eight female colleagues — you can imagine the noise,” he laughs. On the way back, everyone was thrilled about the award, and that’s when the first ideas began to take shape for a multi-day outdoor event that would connect several islands through island hopping, great energy, and genuine island hospitality. “The brainstorming took over the whole van,” he says. He told his colleagues then that he knew just the right person who could help make such a project happen — and in the following days he reached out to Jan Klavora. The rest is history.