Tailwind Nutrition UK Is Closing: A Trade War, Mr Tailwind, and What to Fuel With Now
- Aug 14
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 1
Written and published August 2026 | Andy Hood, ultra and endurance runner, 25 years of running, cancer survivor
UPDATE, 19 August 2026: Since publishing this, I have been contacted by the incoming UK distributor for Tailwind. The short version is that this story has a happier ending than the one I originally wrote. Tailwind is not disappearing from the UK, and I am told the range coming over should be broader than what we have had until now.
I am in Chamonix next week for UTMB, where I will be meeting the new distributor along with Jeff and Jenny Vierling, the founders of Tailwind. I will report back properly once I have.
The advice below about buying now still holds in the short term, because there is a handover to get through and current stock is finite. But you can stop panicking.
Original article
If you fuel your long runs from a pouch of Tailwind, you have about a month to stock up. Tailwind Nutrition UK is closing on 15 September, ending eleven years of importing the American endurance fuel into Britain. This is the story of who brought it here, why he is walking away, and what you should do about your autumn race.
🏃 Key takeaways
Tailwind Nutrition UK is closing on 15 September. Remaining Endurance Fuel and Recovery Mix stock is being sold off now.
A new distributor is coming, but nobody knows when. Tailwind US has said it will announce one shortly. Shortly is not a date.
Tariffs are the reason. Tailwind US notified its UK distributor of price increases of 7 to 19% back in November, driven by ingredient costs in the trade war.
A UK manufacturing fix was explored and did not happen. By Mike Julien's account it did not fit the US founders' plans.
Don't switch fuel mid training block. If you have an autumn ultra, buy enough for race day rather than trialling something new in taper.
The running community brings us these things
The running community is full of passionate people wanting to bring products, events and gear to an equally passionate following. Running, in my experience, is like no other community. And Tailwind was a core part of that, a product brought over from the US and adored by many.
The UK arm was never a corporate outpost. It was one runner with a problem.
Mike Julien: the man behind Tailwind Nutrition UK
Mike Julien set up UK and Ireland distribution in 2015, from a unit on an industrial estate in Downton, near Salisbury. His route in will sound familiar to anyone who has spent a long day gagging on their fourth gel. He had no sweet tooth, could not stomach more than a couple of gels a day, and needed something else as his events got longer. He heard Tailwind talked up on the Trail Runner Nation podcast, found it was not sold here, and ordered a challenge pack from the Swedish distributor in September 2014.
It worked. So he asked the founders in Colorado whether he could bring it to Britain, joining a small group of distributors in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa and Hong Kong. He built Tailwind Nutrition UK up to more than 100 stockists, plus aid station supply at races around the country.
He also ran on it himself. Five Ironmans, Marathon des Sables, the six stage Grand to Grand Ultra across the desert, and a pile of UK ultras. His website made the point that he did not just supply the stuff, he used it, which in an industry full of ambassadors who have never met the product was refreshingly literal.
Behind him was a tiny team. An office manager, a couple of part timers, a school age helper writing thank you cards, and a runner from Poole Harriers who came on board after helping at the National Running Show. That is who has just closed. Not a multinational.
The Colorado end: where Tailwind Nutrition began
Jeff and Jenny Vierling founded Tailwind in Durango, Colorado in 2012. Jeff had never raced anything before entering the lottery for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. He trained for nine months, spent almost eleven hours on the course feeling dreadful, then crossed the line, walked to the nearest bin, and brought up the muesli he had eaten thirteen hours earlier. His wife was there with a video camera.
He went home, read the research, decided most sports nutrition contained things the gut struggles with, and started mixing powders in his kitchen. Local Durango riders tested the early batches. The turning point came when he handed some to a woman at Leadville who had dropped out of seven separate hundred milers with stomach trouble. She came back months later having finished the Shenandoah 100 in tears.
Tailwind now reaches around forty countries and is still made in Durango. Which is exactly what makes what happened next so daft.
Why Tailwind Nutrition UK is closing
This is not a story about a product failing. It is a story about tariffs.
Tailwind's ingredients, things like citric acid, caffeine and the cocoa in the Recovery Mix, are heavily import dependent in the US. Several sit in categories where China holds dominant market share and there is no quick alternative supplier. Synthetic caffeine has faced US tariff rates in the high twenties to mid thirties. Cocoa was at record highs before duties even arrived. Even the packaging is caught, via steel and aluminium.
In November, Tailwind US notified its UK distributor of price increases ranging from 7 to 19%, citing ingredient costs driven by the trade war. Tailwind UK absorbed most of that rather than passing it on, betting that Washington would come to its senses. It has not.
Faced with pushing through the full increase, Mike investigated manufacturing Tailwind here in the UK to get prices back to where they were in 2024. By his account they were fully committed to it, and it fell over because it did not fit the US founders' plans. That is his characterisation and Tailwind US has not publicly responded. But if accurate, it is the crux of the whole thing. There was a fix, and it was not taken.
His stated reason for walking rather than raising prices is that he never did this for the money, and that asking customers to pay more because he could not secure stock at a fair price did not sit right. He started his first business during his A Levels, and says one of the things decades in business teaches you is "knowing when to quit."
Sit with the absurdity for a second. An American product, made by Americans in Colorado, supporting American manufacturing jobs, has been priced out of Britain by American import taxes on its own ingredients. Nobody in this story wanted this outcome.
But tariffs are only half of it. The important but is this: the running nutrition market has become extremely crowded. There seems to be a new gel, drink or snack launched on an almost weekly basis.
Combine that with the headwinds of tariffs and other cost pressures, and it becomes hard for any business to swallow.
What this means for you, and the Tailwind alternatives worth a look
If you rely on it, buy now. Stock is being cleared before 15 September. Third party stockists may hold on a little longer, but they are drawing from the same finite pool, and at least one retailer has already been flagging supply gaps.
Expect a gap. Assume nothing lands before the new year.
Don't switch fuel mid block. If you have an autumn ultra in the diary, get enough to cover race day. Taper is the worst possible time to trial something new.
When it returns, expect it to cost more. A new distributor inherits the same 7 to 19%, without a predecessor willing to eat it.
Look at British brands. Precision Fuel & Hydration, Styrkr, SiS, OTE, Torq, Veloforte and Active Root are all UK companies, which increasingly matters when the alternative is an ocean and a customs schedule away.
FAQs: Tailwind Nutrition UK closing
Is Tailwind still available in the UK?
Yes, but only until stock runs out. Tailwind Nutrition UK is closing on 15 September and is selling off remaining inventory. Third party stockists may have stock a little beyond that.
Why is Tailwind Nutrition UK closing?
Ingredient cost rises driven by US tariffs led to price increases of 7 to 19% from Tailwind US. Rather than pass those on, the UK distributor chose to stop importing.
Will Tailwind come back to the UK?
Tailwind US has said it will appoint a new UK distributor shortly, but no name or date has been given. Expect a gap in supply.
What is a good Tailwind alternative in the UK?
For a similar carbohydrate and electrolyte drink mix, look at Precision Fuel & Hydration, Styrkr, OTE, Torq, SiS and Active Root. Trial any switch in training, never on race day.
Who is Mr Tailwind?
Mike Julien, the ultra runner who set up Tailwind Nutrition UK and Ireland distribution in 2015 from a unit near Salisbury.
So who is the new UK distributor?
See the update at the top of this article. I have been contacted by them, and I am meeting them in Chamonix during UTMB week along with Tailwind founders Jeff and Jenny Vierling. A full write up will follow.
The bottom line
I am full of admiration for anyone who has an idea and takes it forward, exactly as Mr Tailwind did. There is talk of a new project, and I, for one, along with thousands of others, hope he is successful with it.
Lace up and enjoy your miles.
About the author: Andy Hood is an ultra and endurance runner, cancer survivor, and unapologetic advocate for men's health and Runna Ambassador. Follow his runs, read his race reports, and grab a pair of Check Ya Balls at runningwestwardho.co.uk.
Comments