Run Free: The True Story of Caballo Blanco

The spiritual legacy of a runner who lived to honour the Tarahumara people

Run Free: The True Story of Caballo Blanco portrays the extraordinary life of American ultrarunner Micah True, affectionately known as Caballo Blanco, who dedicated his final years to the Tarahumara people in the Copper Canyons of Northern Mexico. The Tarahumara, or Rarámuri, “the Running People”, are renowned for their unmatched endurance and ancestral running traditions. Determined to preserve their way of life, True created the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon, a 50-mile race that united indigenous and international runners and was later immortalised in Christopher McDougall’s best-selling book Born to Run, A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.

Directed by Sterlin Noren, the film was completed three years after True’s death in 2012, when he passed away doing what he loved most, running through the Gila Wilderness. Drawing from intimate footage of True and heartfelt testimonies from his companions, the documentary goes beyond a biographical account to become a collective meditation on the meaning of endurance, community, and the spiritual dimension of movement. Set against the stunning backdrop of Mexico’s Copper Canyon, Run Free is both a tribute to Caballo Blanco’s legacy and a celebration of running as a timeless expression of human freedom.