South Africa’s hopes of UTMB glory crashed with Toni McCann’s heavy fall while running in second place during the CCC race over 100km last Friday, while Great Britain’s Tom Evans and New Zealander Ruth Croft were the big winners in the UTMB 100 miler over the weekend.
Well-placed among the leaders, McCann fell heavily on the descent from La Fouly and although she battled on gamely to the high point at Champex-Lac 54km into the race, she was unable to continue, her knee bleeding profusely.
McCann’s TERREX teammate and training partner, Norwegian Yngvild Kasperson, was also a victim of the tough terrain, twisting her ankle while leading the race in the early stages and being forced to withdraw 30km into the race.
In their absence, the race competition proved intense, with another Norwegian, Sylvia Nordskar (Team Hoka), overhauling race leader, Polish athlete, Martyna Mlynarczyk, on a technical descent just 6km from the finish. The Pole, however, fought back as the terrain and gradient eased in the final stages, retaking the lead and racing to victory in 11:41:55 by the narrowest of margins, with just 18 seconds separating her from Nordskar after 100km of racing.
Third place went to Spanish athlete, Anna Tarasova (Norda), just two minutes later and with less than 19 minutes separating the top five, this was the closest finish in the history of the race.
The men’s race saw a contest between Italian Francisco Puppi (Hoka) and a posse of Americans, who packed four in the top ten finishers. But it was the Italian who saw off his rivals to win in 10:06:02, seven minutes clear of the first American, David Sinclair, with the second American, Drew Holmen (Nike Trail) a further 2 min 30 sec back in third.
Eastern Cape athlete, Thato Kabeli, was first South African home in 76th position in 13:14:08, with Johann Olivier second in 292 position in 16:51:44.
Simone Malan, winner of the Whale of Trail in the Southern Cape last month, ran well to finish first South African in 51st in 15:09:36 in a stacked field, although Cape Town-based American, Emily Djock, second to Malan at the Whale of Trail, ran impressively to finish 25th in 13:38:59.
While the OCC and CCC races have become equally, or even more, competitive in recent years, UTMB remains mostly about the ‘100 mile’ 172km circumnavigation of the Mont Blanc massif, the highest mountain in western Europe at 4805m, with 2300 runners starting out in capricious weather on the lung-searing adventure which included 9600m of vertical ascent.
After finishing 3rd in 2022 and suffering DNFs in 2023 and 2024, British athlete, Tom Evans (Asics) finally delivered. running a controlled race before taking the lead for the final time from French athlete Theo Detienne, on the stretch between Refuge Bonatti at 95km and the 100km marker at Arnouvaz and staying ahead for 72km to cross the line in triumph in Chamonix in 19:18:58, just over 32 minutes clear of American Ben Dhiman (Asics Fuji Trail) (19:51:37) with a second British athlete, Josh Wade (The North Face), third in 20:05:06.
Second to the world’s leading trail athlete, American Katie Schide, last year, New Zealand athlete, Ruth Croft (adidas TERREX), was second to none this year, overcoming the strong challenge of trail legend Courtney Dauwalter to win by more than 30 minutes in 22:56:23. French athlete Camille Bruyas, started conservatively but made up ground strongly in the second half to finish in 23:28:48 with German Katherina Hartmuth (Team Hoka) third in 24:16:39.
After racing with the leaders through the first 100km, Zimbabwean athlete, Emily Hawgood (adidas TERREX) experienced a second half she will hope to forget but showed courage not to yield until crossing the finish line in 69th position in 38:11:16, about 15 hours off the time she’d been targeting.
First South African across the line was experienced ultra-trail athlete, Kerry-Ann Marshall, who ran consistently throughout to finish 25th in the women’s competition in 32:43:43 (and 7th in the women masters 40-44 year category), with Giles Hedley and Brandon Hulley the next two home in 37:58:03 and 38:16:40 respectively.
