Trail racing’s big weekend sees major upsets

Two under-the-radar runners came up trumps in big ultra-trail races internationally and in South Africa at the weekend, with heart-warming stories to tell to inspire many with aspirations in the sport.

Vincent Bouillard and John April are hardly household names in the sport, but their respective wins in the Ultra-trail Mont Blanc (UTMB) in Chamonix, France and in the Peninsula Ultra-Fun Run (PUFfeR) in Cape Town are likely to elevate their trail-running status and prove that athletes can win big even without the support of major sponsorship.

Katie Schide and Kerry-Anne Marshall restored ‘normality’ in the women’s competitions of the two races, the records of both athletes having made them favourites to win even before the racing had begun.

UTMB is the world’s biggest ultra-trail race in the biggest week of trail racing and the attention of most interested in the sport was firmly in the French Alps this week. Many of the biggest names in trail lined up at the start of the 171km circumnavigation of Mont Blanc through France, Switzerland and Italy, which included a lung-searing 9900m of vertical elevation gain.

Past winner Jim Walmsley of America and winner of this year’s Western States Endurance Run over 100 miles, Tom Evans of Great Britain, headlined the race previews. French athletes Ludovic Pommeret, Thibault Baronian and Mathieu Blanchard, New Zealander Daniel Jones, American Tim Tollefson and South Africa’s Ryan Sandes were other ‘big name’ athletes touted for potential podium positions.

But it was the relatively unknown design engineer for shoe company Hoka – a race sponsor – who took the lead shortly after the halfway aid station at the Italian town of Courmayeur after early leader Walmsley dropped out. Vincent Bouillard raced to a remarkable victory in 19 hrs 54 min 23 sec to become just the fifth athlete ever to better the 20-hour mark.

Bouillard finished 28 minutes clear of compatriot Baptiste Chassagne, with Joaquin Lopez of Ecuador taking third, just three minutes later. Like Bouillard, neither Chassagne nor Lopex were tipped for podium positions.

“I’ve been coming to UTMB almost from the beginning,” UTMB debutant, Bouillard recalled. “I’ve been here as a spectator, a volunteer, with my work at HOKA and I’ve crewed too so I’ve seen so many parts of this event.

“But to be here on the start line was a childhood dream and to win was a dream come true.

“Working for Hoka, I’ve been involved with UTMB over the years and met two amazing athletes in 2017 who inspired me to become a trail runner – Jim Walmsley and Tim Tollefson.

“If I can inspire others as they have me, it would be full circle,” said Bouillard. “A beautiful part of the sport is the inspiration it can give people.”

Unlike Bouillard, Katie Schide, a US athlete living in France, was a favourite in many people’s books, having won the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run in June, but few anticipated she would better ultra-trail legend Courtney Dauwalter’s course record of 22:30:54.

She did that in no uncertain terms – her winning time of 22:09:31 is 21 minutes faster than Dauwalter’s time from 2021.

Strong-running New Zealander Ruth Croft closed on Schide in the final hours of the race, but it was too late to prevent the American from taking the title. Croft did power past Canadian Marianne Hogan shortly before the summit of the final climb to move into second place, where she finished 39 minutes behind Schide.

Zimbabwe’s Emily Hawgood maintained her consistent form at UTMB, finishing a strong 6th in 24:58:19. Top African finisher among the men was 2024 George MUT winner, Douglas Pickard, who can be well pleased with his 46th position in his UTMB debut.

South African Toni McCann provided Africa’s UTMB moment of magic when she won the 100km CCC race on Friday to add to her victory last year in the OCC race over 55km. Incredibly, McCann was competing in her first race over the distance, not having raced beyond the 55km from last year’s OCC race, but that did not prevent her from taking the race lead after 20km and holding off strong-running Polish athlete, Martyna Mlynarczyk to win by 13 minutes in 11:57:59. German athlete, Rosanna Buchauer, finished third.

South African Daniel Claassen ran an excellent race, moving up from the high sixties in the early stages to finish in 20th position behind American Hayden Hawks (10:20:11) in a stacked field in 11:49:57.

John April’s talent has always been apparent, but his ability to put it together on the day in one of South Africa’s major trail races has always been in doubt. Until yesterday.

Known as the ‘other half’ of the Oudtshoorn-based trail-running duo with Anderson Ncube (the pair took line honours in the popular multi-day AfricanX Team Trail Run last year), April finally came into his own with an emphatic victory in the 30th anniversary edition of the Peninsula Ultra Fun Run, or the PUFfeR as it has become known, against a strong field.

It was a big day for Oudtshoorn, with Ncube winning the 24km PUfHie race, introduced to the event two years ago.

April’s earlier attempts at PUFfeR success foundered due to his poor knowledge of the route and inability to stay on track along the designated course, but a change of tactics and a step up in technology proved decisive in yesterday’s run.

“I thought it best to sit with the guys in the early stages as last time I got badly lost,” April explained. “Also a friend lent me his GPX watch so I could stay on the route.

“But I don’t think I have the watch sorted yet – I still got lost twice! When I got back on the trail on the old wagon road leading to Silvermine, I saw Iain Peterkin ahead of me and realised I had gone off track as I’d already overtaken him! I felt a bit upset at having to pass him twice as I know he is a strong trail athlete.”

Although Peterkin stayed within striking distance for most of the race – he was just two minutes behind through Beau Constantia, 40km into the race – April gradually pulled away for a 7-minute victory in 5:50:23.

For April his win meant more than simply a triumph in athletics.

“I grew up in a home where my brothers did drugs and at times stole money to maintain their habit,” April explained.

The general worker at a primary school in Oudtshoorn who invests time after hours coaching and mentoring school athletes, chose a different life path.

“I’m so pleased to have won today, but even when I don’t win races, I believe it’s a win for me in terms of my life choice.”

Anele Bans finally made it onto the PUFfeR podium, finishing a further seven minutes back in third. Leading Free State athlete, Simon Tshabalala, started slowly but gradually moved through the field to finish fourth, narrowly edging out Alexander Zonomeissis.

If the men’s competition was impressive, the women’s race was arguably the best ever at PUFfeR in terms of depth of quality and one of South Africa’s best ultra-distance athletes, Kerry-Ann Marshall, made a welcome return to competitive trail racing with a hard-fought victory in 6:23:33.

Planning to use her PUFfeR debut as a long training run as part of her return to health, Marshall’s competitive instincts took over and she raced clear of her rivals in the final quarter. Earlier, Marshall had formed part of a lead quartet that included Dodo Trail winner Emily Djock, last year’s runner-up Lisa Geffen and Jade Bucklow returning ‘home’ to race, from Australia.

Bucklow fell behind after Silvermine but only 90 seconds separated the top three through Beau Constantia as Geffen led by a minute ahead of Marshall and Djock, two-thirds through the race.

But when Marshall rejoined the tarmac on Tafelberg Road there was no stopping her and she used her speed to good effect to secure an eight-minute victory over Djock with Geffen and Bucklow following in quick succession.

“This means a lot to me and it was everything I imagined it to be,” remarked Marshall. “We enjoyed a ‘lekker vibe’ amongst the lead group of women, running together as the sun rose and chatting together.

“I think we were inspiring each other to do as well as we could. Women are pretty good at pace judgement and as the race gets longer, women get stronger!

“Although we were competing against each other, there was a real bond between us. When I started to struggle with cramps, Lisa (Geffen) stopped in order to give me some of her electrolytes. She was just amazing.”

For the first time PUFfeR supported a team competition based on mixed gender teams of five. And there was more joy for John April as he led his team, Rock Rabbits, to victory.

April was supported by Bans, Tshabalala, Nadia Jooste and Sveta Becker and their team won by just five minutes ahead of the ‘Skinnerhonde’ team.

Emily Djock warned of a new threat to would-be winning teams next year.

“It was great to be part of a lead group of women for much of the race and we agreed to form a team of women next year. We would have done quite well this year had we been together,” Djock remarked.

Indeed. Had the top five women (four of whom finished in the top twelve overall) entered as a team, they would have won the competition comfortably.

RESULTS
PUFfeR (67km)
Men
1 John April 5:50:23; 2 Iain Peterkin 5:57:17; 3 Anele Bans 6:04:38; 4 Simon Tshabalala 6:16:55; 5 Alexander Zonomeissis 6:17:14; 6 Raydon Barrett 6:18:03; 7 Kyle Bucklow 6:29:41; 8 Julian Dean-Brown 6:30:16; 9 Ronald du Toit 6:30:56; 10 Matthew Clarke 6:40:05

Women
1 Kerry-Ann Marshall 6:23:33; 2 Emily Djock 6:31:49; 3 Lisa Geffen 6:32:52; 4 Jade Bucklow 6:33:53; 5 Erika Mohr-Holland 6:55:18; 6 Jessie Waldman 7:02:34; 7 Cleo Albertus 7:03:21; 8 Susan Machpesh 7:37:37; 9 Nadia Jooste 7:44:21; 10 Jamie-Lee Day 7:53:08

Team competition (Mixed gender teams of five)
1 Rock Rabbits (April, Bans, Tshabalala, Jooste, Becker) 33:55:00
2 Skinnerhonde (Zonomeissis, Geffen, Du Plessis, Obery, Visser ) 34:00:36
3 Trail Snakes (Barret, Djock, Cameron-Smith, Metcalfe, Vermaak) 35:18:42

PUfHie (24km)
Men
1 Underson Ncube 1:57:55; 2 Sindrino Matthews 2:00:52; 3 Michael Mackintosh 2:09:46; 4 Finley Wilson 2:14:28; 5 Leo Russell 2:17:06
Women
1 Mila Geldenhuys 2:16:43; 2 Amy Burton 2:26:27; 3 Angela Dell 2:40:18; 4 Jannie Danielsen 2 :40 :28 ; 5 Julia Muller 2:45:16