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2026 UTMB Race Preview and Predictions · Let's Talk Trail Running

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk Trail Running.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is your host,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Rob Prosser,
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: and today we've got the granddaddy of them all,
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: UTMB, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, around Mont Blanc.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: The Mont Blanc Massive goes through three different countries.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's the one that we are all waiting for.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And for those of you guys new to the podcast, this is Let's Talk Trail Running.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about upcoming trail races that are going to be featured
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: on Fantasy Free Trail, which is the trail running fantasy picking app.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the goal of this podcast is to Introduce you to new athletes,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: to create fans of trail and ultra and sub-ultra running,
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: and to help you guys make picks when it comes to who to pick for your top 5
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: or your top 10 on Fantasy Free Trail.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And just talk about the race courses,
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: the history behind them,
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: the athletes running them, and little fun facts and tidbits and things like that.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, usually we do some kind of introduction, catch up.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I did OCC preview yesterday, CCC preview the day before that.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't checked those out yet, go check them out on my Substack.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Made picks as well.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then UTMB finally getting I was hoping to get it out last night.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: As I record this,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: it is Tuesday afternoon in Colorado Springs,
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: so only about two days and 18 hours until UTMP, so better late than never.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to get it out last night, but I had a 5 a.m. simulator test.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're finally doing this.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be right back.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it is the deepest field by far.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've heard Freachell talk about it over the week.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think for the women's side,
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: this is the deepest field out of all three races based off
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: the mean Top 50 UTMB Index.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the men's side, I think OCC leans slightly deeper.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: But it definitely feels like one of the deepest, if not the deepest, race.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: This year on the calendar compared to last year where it felt like UTMB was actually
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: the easiest race on both sides because of Worlds being so close.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it was.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it actually was the easiest race.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: I say easiest.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: The least depth of both the men's and women's fields last year was in UTMB because
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: so many people were racing shorter distances for Worlds,
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: so there's more depth and density in CCC and OCC, the shorter distance UTMB races.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: We got so much to talk about and so many exciting storylines on both sides.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: First things first, we're going to talk about the course description.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I touched on it a little bit,
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: but the race was,
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: and this is per their website,
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: which I'll include in the show notes, per their website, created in 2016.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: In 2003,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: the UTMB is the most mythical and prestigious trail running race in the world,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: with approximately 170 kilometers and 10,000 meters
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: of positive elevation gain around the Mont Blanc through Italy,
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Switzerland, and France.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: A race like no other.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: It transcends the sport and has established itself as an iconic trail race renowned worldwide.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: No matter the time it takes to finish,
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: whether done in under 20 hours or more than 46,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: the elite runners as well as amateur runners share the same adventure on
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: the same exceptional course carried by the stunning beauty of the landscapes and
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: a common goal to cross the finish line in Chamonix.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Much more than a race is an introspective adventure which transforms every person
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: that takes on the challenge.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: So Debo was touching in on his free trial podcast.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: UTMB has been around since 2003, so it's 23 years old.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And pretty much from the get-go, it was a phenomenon.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: It sold out almost right away.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm not mistaken, the first year, I think they had like 700 insurance.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's only grown year after year after year.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's a very,
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: very good book about the history of UTMB,
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: and it has a very nuanced view talking about how UTMB was founded,
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: its founders, how it's grown.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a book by Doug Meyer, the founder of Run the Alps.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I included it in the show notes.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's called UTMB, The Race That Changed Trailrunning or something along those lines.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to do it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Doug Meyer.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, The Race That Changed Running.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Race That Changed Running by Doug Meyer, the inside story of UTMB.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll include it in the show notes,
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: but I really recommend,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: even if you're pro UTMB,
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: anti-UTMB, just a fan of trail running, it's very, very well written.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's very, very exciting stories about the different editions of UTMB.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Doug seems like an awesome guy.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've never met him in person, but I really love his company, Run the Alps.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I also really love that book.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think if you want to get hyped on UTB,
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: that's one thing that you can do to get hyped on UTB.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing,
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: and I'll talk about this racer later on,
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: but I think that the Zack Miller documentary by UTB,
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Billy Yang really documents early portions of UTMB like 2017, 18, 19,
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: some of Zach's early years racing UTMB and gives you a feel for just how crazy it is
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: and how much fandom there is and how much hoopla is around the event.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I really, really recommend The Race That Changed UTMB by Doug Meyer.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's a super entertaining read.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't like UTMB,
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: don't care about UTMB, just the history of trail running and the characters in it.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think it does an amazing job of capturing that.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then...
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, as the description alluded to,
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think the cutoff for everyone is 46 or 47 hours, if I'm not mistaken.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's everything I want to touch on before we jump into the fields.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: This time, I want to jump into the women's field first.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I generally do that.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't always jump into the men's field first.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: I try to generally pick whoever I think is more interesting.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think that this women's field is more interesting and more exciting.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to jump into the women's field first.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to talk about storylines.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to talk about dark horses, predictions.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to go into the individual athletes one by one by one
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: and really touch on them.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So storylines identified in this year's 2026 female UTMB side.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, rematch of two of the greatest in our sport to ever do it.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I'm talking about Ruth Croft and Courtney DeWalter.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to explain this to non-running fans,
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: but it kind of feels like if you got Jordan in his prime and you got to match him up
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: with LeBron in his prime, It's really tough.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: They are almost,
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: it's tough because Ruth has been so good,
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: but she really hasn't faced Courtney head-to-head more than just last UTMB
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: from what I could tell.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: The head-to-head and free trail wasn't working for their matchups, but I'm 99% sure.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, it's kind of nuts that...
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is really Ruth's first time or second time,
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I guess, going head to toe to toe with Courtney DeWalter.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And last year was her first time.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: She almost raced UTMB,
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say in 24 and got the flu or 23,
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: maybe when Courtney was tripling, but had to pull out.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's really kind of crazy that we are seeing somebody like Ruth
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: whose results go all the way back to even 2013.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this is really just the first time that she's gone head to head.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, Ruth has won OCC, CCC, UTMB.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: She had all three under her belt.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: She's also won Western.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: She's won Marathon de Mont Blanc.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: She's finished nearly one, Ceres and All.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: She's won Giro de Mont.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, her results list is just insane, and she just is legendarily good.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of nuts that this is only the second time that we have ever seen Ruth
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: and Kourtney match up.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's going to be the big storyline.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Next storyline on the woman's side.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sadly, scratches for Sunmaya Buddha and Beth Pascal, but specifically Sunmaya Buddha.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think Sunmaya had a very,
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: very good shot to end up on this podium and kind of break up this trifecta of Ruth,
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney, and Rachel, which we'll get into more in a little bit.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, sadly, scratch on Sunmaya Buddha's side.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hope she's getting healthy, whatever is causing her not to start.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did say another storyline on the women's side,
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: other than Blondine,
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Lehirondel,
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: there is a noticeable lack of French top female racers in this field compared to
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: the men's field.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Other storylines,
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: there's a legitimate chance that four or five U.S.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: women end up in this top 10,
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: and we'll talk more about that,
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: who's debuting,
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: who's raced here before, what their different storylines are coming in.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Another storyline, the steady rise of Lucy Bartholomew.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: She's having such a great season.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I put at the ripe age of 30,
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: kind of tongue in cheek, just because she's been in the sport for 10 plus years.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it really feels like she's kind of having a resurgence or transcendence
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: or just kind of like leveling up to a new level that we haven't seen.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: She's always been super consistent, but this feels like a new level of Lucy Bartholomew.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to talk about that a little bit.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Next storyline,
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: the deepest,
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: like we said,
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: deepest race depth per the Top 50 Mean UTMB Index according to Free Trail.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the women's,
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: out of the three UTMB majors,
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: OCC, CCC, and UTMB, on the women's side, UTMB has the deepest.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then another storyline or talking point,
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: if Courtney doesn't finish top American,
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: then who is the most likely to finish top American?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then additionally, could there be four American women in the top ten?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a very,
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: very good chance we have a minimum of three,
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: but I think there's a legit chance we could have four in the top ten.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, some dark horses off the top.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk more about them in a little bit,
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: but off the top,
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Antonina Ioshina, Lynn Chen, Melanie Delassois, Jennifer Limon, and Anna Carlson.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Predictions on the women's side, some predictions that I have.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think two of the three that are being the most hyped up coming into this race,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth, Courtney, and Rachel, are going to end up on the podium, but not all three.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think Blondine, Lairondel is going to throw a wrench in that plan.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Blondine is really going to turn some heads and has honestly
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: a legitimate shot at winning this.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's going to be a minimum two Chinese women in the top 10,
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: minimum three U.S. women as well.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then I also said I'd be surprised to see more than two French women in the top 10.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Other predictions I have,
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think either Kasha,
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Katerina Dombraska,
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Kasha Dombraska,
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: or Lucy Bartholomew puts up a really big result here, if not both of them.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think that either Riley, Brady, or Abby Hall nails UTMB, but not both.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so those are my predictions for right now.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Alright,
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: so going into the different categories of females,
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: first category we're going to talk about first and foremost are the favorites.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: I've got four in that list and you'll notice one noticeably absent.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk more about them in a little bit.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: But favorites,
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think,
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney DeWalter, you know, returning four-time UTMB champion, I'm pretty sure.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to double check that.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm pretty sure four-time champion.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: You'd think I'd know this off the top of my head.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: I usually do.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: 2019, 2021, 20, okay, 21, 23, and not 24.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: So three-time UTMB champion.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: All right,
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: so Courtney's gotta be obviously a favorite generational transcendent athlete,
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: one of the best to ever do it,
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: if not the best to ever do it, tough to pick against, but did falter last year.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: With regards to managing the race,
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: kind of let it get away from her, not putting on appropriate clothing.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Presumably,
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: we've never heard her explicitly say that,
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: but fell off in the back half, got beat by Ruth.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth ran her amazing race.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: After finishing second in her debut in 24, won the race.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to see a rematch of Ruth and Courtney.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney is coming into this year, having set a course record on Hard Rock, breaking her own.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: But only by...
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think she feels like she can really go faster than...
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: At least sub-26, if not sub-25 hours of hard rock.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So for her, probably a little bit disappointing.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Only going 26-03.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think she saw that interview.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney's also won Chianti Ultra Trail this year and got second at Cocodona 250
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: behind Rachel Entrican under the previous course record,
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: but not nearly as far under as We'll talk more about Rachel.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth, so far this year, has had a pretty conservative year.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth is a very, very intelligent and very, very reserved racer.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: So far, she has won the maxi race in Annecy and took about six hours and 20 minutes,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: and that was at the end of May.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then she got second at Ultra Trail Australia 50K,
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: and that was only behind, I want to say Meow Meow, if I'm not mistaken.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, just behind Meowyao.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to say...
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she was a minute and a half behind Meowyao at Ultra Trail Australia 50k.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then she did win Terawara 102k.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that was at the beginning of the season in February.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that's actually, for Ruth, that's, I would say, more racing than usual.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: But very similar to last year's lead-up.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, she won Terawara.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: She raced in Annecy.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: She DNF Transylacania.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: But then she did...
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so just added UTA 50 basically onto the schedule and then do Transvalconia instead.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: So Ruth and Courtney both having seemingly conservative,
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: intelligent lead-up build-ups into this race.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: My other two favorites in the favorites category.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Fu Zhao Zhang,
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Chinese athlete,
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: now for Adidas Terex,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: switching over from Hoka,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: coming off a seventh place at Western States in 16 hours and 25 minutes.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have seen Fu Zhao race at UTMB before.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: She raced it in 2024 to a DNF, and she raced it in 2023.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I'm trying to look.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: 2023 to a fourth place, and that was it.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So she has gone top five here.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: No, 2022 to a seventh place.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: So she has two top tens and a DNF here.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then other races she's done so far this year, she won the Buffaloes.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Stampede 100K down in Australia.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then a few other races that I'm not familiar with.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think Fuzhou has the means to go top three on the podium here.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think Fuzhou is that talented.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I definitely think that Fuzhou should be considered a favorite.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete to talk about is Blondine Leharondel,
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: French ultra-trail athlete sponsored by Kiprun.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Really also an amazingly talented athlete.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: She is trying to be in the category with Ruth Croft as somebody who has won OCC,
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: CCC, and UTMB along with Xavier Thevenard as well.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: She won OCC in 2021.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: She won CCC in 2022.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And she still has the course record there.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then she has raced UTMB in 2023.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: She podiumed and got third place in 2024.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: She got fifth place.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then last year, she did not race UTMB.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: She opted for CCC and got fourth place.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: But really, it seemed like her big focus.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: So far this year, she's won EcoTrail Paris at 35k.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: She's won Transvaulconia in a course record time just in front of Lucy Bartholomeo.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then she also raced a 32k at...
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Valderan and got third place in a very speedy field just behind Maria Fuentes
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: and Maria LaChica.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that is Blondine Lejirondel.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely think that people are sleeping on her and forgetting just how good she is
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: and that you very much need to consider her as being up there in your picks.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Alright,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: next athlete to talk about who gets their own category because I could not fit her
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: into any of these categories, and that's Rachel.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I do think Rachel,
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think you can consider her a favorite,
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: but I also think that everyone on my favorites list has something
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: that Rachel does not, and that is they've raced UTMB.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: They've podiumed or gone top five.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: I guess Fuchsia was just outside the top five.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: But basically, they have familiarity with UTMB.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: They know what it takes.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is more important at UTMB than other courses.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the only reason why it feels less important for Rachel is because she's raced longer.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: She has been out there longer than what it takes to do UTMB.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that this is a new level of mountain running that is a lot more...
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think Rachel gets her own category.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think that FreeTrail and other people are putting her as a favorite,
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: and that's rightfully so,
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would say, but also I think that we need to respect UTMB.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's really hard to get right on the first try.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: We do see women do it,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: more often than men, but I just think that's worth, like, emphasizing as well.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Next category of females, the Ascendants.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So this is females who have done UTB and gone top 10,
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: but I feel like are really quickly improving and are really making leaps and bounds
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: in the racing.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Got three in that category.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think Lucy Bartholomew fits that.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think Martina Valamosua fits that.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think...
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Katerina Dombroska fits that.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: So starting off with Lucy Bartholomew,
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: she's been in the sport for a long time, even though she's only 30 years old.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Solomon athlete from Australia.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: She's really having an amazing season so far.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: She got started off the season actually a little bit rough with a 10th at Terrowire,
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: which was rough for her, I'd say.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: But then her racing since then has been amazing.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And she's got...
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Second place at Transvalcania,
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: just underneath the course record,
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: just behind Blondine Leirondel, so broke a course record there.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Second place at Labaredo won 20k to Sunmaya Buda in a super tight battle,
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: and I believe they also both went under a course record.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So Lucy basically racing these races,
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: going under a course record at two very historic courses,
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Labaredo and Transvalcania.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean,
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: she only finished a minute and a half off Sunmaya Buda,
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a 13-and-a-half-hour race.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a battle down to the wire.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Lucy really has done well at UTMB.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like she's gotten better every year.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, she got 7th place in 24-51.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: The year before that, she got 10th in 24-51.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the year before that, she was 10th in 2739.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: So she just keeps on improving her position, her racing there.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it just feels like Lucy's on the up and up.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And she does insane amounts of training, like 20 plus hour weeks.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: But it feels like she's kind of like nailing it this year.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I think Lucy B is the first one in that ascending category.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Next one,
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Martina Valmessoa,
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Italian athlete,
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: also for Solomon,
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: longtime photographer,
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: really good photographer, and she was a commentator for Golden Trail World Series.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: She is having a very,
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: very good year since coming off of 7th place at World Championships last year.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: She raced Zagama,
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: which is a lot shorter and faster than she usually races, 17th place at Zagama.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then she went on to win UTMB Andorra,
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: the 105K, by over an hour in about 15 hours, more or less.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then she got second place at Sky Marathon,
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sintiera Luglio, which is a technical sky race in Italy.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And she was second only behind...
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Karina Girardi, it looks like.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then she just went on to win Monorosa-Volzerweg by UTMB.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And she did the long 82K with 6,300 meters.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So a pretty steep,
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Vert per mile,
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: even steeper than UTMP, and she won it over Emily Fursberg by about 26 minutes.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, Martina's looking really good.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: She's been really consistent.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: She seems really died this year.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: She also does a big training volume, big cross-training volume as well.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of feels similar to Lucy Bartholomew in a lot of ways,
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: and I think that they're both looking to have really good results this year.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: All right, next athlete on the ascending category, Katarina Dombrowska or Akasha Dombrowska.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: All an athlete from Poland.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Really just hasn't missed her last four races, all wins.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And she really also just doesn't DNF.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Her only DNF ever is UTMB.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's a couple of athletes like that today that we're going to talk about.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: But since DNFing to UTMB last year,
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: she raced Worlds, 22nd place, probably a little disappointing day for her.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: But since then, she won Ultra Trail Australia 100K in a good field, which was the Oceana Major.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And she also won the Valderan.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: The 100 miler, basically, which 163k, 10,000 meters of earth, that was on July 3rd.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she did that in 27 hours and 22 minutes, it looks like, running by like two hours.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the only hesitations I have,
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: that's so beginning of July,
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: about what, eight weeks, and that was a 27 and a half hour race.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the only hesitation I would say out loud with Kasia Dombraska is like,
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is a really long race to be doing,
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: you know, only a month and a half out or like eight weeks out from UTMB.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the only thing I'd be careful with,
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: but it feels like she's on a streak and she's really putting up
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: to good results this year.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so that's the Ascendance category.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Next category I have is Looking to Finally Nail It at UTMB.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've only got two people in that category and we got Abby Hall and Anna Lee Pagliari.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so first,
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Abby Hall,
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Western States champion last year,
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: U.S. athlete for Adidas Terex, and multiple times CCC podium finisher.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Abby came into UTMB after winning Western last year,
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: and just, and Dina, It seems like she just wasn't fully recovered from Western.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: And since then, she has only raced three times since UTMB last year.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: She won McDowell 50 miler in December of last year.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: She ran Black Canyon Ultras.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: The 100K got Abbey Hall, this will only be her second crack.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, third crack at UTMB.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: No, sorry, second crack.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Third crack, I lied, I lied, sorry.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: When she came back from her injury, she did race UTMB in 2024 to 31st place in 31 hours.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we are going to see, yeah, we're going to see what Abby can do on fresh air legs.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: You got to think that she's hungry coming back from a DNF at Western States and
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: that she wants to get it done here.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete looking to finally nail it at UTMB, we've got Anna Lee, Chinese athlete for Hoka.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: She is coming off of the DNF at the Chongli 168K,
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: which probably isn't a terrible thing because it was July 10th,
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: so not that long ago.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: She has raced UTMB before in 2014.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: She won a ton in China.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: She has also raced earlier this year Trail Alsace by UTMB,
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: the 100K,
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: and got second place to Len Chen,
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: actually, who we'll talk more about here in a second.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: They went one and two about 20 minutes apart.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then other notable races in China.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see,
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Saegu Trail 105K last year she got 5th place at,
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Ultra Trail Ninghai 105K she got 3rd place at.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So she does routinely race races that are longer.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: She did finish Changli 168 last year in 2544.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: So she has plenty of experience racing 24, 25 plus hour races.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: I actually am looking at like at least 6 or 7 of those on her history.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: So UTMB is not going to be the longest race that she's raced,
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: but she is looking to get it right.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right, notable UTMB debutantes.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is a big category,
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: and we have kind of varying levels,
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: but this list
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: includes Henrietta Albin,
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Riley Brady,
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Jasmine Lothar, Kareth Arnold, Shea Aquilano,
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Rachel Drake, Elsie Davis,
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: and Emily Schmitz.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: So talking about notable UG&B data-butants on the women's side.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Henriette Albin, probably one of the most exciting ones.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: She was on the start list last year, but did not start.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Had to scratch.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think she was fully recovered from when she raced...
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: This will be her UTMB debut.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen her race CCC way back in 2022 to a sixth place and OCC in 2021 to a sixth place.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the extent of her UTMP Finals experience.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: So super excited to see what Henriette's going to do.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Her and John have kind of been radio silent since I think he dropped Montblanc 90K.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: And John has also been Strava Dark.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll talk more about that when we're previewing him.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: But a little bit different approach.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's usually at least public on Strava.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure about her.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: But Henriette's looking to make a good debut.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to think she's feeling good if she's lining up because she's pretty picky.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're both pretty picky about if they don't feel right not racing.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Next notable debut, Riley Brady.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Super curious to see coming off of there.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: So Nike athletes out of Boulder,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Colorado,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: coming off a second place at Western,
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: and I think the third fastest time ever, if not the fourth.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: She ran at 15 hours, or they ran at 15 hours, 42 minutes.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Other results for Riley this year, Riley actually kind of had a rough start to the season.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Ninth at Black Canyon,
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: 11th at Big Alta, but then kind of turned it around with third place at Gorge.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Waterfalls 30K,
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: surprisingly,
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: shorter speedier,
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: and then really impressed me with,
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: The win at Cannons 100K in a deep field and then backing that up with a really,
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: really good Western.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Finally nailed Western.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Took them a couple of tries.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: The main thing that has me excited
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: about Riley was how well they managed Run Rabbit Run last year.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Shorter race than UTMB.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is 100 miler.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's got like 22,000, 23,000 feet of vert.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: They finished it in 20 hours and 30 minutes.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And also...
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just what gets me excited about that is Run Rabbit is notorious for bad weather.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: It had kind of a bad weather,
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: actually a really bad weather year last year with sleet and hail and rain
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: and things like that.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: So knowing that Riley managed kit and fueling throughout the night,
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: you have to run overnight if you're an elite.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Reilly has not had the greatest success at UTMB Finals.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: They raced CCC in 2024 to a DNF, and I think that's it.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is it from what I can tell with UTMB Finals.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: So going to be interesting to see how Reilly debuts at UTMB.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Next notable UTMB debutant, Jasmine Louther, Canadian runner for Arc'teryx.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Very good mountain athlete.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: All right, sorry, I was pulling up.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: So Jasmine Lothar, yeah,
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Canadian runner for Arcteryx,
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: did the Broken Arrow trifecta this year and won,
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: or Triple Crown is what they call it,
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: and won the Triple Crown, including getting six of the 46K.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier in the season,
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: she raced to a third place at Madeira Island Ultra Trail,
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: only behind Katerina Hartmuth and narrowly behind Helen Mino Faulkner in
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: a very good time of 1554.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And...
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Last year,
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Jasmine got fourth at Worlds Long Trail,
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: kind of raged through the back half of the field,
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: got eighth at OCC,
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: running a little bit shorter and faster than Jasmine usually runs,
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: fourth at Speedgoat,
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: and then previous UTMB Finals, DNF at CCC in 2024, and a fourth at CCC in 2022.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Jasmine's definitely no stranger to UTMB Finals,
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: and also has done some very hard races this year.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Madeira is kind of a classic pre-UTMB So I'm really excited to see Jasmine debut.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think Jasmine has a very good chance of going like four through eight in her debut.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Another exciting debut,
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Kareth Arnold,
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: the winner of TDS last year, first American winner ever of TDS.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: She's a mom.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: She's an ultra-athlete from Durango,
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Colorado,
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: it says, but I think she moves around some or lives in Colorado in general.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: So far this year,
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: she has raced Hard Rock to a second place,
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Canyons to a second place, but passed upon the Golden Ticket.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: And also, way too cool for Dekato fourth place.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: So like we said, I was really impressed by Kareth Wayne at TDS.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Karen is a very good mountain athlete.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And she's also very good at fast racing.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it kind of hides behind some of her results.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: But she did have a very good hard rock this year, finishing second place.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Kareth could definitely debut in the top 10.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: Next couple of UTMB debutants,
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Shea Aquilano,
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Nike ACG athlete,
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: coming off of a win at Chongli 70k, so a Chinese race sponsored by Nike as well.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then she also DNF'd Gorge 100k and then got sixth at Black Canyon 100k.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And was second at JFK 50-Miler last year.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: She also raced World Long Trail, which was a pretty technical and rocky course.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I was pretty impressed with how well she did 14th place in that type of running
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: that we don't usually think of her as doing a lot of.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: This will definitely be her longest race.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: She did have a 21-hour Western States in 2025.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: But this is going to be her longest race by a decent margin, it would appear.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's Shea Alcolano.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Next debutant, Rachel Drake, Nike ACG athlete doing her residency in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Third place at Broken Arrow Sky Race,
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: or excuse me,
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: 46K this year,
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: won at Twisted Fork and won at the Madeira Island Ultra Trail Discover Race.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think she was in front of
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: I can think of her name.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jane Moss.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then set the course record at JFK in 2024.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be Rachel's longest race.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: She has done Western States to 8th place in 17 hours and 28 minutes before.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: She has insane leg speed and has the type of leg speed that got her plenty of top 10s in...
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: What's the word I'm looking for?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Plenty of Top 10s in Golden Trail World Series events.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: She has raced CCC to a 7th place in 2019,
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: OCC 21st in 2021, and OCC to a 6th place as recently as 2021.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, experience at UTMB Finals,
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: both CCC and OCC,
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: this is going to be Rachel Drake's debut in UTMB, could definitely turn some heads.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was really impressed with her debut at Western a couple years ago as well,
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: so we'll see how Rachel Drake Uh, shows up to the big loop around Mont Blanc.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Last two athletes to talk about in the debut category, Elsie Davis, Emily Schmitz.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, Elsie Davis, uh, British athlete for the North Face, uh, finished TCC 12th last year.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: Only race that I see on their calendar this year was Snowdonia 100k worth of DNF.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's possible they did other races that just aren't under the, like, UTMP index or whatever.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, And I think she also has the winter record on the Bob Grimm round, if I remember correctly.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: She did race in DNF Montblok 90K last year.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be her longest race by a good margin.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: But she did do good at CCC last year, so we'll see what's in store for Elsie Davis.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Last athlete we're talking about, Emily Schmitz making her debut at UTMB, the big loop.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: But Emily Schmitz has plenty of good results at CCC, including...
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: So last year, 20th, but CCC was the deepest field.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: She got second place at Mondo Rosa Volzerweg.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: This year, just behind, I want to say...
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just behind Fabio Laconte.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, just behind Fabio Laconte.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: By about 8 minutes, so not too shabby.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then she does have top 10s in CCC as recently as 2023.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: She got 5th place.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And...
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think she also had one in 2022.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's Emily Schmitz.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right, next category of females I want to talk about.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: That was the debutants.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Dark Horses, who could finish top five?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've got...
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or two different categories of Dark Horses.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Who I think could go top five and who I think could go 10 through 15.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the Dark Horses who could finish top five, Antonina Ioshina, Lynn Chin, and Anna Carlson.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Anna Carlson we'll talk about because she has gone top five before as recently as last year.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I, as somebody who follows the sport really closely, didn't even recognize her name.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I suspect that a lot of people are Sleeping Hunter.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: And probably don't recognize her name as well.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think UTMB kind of got overshadowed last year compared to how dense
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: the shorter races were and also Worlds.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's just me.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm wrong.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that unless you were like top three at UTMB,
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: people kind of missed out on the rest of the field because it felt maybe less deep
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: or less hyped because people were looking forward to Worlds and because
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: the other fields were just as deep.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so going into Dark Horses, who I think could finish top five.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll start off with Antonina Ioshina.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: She's an unaffiliated athlete, which I'm pretty sure means she is coming from Russia, Russia.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's just considered a neutral athlete because of the stuff going on internationally.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Antonina Ayoshina,
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: looking at her results, pretty much going back all the way to 2025 UTMB, everything
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: She has raced his ones and twos, with most of it being ones.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Admittedly,
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: a lot of these are races I haven't heard of,
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: but she has won second place at Cape Town 100K last year.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: She won the 100-miler at UTMB Chiang Mai and won it by...
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Won it over Kareth Arnold by like two hours.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty impressive if you ask me.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: She also won the UTA Miler, so the Hunter Miler at
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: Australia, the Oceania Major, this year.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: And she won that over Stephanie Austin.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And beat her by like two hours.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's very, very impressive.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then other things.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think she has multiple top finishes at Cape Town.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, she got second at Cape Town in 24.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so she just doesn't DNF a lot.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I know she hasn't done her only DNF, actually, in all of her results is from UCMB last year.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to think that she learned from whatever mistakes she made last year.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: She's a very consistent racer.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: She races very tough races.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: And she wins by impressive margins.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I legitimately think that Antonina Ayushina has a good chance of going top five of this race.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that she'd probably take whatever she...
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: She probably learned from whatever went wrong last year and has a very good shot
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: of going inside the top 10.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so that's Antonina Ioshina.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then next star course where I think Legette could go top 5 is Lin Chen.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Lin Chen's also a little bit tricky because Lin Chen has,
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say, a
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: 4th place finish at UTMB.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: She DNF'd in 25.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And she got fourth in 2024.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: So she has gone top five,
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: but I do think that these Chinese athletes get a little bit overlooked.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of why I'm considering her in the Dark Horse category.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: She is very legit.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: She is coming off of... How many ultras has she done this year?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: 2026...
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that might just be somebody with a common name because of how low their results are.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's tough to tell.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: But she's definitely done a 14.5-hour ultra, 10-hour ultra, 5-hour.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then the only thing that has me worried
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: about Lin Chen is she did win Chong Li 168K, and that was July 10th.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, only like eight weeks before this, she raced a 22-hour and 46-minute race.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a couple of athletes like that that have raced,
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: you know, either July 10th or the week before and did big, big races.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: So could work, could be too much fatigue in her legs.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think Lynn Chen is considered a dark horse.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: Tarek's athlete,
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: very legit, very tough, and very much has a legitimate shot at going top 10 here.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so that's Lynn Chen.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete who I think could finish top five, Anna Carlson.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Swedish athlete,
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: like I said,
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: she also has finished top five,
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: but I think that people sleep on her, and she did it last year.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: She's an A6 athlete from Sweden.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: She did race Trail Verbier, I think it's 100K in Switzerland.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, Verbier St. Bernard by UTMB.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, excuse me, 77K with 5,100 meters of elevation gain.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: And she did win it.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: And she won it in a time faster than she raced it last year.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: And only by 35 seconds over who she beat.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty impressive as well.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: And she ran it almost an hour of fashion last year if the course was the same.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: And she did that as her tune-up for UTMB last year.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Worked out pretty dang well.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: She got 24 hours and 39 minutes in her...
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: She's debut UTMB, from what I can tell.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: No, she DNF'd in 2021, so she had DNF, so it was her second UTMB.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: But Anna Carlson,
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: somebody who I think a lot of people are sleeping on,
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: probably don't know very much about because I didn't know very much about her,
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: but definitely somebody to look out for.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: Next category of Dark Horses,
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: I got two who I think could finish 10-15 and be very strong picks for points.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is a Swiss athlete for Dinafet, Melanie Delassois.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: She finished third at that same She was 15th at UTMB last year and also is
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: a previous winner of...
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: UTMB 90K.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: But anyways, she also has only one DNF in her history, and that was 2023 UTMB.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: But she's been getting better at UTMB every year.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: She got 24th in 2024, and she got 15th last year.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think she's just a very consistent racer who's kind of got out
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: and finished this race and has a good chance of getting points somewhere in that 10
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: through 15 range.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: Next athlete to talk about is a French athlete,
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jennifer Lemoine.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: And she, let's see, she won Grand Raid Von 200k, I want to say it was, to start off the year.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 125k to start off the year.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then other results include, she did do Worlds last year, 17th place at Worlds.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then...
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: She's the one I'm thinking of in 2023.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: She won the Marathon of Montblanc 90K.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it hasn't raced a lot other than the 100K and Vontu to start the season.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hasn't raced as much longer stuff recently.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: But French athletes are smart at UTMB.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think she could be one that also goes in that 10 through 15.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: All right, last category of females I want to talk about.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: Returning top finishers from previous years.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: I got four in that category.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: Ekaterina Mitieva, Claudia Trump.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Esther Chilag and Leah Yingling.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, Ekaterina Metelliva,
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: she's finished as high as fourth place and I think that was in 2019 UTMB
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: if I'm not mistaken.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: 2019 UTMB, she got fourth place in 25.53.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: Has not had as much luck recently with UTMB.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: She DNF'd it last year.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: And in 2024, she DNF'd it.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: In 2023, she did not race it.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: And let's see, 2021, she did TDS instead.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: So her and her husband kind of have been up and down the past couple of years
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: and also have a pretty bad,
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to say bad relationship,
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: but they haven't had good Robrunsround,
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround,
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround, Robrunsround, Robrunsround, Robrunsround, Robrunsround, Robrunsround.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that is Ekaterina Metiaeva.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: And she did run 45 minutes faster at Marathon of Mont Blanc 90K this year
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: than she did last year.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe an indication she might be more fit.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: They seem to have a rough time, her and her husband at UTB.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: She did race to a top 10 at UTMB last year in 25 hours in 5 minutes.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: She finished 9th place.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then she has also finished 8th place in 2024 at UTMB.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then 2023, she had a DNF.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then she's got second place at TDS under her belt.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: And also 9th and 2021.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: So she has a lot of top 10s at UTMB.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: What was that?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: 3 or 4 that I shred off?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she has been very consistent here.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: So she's actually a pretty safe pick and seems to have the loop figured out
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: and seems like somebody who would be a very good pick for the back half of top 10.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, talk about Esther Chilag, Hoka athlete living in Hong Kong, who is Hungarian.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: Really exciting.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: She's a mom, badass racer, and just a cool person all around.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: She is coming off a fifth place at La Verde.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: Last year,
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: she had a disappointing day at Worlds,
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: a disappointing day at Western States, so maybe just a little bit off here.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if she was dealing with any kind of health issues or anything.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then she did race UTMB in 2024 to a 13th place finish in 2023 to a DNF.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: But she does have a 5th place UTMB finish under her belt in 2022.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: So she has had success, just not as recently at UTMB.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: And she'll be one that I'll be really excited to watch race and curious to see what she does.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: All right,
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: last returning or top previous finisher from previous years is going to be another
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: than Leah Yingling from the United States,
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: Salt Lake City's very own Lululemon athlete.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: Also looking really good this year, kind of similar buildup to...
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: She also got third place at Speedgoat in 6 hours and 27 minutes,
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: which is a very good tune-up for UTMB.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: She has finished UTMB before as recently as 2023, I want to say.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 20-23, she got 8th place in 26 hours and 21 minutes.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: So she'll also be one to watch.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: That feels pretty thorough.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like we went through who there is to go through after 45 minutes in
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: the women's UTMB field.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: So now we get to the exciting part.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to go with our top 10 picks.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: Top 10 picks.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so usual caveats with these top 10 picks,
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: and that is that I am very liable and very likely to change these.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: We still have two hours,
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: or excuse me,
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: two days and 18 hours until the race closes,
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: so if there's any new information that comes out or any whims or whimsies,
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: which I definitely will get,
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm almost definitely going to change these up,
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: but I'll give you picks that I'm liable to swap,
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: liable to add in, and other considerations that I'm making.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that is my...
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: My logic.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: So top 10 for the women's field.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: 10th place, I'm going to go Martina Val-Massois.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: Really consistent year.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: Really feels like she's on the up and up.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know 10th probably isn't as exciting, considering she just got So, 10th for Martina.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: 9th place,
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go Anna Carlsen,
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: Swedish athlete,
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: finished 4th place here last year,
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: racing super consistently,
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: racing even faster than her tune-up race last year, coming into UTMB.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: 8th place,
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go Katarina Dombraska,
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: or Kasia Dombraska, Polish athlete for Ann, also on a heater of a year.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Only DNF was UTMB last year,
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: other than that,
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: excuse me,
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_01: yeah, hasn't DNF'd really since UTMB last year, and doesn't DNF that often either.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: 7th place,
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go Henriette Albin,
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: debut UTMB,
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: gets it right,
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: sticks a landing,
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: and gets 7th place coming off of her only race this year,
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: Trans-Ocarina Canaria, where she did win.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: 6th place,
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go Lucy Bartholomew,
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: having that resurgent year,
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: finally gets higher than a 10th place or 8th place finish where she got
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: at UTMB last year.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't race UTMB last year.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, she did.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: She got seventh place.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I got her one spot higher, sixth place for Lucy Bartholomew.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Fifth place, I'm going to go Rachel Intrican.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_01: Debut UTMB.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: Finishes the race.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: Probably comes out hard.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I think Rachel is going to win,
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: not because I don't think she's an amazing athlete.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think she is a very amazing athlete.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: I just think UTMB is hard to get right on the first try.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's nice that she's been scouting out the course a lot,
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_01: and I think that's probably helped a lot.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: But I still think there's a skill to racing UTMB,
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: and it's a unique skill that Americans are not quite as used to.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know Rachel has raced overnight races.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know she's very, very good.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: I just, I don't know.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think she's going to win it.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: First place, I'm going to go Fu Zhao Zhang, Chinese athlete, back on the podium.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: Third place, I'm going to go Blondine Leihirondel.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think probably the person who's being slept on the most in this field
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: and also very much has the possibility to win.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: I would not be surprised one bit if Blondine wins this race.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Second place, I'm going to go Courtney DeWalter.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think that Ruth Croft repeats.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think she's in a very good spot.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think that Courtney is still goaded,
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: but I think that Ruth is going to prove that last
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: year wasn't a fluke.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I got Ruth winning the race.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, that's the women's side.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get on to the men's side.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: Storylines.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: Alright,
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: two of the favorites coming from,
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: the top two favorites for the men's side are coming from totally opposite sides,
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: personality-wise and just like race lead-up-wise.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so that, of course, I'm talking about is Ben Demon and Vincent Bouillard.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: Ben Demon is basically relishing saying like, hey, I got second place last year.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: The first place winner is not here.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he's not saying I am the favorite, but he's saying last year, I very much wanted to win.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have what it took.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: Tom was a better man on the day.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: This year, I'm making up for that mistake.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm looking to improve.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: My goal here is to win.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's not saying I expect to win, but he does have, he has a very unique goal.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking to win this year's race, not compare it to last year's race.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying something similar,
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: but he's saying it in a kind of maybe more,
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: not cocky way, but he's more straightforward.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying, yeah, I expect to win.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's the pressure I'm putting myself.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: I want to live up to the pressure.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so we'll see.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of two different sides of the coin.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: And also it's the opposite side from Vincent Bouillard,
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: who's coming off of a win in a course record at Western States.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: He won UTME in 2024.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like he's very fit, but he's kind of just, he's moving in silence.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: He's moving in shadows, you know?
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: Gangsters move in silence.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they say.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're kind of coming from opposite sides.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like Vincent is super fit.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like if he wasn't ready, he wouldn't be lining up.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it seems like Vincent,
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_01: who's a legitimate shot at being the first guy
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: since Killian,
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: first male since Killian in 2011 to double back and win.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then we've also had instances of Courtney and Katie
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: doing it as well.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_01: And probably other females, maybe Nikki Kimball that I'm missing.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it's going to be interesting to see.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then, yeah.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_01: So in the other storylines, we have...
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're going to kind of get into it as we go into the men's field.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we have plenty of returning top teners.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_01: Not so many from last year because many opted to race OCC or CCC and
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: then do Worlds last year or just skip UTMB races altogether and race Worlds.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't have as many returning top teners,
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: I would say, at least the top five of the top ten last year.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: We do have Ben Demon and...
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I'm looking through the list.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's about it from the top five last year for UTMB.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to double check before I accidentally insult anybody.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: Josh Wade, excuse me.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, Josh Wade, I am insulting you.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: Josh Wade is the only one else from the top five.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't know that.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: He got third place last year.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and then we do have other people from the top ten.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk more about that, so I'm not forgetting those people.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: It looks like we have five of the top ten returning.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, five of the top ten returning from last year.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: Josh Wade, Ben Demon.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yannick Noel, Jiaxeng Shen, Rod Farvard.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I digress.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm getting too lost in the sauce.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_01: Other storylines.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I want to bring up is...
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: French men in the top ten.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: Going back to COVID year, so 2021, this is how many French men were in the top ten at UTV.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: In 2021, there were six French males in the top ten, including the entire top five.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: 2022, there was four men from France in the top ten.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: 2023, six.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: 2024, six.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: 2025, three.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, I think that...
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, France always does well at UTMB.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_01: And whether or not they win, they're going to load up that top five, or excuse me, top ten.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: And last year was actually kind of the anomaly, only having three.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think that you've got to have at least three French males in the top ten.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of like a gamble who,
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: not a gamble who you put in there,
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: but it's always like,
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: all right,
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: there's some guys that you know are kind of like right on the edge and you're
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: between two of them.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll talk about those guys.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think you got to have at least three Frenchmen in the top 10.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I also do think it's a very strong possibility we have more Americans in the top 10.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: So that storyline is right now for the men's side.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: Darkhorses,
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go Tobias Geyser,
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: Antoine Charverlin,
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: Ramon Manech, Rod Farvard, and Paul Chauvinck, Cournot Chauvinck.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk more about them.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: Predictions.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think that it's—I don't know if I—I'm not a gambling man on this,
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: but I think there's a very strong chance that we have as many U.S.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: men as French men in the top ten, and possibly even more.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to doubt—I'm not— I'm
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: willing to bet
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: that it's very unlikely there's ever been a race where there's more American men
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: than French men in the top ten.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't do the deep digging, so forgive me.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: But off the top of my head,
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_01: I have not seen it, and I think it's very unlikely that it's happened.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: Other predictions for me.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think Hannes Namburger finally nails UTMB.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: I also think that John Albin and Rod I don't think Ben Demon wins.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think at least 6 or maybe 7.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: New people are in the top ten because,
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_01: like I said, Worlds took away some of the competition from last year.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you'll see a lot of people probably that have been in the top ten
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: at UCNBA in this year's top ten,
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: but I don't think that we see a lot of more than three returners from last year.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, so let's get into these categories.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_01: Favorites.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: First and foremost, favorites.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've got four in my favorites list.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: I've got Ben Dieman, Vincent Bouillard, Hannes Namburger, and John Albin.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: Favorites, we got Ben Demon coming back from his second place last year.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_01: Took him three tries to get it right, but third time was finally the charm.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: Not in the way that he wanted.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: He got second place to Tom Evans,
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: who did beat him by a good margin and really kind of put the hammer,
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: dropped the hammer on the back half of the race and put like 30,
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_01: 40 minutes into him.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: But he did finally have a good UTMB race, put one on the board.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: He managed a difficult UTMB race with inclement weather and having to change gear
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: and things like that.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: And after kind of popping onto everyone's radar,
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say in 2023,
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: and saying that he wants to be able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Jim
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: and Killian and all these other guys, I would say that he finally did...
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he didn't go toe-to-toe with Jim and UTMB last year,
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: but he did put his money where his mouth was and got that second place.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_01: And he's had a good season this year.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_01: So far, he has...
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: Went into second place at Marathon of Montblanc 90K by 40 seconds.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_01: He just missed the win there.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_01: And he trained through that race.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: He also got fifth place at Transvalcania.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that was underneath the previous course record that existed for 15 years.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so it feels like he's raced smart.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like his training looks amazing.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's all public.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's all in Strava.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it feels like he...
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: if somebody's going to put pressure on themselves,
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_01: it feels like he has the mindset to be able to put the pressure on himself and come
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_01: into this race and win it.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's not...
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't feel like it's coming from a place of insecurity.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I do think Ben has a very legitimate shot at the win.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people are going to pick him, and we'll talk more about that.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_01: Other favorites, Vincent Bouillard.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: We already talked a little bit about him.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_01: French athlete, shoe designer for Hoka, who was just a straight-up employee for Hoka.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then in 2024, everyone was like, oh, Jim Walmsley's leading the race.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Jim Walmsley's leading the race.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then they looked up.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: And he just basically showed up and won the biggest race in the world and beat some
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_01: of the best athletes in the world and made it look like it was easy.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_01: Goes on,
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_01: still a Hoka shoe designer,
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_01: working part-time now, maybe like 15-20 hours a week, also has an athlete contract.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: We saw him have a good year last year,
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: but it didn't feel like it lived up to his UTMB win,
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_01: which I imagine anything is tough to live up to the UTMB win.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_01: He did get third place at Chianti, 120K behind Jim and Killian, just behind Killian.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_01: He raced Western States but had a DNF.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_01: He did race Worlds, had a good day out there, but not UTMB winner level good day.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: Tenth place at Worlds in the long trail,
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: good enough to score for France and help them bring home the team gold.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then this year,
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_01: he doubled back,
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_01: another race at Chianti,
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_01: He went third place again,
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: but then blew everyone's mind with a win at Western States.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: Debo on free trial said that, well,
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_01: there's 3,000 ballots that were submitted for fantasy or 2,000 plus,
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: and only one person picked Monsanto to win, and he won, and he demolished it.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: And now he's looking to come and win UTMB,
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_01: which would be one of the most impressive things that I've seen since,
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know,
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: Killian,
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_01: you know, getting fourth at Sears and all, and then winning UTMB a week later.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, with COVID or something like that.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, obviously not exactly the same,
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: but I would still say, like, quality of caliber, like,
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: really impressive.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, Boston Boulevard, gotta be a favorite.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like his training is going amazing.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like he's super fit.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like he's right where he wants to be.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_01: Next athlete we're going to talk about,
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_01: Hannes Namburger,
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: a Dynafit athlete from Germany, one of the most fun names to say in my opinion.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's coming fresh off a fourth win at Lavarado,
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: and he took back his course record from Ben Diemen,
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_01: He ran his fastest Labarado ever, 11 hours 45 minutes.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: He has also raced Trans-Grand Canaria to a second place.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then he's raced some other,
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think he rose to the German National Champions at Mountain Man,
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_01: where he got sixth place.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then he ran some Ansberg Alpine Trail Festival,
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: shorter, faster races, a little bit out of his wheelhouse, just for funsies.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_01: So he's coming off of a second at Trans-Grand Canaria, just behind John Albin.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Win course record at Labarado.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it feels like he actually hasn't had bad UTMBs.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: It just doesn't feel like he's raced to his potential at UTMB.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: We saw him race here to a fourth place in 2024 in 20 hours and 31 minutes,
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_01: the year that Vincent won.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, it just feels like, you know...
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: It just feels like he's raced well, but it feels like he hasn't quite hit his potential.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_01: Hannes is an interesting dude because it doesn't look like his volume is super big on Strava.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he hides certain stuff or if he just does a moderate amount
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_01: of volume like John Alvin has in the past.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think Hannes is going to have a good one here.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so, sorry, sip of water, keep the voice nice and fresh.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: Next favorite, last favorite, John Albin.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think he made it to 130K, if I remember correctly, last year.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_01: John Albin, North Face athlete.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_01: From the UK, lives in Norway with his wife Henriette.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: One of the best trail runners to do it.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, he's kind of very similar to Ruth Croft in my mind.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_01: They're kind of analog.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_01: They can both win shorter, faster, Golden Trail type stuff, Zagama type stuff.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: They both have won OCC and CCC.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: He just has not won UTMB yet,
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_01: but it was only his first try last year and it did take both two tries.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_01: Admittedly, she got second on her first attempt at UTMB.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_01: But His first try, his longest race at UTMB last year, DNF'd like 130K in.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then so far this year, he's been back on a tear.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_01: Even coming off UTMB last year, he won Salomon Ultra Pyreneur 100K.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then he won Transcreen Canary at the beginning of this year.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_01: Beating out Hannes Namburger and Josh Wade.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then he won Ultra Trail Snowdonia at 50K.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then he did a local race in Norway, mulled Seven Peaks and won that.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_01: Only a blip on the radar is his most recent race,
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_01: the end of June, at Marathon of Mall Block 90K.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like he just got overheated and didn't deal with the heat well.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd be, I guess, a little bit weary maybe if it is a hot UTMB.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I just think he also thinks that UTMB just takes a huge toll on your body,
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_01: which it obviously does.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: But...
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's going to get it right here.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_01: We don't see him DNF hardly ever.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_01: It was very unusual to see him DNF at Marathon of Montblanc
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_01: because he only really has one DNF before
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's one of the most curious and learning athletes you see in the sport.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that John Alvin, I think he's going to get it right this year.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that despite the blip on the radar of Marathon of Montblanc,
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's right where he needs to be.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_01: He interestingly has gone Strava dark.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_01: He's always been public on Strava.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_01: He's not a super high volume athlete.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's usually like 10 to 14 hour range.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_01: And he's gone Strava Dark.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm curious.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_01: They haven't had their podcast in a while, The Alvin Way.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm curious what that means,
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_01: if he just wanted to take some pressure off or what it was
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_01: that made him go Strava Dark.
• 1:03:49
  SPEAKER_01: But he has been Strava Dark more or less since Marathon on My Block 90K, I'm pretty sure.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_01: All right, next category for the men's race.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_01: The returners with good finishes, and I consider a good UTMB finish top 15.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say also,
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_01: it's not every athlete that's gone top 15,
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_01: but ones that are still relevant or still have a good shot of going.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_01: First and foremost, Josh Wade.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_01: UK guy, gardener slash landscaper in the UK.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: Seems super, super, super down to earth and likable.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_01: He's an athlete for the North Face.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_01: Just kind of like a humble dude that just puts in the work and really does well.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_01: He is coming off of third place at Trans Grand Canaria,
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_01: just a couple minutes behind Hannes and John Albin this year.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_01: He got a win at Ultra Trail Snowdonia 80K, which I think is a new distance that they added.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then he did race Laboreto ADK to a DNF.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_01: But it kind of seems like he had one DNF last year.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_01: He had one DNF the year before.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_01: So he's just kind of getting those DNFs out of the way.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_01: And Josh just had a very steady progression at UTMB.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_01: We saw him first race UTMB in...
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then last year we saw him come back and lace it.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_01: 20 hours and 5 minutes for third place behind Ben Demon and Tom Evans.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that he's a consistent racer.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't miss a lot.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's got his DNF for the year out of the way.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it seems like he's got UTMB pretty well figured out.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I think Josh is going to be a good pick out there.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_01: Next athlete, Rod Farvard, Hoka athlete from Mammoth Lakes, California.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_01: He has kind of been low-key this year,
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_01: and so far he's only raced Madeira in Madeira Island 115K and UTMB Andorra 105K.
• 1:05:48
  SPEAKER_01: Mixed results,
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_01: Madeira he got 11th place at,
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_01: but it seems like he kind of made some fueling mistakes.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_01: He was in that top five for a lot of the race and then fell off.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also just a weird, hard race to get right.
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then UTMB Andorra 105K, he got the win in 13 hours and 32 minutes.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it feels like he's just been grinding.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_01: His Strava is public.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_01: His training has been big.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's put in some, he's put in A150.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's coming off of a top 10 at UCMB.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_01: Last year he got 9th in 2128, but he was never really
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think he moved up all race from 20th to 10th.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_01: We have seen him run UTMB as well in 2023 to a 17th place finish and 2022 to
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_01: a 22nd place finish.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_01: So 22, 17, 9th.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_01: I got to think that he's going to stick his nose in it.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_01: I got to think that he is going to be up front and go big or go home.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that is one thing that I would say about Rod.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's going to be pushing for a win and we'll see how that fares for him.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_01: Next athlete, Joaquin Lopez from Ecuador.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, scrolling down.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_01: Joaquin Lopez, athlete from Ecuador for Calasfuga.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_01: Really put South America on the map with that third place in 2024 UTMB.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_01: Really impressive results.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_01: The year that Vincent Bouillard won in a really impressive field as well.
• 1:07:17
  SPEAKER_01: Vincent Bouillard, Baptiste, and him.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody that had any
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_01: of those top three guys in their top three for their picks.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was a really good year for him.
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_01: He went on to set the course record at Mount Fuji early 2025.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_01: Last year, he raced OCC, which is kind of out of his wheelhouse.
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then he did the Long Trail Worlds, 13th place finish.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then he did race Ultra Trail Cape Town to a fourth place, the 100K.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_01: And this year has been a really good year so far.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_01: He's got third at Pena Galusa, 100K.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_01: He has a second place at Ultra Trail Snowdonia,
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_01: the 100-miler, which is supposed to be insanely, insanely tough.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_01: And he got it just behind...
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_01: I can't think of his name, but he's not racing UTMB, but his name is on the start list.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then he won the Keto Trail 80K UTMB.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it feels like, first of all, he doesn't really DNF.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_01: He's only got one DNF.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_01: He first raced UTMB way back in 2019 sixth place finish.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_01: Then he raced TDS in 2022 to a second-place finish.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then he raced UTMB again in 2023 to 11th place.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then he got a third place in 2024.
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_01: So he races really smart at UTMB, and it seems like he's got a winning formula there.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely got to look out for Joaquin Lopez.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_01: Next athlete, one of my favorites.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously,
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_01: we try not to be too biased on this show,
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_01: but I also try to let you know some athletes you just connect with,
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_01: some athletes you just love.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_01: For me, Zach Miller is one of those athletes.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite athletes of all time.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_01: He's kind of like the little engine that could.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_01: Basically,
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_01: the guy that's just going to go out there,
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_01: he's going to put his whole heart and soul on the line,
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_01: and sometimes he's going to And he's going to have his day.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes he's just going to blow up spectacularly.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly what he says in that Billy Yang documentary that I really,
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_01: really encourage you to watch if you never have.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like 35, 40 minutes.
• 1:09:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's good pre-UTMB hype.
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_01: It has a lot of UTMB inclusion in there because it kind of was in the middle of his journey.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was made in 2019,
• 1:09:34
  SPEAKER_01: 2020 range,
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_01: maybe 2021,
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_01: when he was kind of in the middle of that journey for going after UTMB stuff.
• 1:09:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it was before his injury post-COVID.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it really just...
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think it captures the cool nature of Zach Miller and how trying hard is cool
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_01: and trying your hardest is cooler.
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_01: He's had truly a journey and a legacy.
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_01: I would say a legacy with UTMB.
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_01: He first came to UTMB.
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_01: He won CCC in 2015,
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_01: 11 hours and 53 minutes,
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_01: which is crazy because that's what the females are winning in it now.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_01: First race U-Team B in 2016, 6th place finish.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_01: 2017 to 9th place finish.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_01: 2018, he DNF'd.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then he didn't come back again until 2022.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_01: He got 5th place.
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And 2023, I woke up.
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Or I didn't wake up.
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_01: I was in.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think I did wake up.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_01: I woke up in Europe and I woke Caitlin up and I said, Caitlin, guess who's leading you to be?
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, I don't remember who she said, but I was like, Zach Miller.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so happy.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we were in Scotland at the time on vacation.
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I still remember I went to a cafe with Wi-Fi so I could watch the finish.
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I still remember Jim passing him.
• 1:10:54
  SPEAKER_01: But then I still remember Zach sprinting through the finish,
• 1:10:57
  SPEAKER_01: classic Zach Miller style, pointing to...
• 1:11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Pointing to Jim Walmsley, like, you know, you're the first American ever to win UTMB.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_01: But then just giving them the biggest, freaking coolest hug.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And just sitting there in a Scottish cafe, crying, you know, nobody knows why I'm crying.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_01: But just because I was so excited.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was so excited for Jim.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_01: I was so excited for Zach.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I thought Zach was going to be the first American to win.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was really excited.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love both those guys.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, does Zach just like, He's not the most talented guy.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's definitely one of the hardest workers you'll ever meet.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so cool to see just guys that are averagely talented,
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_00: you know, going to do incredible things.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, obviously Zach has talent.
• 1:11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not taking that away from him.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_00: But he's,
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_00: he probably hasn't run a 5K best within a minute and a half or two minutes
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_00: of Jim's best.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just like...
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_01: He tries, and he tries hard, and he makes trying hard cool.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm getting a little poetic here, but it's so cool to see Zach's journey.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And just when he thought his last few years weren't great,
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_01: and it kind of felt like he had that same hiatus that he had between COVID and 2022
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_01: when he finally came back because he had had surgery and all these issues,
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_01: and he really wasn't racing between 2019 and 2022.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it seemed like his career might be over.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And to have Zach come back,
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_01: And this year, he's really having a resurgent year, and it's amazing to see.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Second place at Canons, 100K, getting the golden ticket and beating Hayden Hawks yet again.
• 1:12:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all these years later, it's like 10 years after the Hawks-Miller video.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then going to Western States,
• 1:12:21
  SPEAKER_01: a race that you don't think he's suited for,
• 1:12:22
  SPEAKER_01: you don't think he's going to do great at.
• 1:12:24
  SPEAKER_01: First ever Western, laces it, fifth place, 14 hours and 20 minutes, fastest American debut ever.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Zach Miller.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so excited.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_01: His training looks super good coming in.
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing insane.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Not quite the level that he was doing coming in in 2023 UTMB, I want to say, or 2024.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Hard Rock even.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_01: But it just looks perfect.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at his weeks, it's like 24, 25 hours.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's like always right at, I want to say, kind of 100 to 100.
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And here, I'm pulling it up before I quote this out of my booty.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_01: But basically, just kind of like right at UTMB type 30 to 40,000.
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And 100, 110 miles in like 20 to 25 hours type deal.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_01: 100 miles, 20 hours, 30K.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_01: 101 miles, 23 hours, 32K.
• 1:13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Peak week was 114 miles, 24 hours, and 36K.
• 1:13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Or 26...
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_01: 27 hours, 106 miles, 37K.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so just a bunch of like 30K, 100 mile, 20 hour weeks.
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And doing that a lot in the springs too,
• 1:13:25
  SPEAKER_00: which maybe it's not as steep on the climbs,
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_00: but I'd say it makes up for it because it's higher elevation.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And in some ways it's tight.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of times talking about Zach Miller,
• 1:13:58
  SPEAKER_00: but I love Zach Miller, and I really am rooting for him.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just such a cool journey to be along as a fan.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Cannon Woodward.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, Mountain Coast athlete from the U.S., from North Carolina.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically,
• 1:14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's a political activist,
• 1:14:19
  SPEAKER_00: political advocate, Harvard grad, and recently Patagonia sponsored as well.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And he has been about as consistent as it gets.
• 1:14:25
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I'd like to say about Cannon,
• 1:14:27
  SPEAKER_00: he only has one DNF in all of his ultra results,
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_00: and he has a lot of ultra results going back to 2013.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Next thing I'd like to say about Cannon is that he also is kind of in the same way
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_00: that Zack Miller tries really hard and makes trying hard goal.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think he does the same thing.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's like a really consistent racer.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's really outspoken advocate.
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_00: He is really just trying.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, 2022.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Got 45th place in 25 hours.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Came back in 2023 to UTMB.
• 1:15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Canyons progression at UTMB, awesome.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Canyons races the past year, awesome.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Third place at Javelina,
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_00: got a golden ticket there.
• 1:15:26
  SPEAKER_00: 4th place at Black Canyon, 100K, didn't need a gold ticket, so it dropped down.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_00: 5th place at Canyon's 100K, didn't have to race it, but just wanted to stick his nose in it.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then Race Western, debut Western, 8th place, 14 hours, 45 minutes.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, Canyon's looking really good.
• 1:15:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's never missed at UTMB.
• 1:15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, he's never had higher than 13th place.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_00: But it feels like he's due for top 10.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he could even have better results than a lot of these Americans that have
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_00: a lot more weight to their name.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we're still on the returners list.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that's Kenny Woodward.
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Next returner, Yannick Noel.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_00: French athlete for Innovate, I want to say.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Innovate.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_00: French athlete.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he himself has a nice top 10 UTMB streak going back.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_00: He first...
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Raced a UTMB, not a final, but he first raced at UTMB the weekend.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_00: TDS, he got 12th in 2019.
• 1:16:23
  SPEAKER_00: He came back to UTMB 2021, his debut, 11th place, 23 out of 42 minutes.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then 2022, he decided to race CCC, got 15th.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_00: 2023, TDS, third place.
• 1:16:37
  SPEAKER_00: 24, he comes back to UTMB, 10th place.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then 25, he races UTMB, 7th place, 21 hours and 3 minutes.
• 1:16:44
  SPEAKER_00: He is also somebody who virtually has only one DNF going back to 2017 in a lot of ultra races.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Coming into this season so far, he's raced at Chianti early in the season.
• 1:16:55
  SPEAKER_00: He got 12th place at one of their shorter distance trails.
• 1:16:59
  SPEAKER_00: He raced the Maxi race in Annecy, and he got 3rd place just behind...
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say, yeah, Hugo Deck and Theo Detien.
• 1:17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll talk about Theo Detien here in just a little bit.
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that feels like a good tune-up coming into UTMB.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then he won the Lakeland Trails 100K in the UK.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 1:17:22
  SPEAKER_00: That is Yannick.
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_00: He feels like a very safe pick for the back half of the top ten.
• 1:17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody who is going to finish UTMB and is probably going to get points.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to be one of those Frenchies that probably goes top ten and adds
• 1:17:31
  SPEAKER_00: to their count in the top ten.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is going to be Shen Jiaxing.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Chinese athlete, coming off his best UTMB yet, and he's a Salman athlete as well.
• 1:17:41
  SPEAKER_00: He did race UTMB last year to an 8th place,
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_00: finished 21 hours and 11 minutes, and that was after DNFing in 2024.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: So far this year,
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: he raced TerraWear 100k to a 6th place,
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Transvalconia to a 16th place, Zagama to DNF, and then most recently a race in...
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Pandora that I am not familiar with and got second place
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_00: behind Samuel Ponce's only two-hour race.
• 1:18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say where Shen's at.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like he finally got UTMB, kind of the formula, figured out last year.
• 1:18:13
  SPEAKER_00: So he's probably looking to build on that.
• 1:18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's still CTS coach, if I'm not mistaken.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_00: But he will be looking to go top 10 again.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Baptiste Kowatontiak.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Baptiste was just outside that top 10 last year.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And he got...
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Baptiste was just outside.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's a Nike ACG athlete, younger guy.
• 1:18:37
  SPEAKER_00: He was just outside the top 10 at UTMB last year.
• 1:18:39
  SPEAKER_00: He got 11th place.
• 1:18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 11th place.
• 1:18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then so far this year,
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_00: he's raced to a 5th place at Ultra Trail,
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_00: excuse me, 90K to Mont Blanc, the Marathon of Mont Blanc 90K.
• 1:18:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's behind like Ben Demon and Louis-Anne Cofet and other people that raced it.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also raced at Chianti, the same race, and finished 5th place behind...
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Behind the Golden Ticket boys.
• 1:19:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, Vincent Bouillard and... Who else am I blanking on?
• 1:19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Tomal Cardin and then Andreas Ryder and Tobias Geyser.
• 1:19:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, pretty good race.
• 1:19:17
  SPEAKER_00: He also beat Jeff McAverro and just had a good time.
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_00: A good time out there.
• 1:19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that is Baptiste Cotantiac, which I'm sure I'm butchering.
• 1:19:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, Baptiste.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete to talk about, Manuel Inguita.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Spanish athlete.
• 1:19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Who does he run for?
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Carlos Fuga.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Spanish athlete for Carlos Fuga.
• 1:19:45
  SPEAKER_01: He does have a top 10 at UTMB as recently as 2024.
• 1:19:48
  SPEAKER_01: He finished eighth place.
• 1:19:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then so far this year, he's only got one race at Transvalcania, and that was in the VK.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Tough to know if he's coming off an
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_00: injury or what's going on.
• 1:20:00
  SPEAKER_00: He did race Transvalconia last year to a third place,
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_00: which was very impressive, and then also raced Worlds to a 20th place.
• 1:20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that is Manuel Inguita.
• 1:20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Other top returners, we got three more.
• 1:20:13
  SPEAKER_00: First one being Gaudier Bonacarrera.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_00: He is training partners with Ben Demon.
• 1:20:20
  SPEAKER_01: He had a top 10, I think, also two years ago.
• 1:20:23
  SPEAKER_01: He got ninth place.
• 1:20:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right, he raced UTMB, yeah, in ninth place in 2024.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Since then, this year, he has raced Transylvania.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_01: He got 15th place.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_01: He did win the Valderan 110K,
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_01: which is the
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_00: European major,
• 1:20:41
  SPEAKER_00: and he beat out a pretty decent field,
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_00: including Romy Bassick, who just won TDS, like, a couple hours ago.
• 1:20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then...
• 1:20:51
  SPEAKER_00: He also ran Pena Colusa to 7th place to start the 60K to start the season.
• 1:20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, he raced at OCC to a DNF.
• 1:20:59
  SPEAKER_00: He got second at UTMB Mallorca 100K.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also raced Labrador 50K to a 5th place.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that is Gautier Bonacarrera.
• 1:21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Alright,
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_00: last two guys I want to talk about,
• 1:21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Arthur Joyo Bouillon, French athlete for ON, unless that has changed.
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Nope, still for ON.
• 1:21:23
  SPEAKER_01: He was about as consistent as they got at UTMB.
• 1:21:26
  SPEAKER_01: He had three top ten finishes in a row, if I'm not mistaken.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So 2022, he raced... Yeah, 2022... No, excuse me.
• 1:21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I'm getting lost in the results.
• 1:21:44
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:21:45
  SPEAKER_01: 2022, yes.
• 1:21:45
  SPEAKER_01: He raced to a seventh-place finish.
• 1:21:48
  SPEAKER_01: 2023, he raced to a ninth-place finish.
• 1:21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And 2024, he raced to a sixth-place.
• 1:21:52
  SPEAKER_01: So he's pretty much a lock for a couple years.
• 1:21:54
  SPEAKER_00: His race results have not been great lately, so I'm not really sure what's going on with him.
• 1:21:59
  SPEAKER_00: He did race one of the Chape Bell races last year,
• 1:22:03
  SPEAKER_00: which is a really technical,
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_00: tough race that Ludo just got second place at and did win it.
• 1:22:08
  SPEAKER_00: But this year, he hasn't had great results.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So not sure what to expect from Arthur Joya Bujon, but he definitely knows how to run this race.
• 1:22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Last guy we're talking about with the top 10 finish here is Cody Lind.
• 1:22:20
  SPEAKER_00: He got seventh place in 2024, and he also got 16th place last year at UTMB.
• 1:22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So far this year, he's raced at...
• 1:22:30
  SPEAKER_00: At Annecy,
• 1:22:32
  SPEAKER_00: he's raced Ultra Trail Drakensberg in South Africa and got the win,
• 1:22:35
  SPEAKER_00: and he raced at Annecy,
• 1:22:36
  SPEAKER_00: the 100K,
• 1:22:37
  SPEAKER_00: and got fifth place behind Yannick Noel, Theo Dettien, Hugo Deck, and
• 1:22:42
  SPEAKER_01: those guys.
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that's Cody Lynn,
• 1:22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Didis Terrickson.
• 1:22:45
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Next category of men to talk about.
• 1:22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Top talent looking for their first good UTMB.
• 1:22:54
  SPEAKER_00: On this list, I got Drew Holman, Jean-Philippe Shumi, Theo Dettien, and Deng Guamin.
• 1:23:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this means they've raced UTMB,
• 1:23:02
  SPEAKER_00: but they've had less than ideal results,
• 1:23:04
  SPEAKER_00: and they're looking to bounce back and kind of right the ship.
• 1:23:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting when they talk when...
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to talk about Drew Holman,
• 1:23:10
  SPEAKER_00: first ACG athlete on the part of the Boulder Boys podcast group.
• 1:23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because they talk about, like, he went on, like, a spirit quest at UTMB.
• 1:23:19
  SPEAKER_01: And, I mean, I'm sure it probably, like, felt like that.
• 1:23:20
  SPEAKER_01: But he still finished in 24 hours and 46 minutes for
• 1:23:24
  SPEAKER_00: 44th, 41st place, excuse me.
• 1:23:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, yeah,
• 1:23:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's obviously not what he's expecting in a race as, like, a top athlete.
• 1:23:31
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, sub 25 at UTMB is still, like, that's...
• 1:23:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's not like he fell off an insane amount.
• 1:23:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm sure it felt like a lot because he was probably just getting passed a ton
• 1:23:39
  SPEAKER_00: or not passing people late in the race.
• 1:23:42
  SPEAKER_00: But sub 25 hours on your debut, yeah, Spirit Quest, not what he expected.
• 1:23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he's hoping to go 20 to 21.
• 1:23:48
  SPEAKER_00: But that's still a pretty good takeaway that he probably learned a lot from.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Drew hasn't raced much this year.
• 1:23:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's only raced at...
• 1:23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Gorge Waterfalls and Big Alta, he got second place at both those races.
• 1:24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Big Alta just behind David Norris.
• 1:24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then Gorge Waterfalls, he was behind Jeshurun Small.
• 1:24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So his volume is not going to be the biggest coming in.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's not going to put up the sexiest blocks.
• 1:24:15
  SPEAKER_00: He's also time-limited because he's a startup founder and all this other smart stuff.
• 1:24:20
  SPEAKER_00: So tough to know where he'll be at.
• 1:24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Tough to know how that lower mileage will play into going around the big loop around UTMB.
• 1:24:27
  SPEAKER_00: But you've got to think he's one of the most consistent racers.
• 1:24:30
  SPEAKER_00: He literally does not have a single DNF in his ultra sign-up,
• 1:24:35
  SPEAKER_00: so he's never DNFed a race, at least going back to 2016, per free trails results.
• 1:24:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's pretty much like all podiums, dude.
• 1:24:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's super consistent.
• 1:24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Other than his 41st at UTMB,
• 1:24:51
  SPEAKER_00: everything is top five until Pikes Peak Marathon, where he got 26th place.
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_00: But everything literally is top five in his results.
• 1:25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's like plenty of golden trick at races.
• 1:25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Labrado 80K, CCC, CCC multiple times, Worlds.
• 1:25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So like, you know...
• 1:25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your boy Drew Holman does not miss,
• 1:25:11
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm going to be really excited to see him,
• 1:25:12
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm really curious to see what he races to, because I think he learned a lot.
• 1:25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Next athlete looking to have their first good UTMB is Jean-Philippe Schumi.
• 1:25:21
  SPEAKER_00: He's a Swiss athlete in his 40s.
• 1:25:23
  SPEAKER_00: He races for Carlos Fuga.
• 1:25:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's one of the best 100k tough distance racers around in my opinion.
• 1:25:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's got plenty of, he's got some of that CCC back in 2022.
• 1:25:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's won Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100k.
• 1:25:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's won Endora 100k.
• 1:25:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's gotten third at Diagonal Dayfu in 2023 and I think he did it again in 2022 as well.
• 1:25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 22, he was second place at Diagonal Daifu.
• 1:25:51
  SPEAKER_00: What else has he done?
• 1:25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Second place at Diagonal Daifu in 24.
• 1:25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Madeira Island, 115K in 2025.
• 1:25:57
  SPEAKER_00: He got fourth place.
• 1:25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Marathon Ball Block, 90K in 2025.
• 1:26:00
  SPEAKER_00: He got third place.
• 1:26:02
  SPEAKER_00: UTB in 2025 was his...
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Most recent DNF and his first one since
• 1:26:08
  SPEAKER_01: 2021.
• 1:26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then, yeah, so he just hasn't had a good day.
• 1:26:16
  SPEAKER_01: He just lined up at his first UTMB not until 2025.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to double check because I'm just trying to make sure I'm not losing my mind.
• 1:26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it seems like that was his first UTMB.
• 1:26:27
  SPEAKER_00: He'd done CCC in 2022, but he'd never done the full loop around UTMB.
• 1:26:30
  SPEAKER_00: 2025, so you gotta think last year he learned from some of his mistakes.
• 1:26:34
  SPEAKER_00: He did do Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100k,
• 1:26:37
  SPEAKER_00: and he got second place just behind Paul Cornutshaw-Vink,
• 1:26:43
  SPEAKER_00: who we're gonna talk about, who I think is a sleeper pick for here.
• 1:26:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also raced Ultra Trail Verbier, the
• 1:26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see, the 77K and got second place behind Clovis Chavarro by nine minutes.
• 1:27:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think Sean Philippe is somebody that the U.S.
• 1:27:05
  SPEAKER_00: audience doesn't know as well,
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_00: but I think that he's somebody that could very well right his wrongs
• 1:27:09
  SPEAKER_00: from last year's UTMB and be in the top ten because he is
• 1:27:13
  SPEAKER_00: a very world-class athlete.
• 1:27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, next top talent looking for their first good UTMB, Theo Dettien, Brooks Athlete.
• 1:27:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's kind of like a social media superstar.
• 1:27:26
  SPEAKER_00: He's got like 200 plus thousand followers.
• 1:27:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure why,
• 1:27:31
  SPEAKER_00: or like what attributes that is attributed to that, but he's very popular in France.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Kudos to Teo.
• 1:27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Teo took the race out super hard last year, and I think he was leading in Cormier.
• 1:27:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was leading almost through 100K,
• 1:27:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say, but fell off in the back half, DNF'd his first attempt at UTMB.
• 1:27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Since then,
• 1:27:51
  SPEAKER_00: last year he did win Marathon on Moblock 90K coming into UTMB,
• 1:27:54
  SPEAKER_00: so that was a good sign.
• 1:27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Since then,
• 1:27:56
  SPEAKER_00: he's gotten ninth at Transvaulconia to start this year,
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: and then he's also got second at Maxi Race.
• 1:28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Back in the end of May.
• 1:28:04
  SPEAKER_00: So had a smart buildup.
• 1:28:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably very public with his training and stuff on Instagram.
• 1:28:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of need to check that because I haven't explicitly checked that myself.
• 1:28:13
  SPEAKER_00: But he's been kind of slowly building up to UTMB.
• 1:28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And last year was his debut.
• 1:28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Not probably what he expected or had hoped for.
• 1:28:21
  SPEAKER_00: But he's kind of progressively made himself better and better,
• 1:28:25
  SPEAKER_00: done better and better at Marathon of Montblanc 90K.
• 1:28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it feels like he might stick the landing this year.
• 1:28:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he could very well be One of those French guys in the top ten,
• 1:28:34
  SPEAKER_00: at least three of them.
• 1:28:35
  SPEAKER_00: All right, next athlete to talk about, Ding Guo Min, a Chinese athlete for...
• 1:28:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what brand that is.
• 1:28:48
  SPEAKER_00: He is coming off second place at Ultra Trail Mount Fuji behind Chris Myers.
• 1:28:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's his only race this year at the beginning,
• 1:28:53
  SPEAKER_00: or only race, yeah, his most recent race at least.
• 1:28:56
  SPEAKER_00: He also raced Hong Kong 100K to a third place finish,
• 1:29:00
  SPEAKER_00: so he hasn't raced since April,
• 1:29:02
  SPEAKER_00: and that makes me nervous that he might have been injured, but I'm not sure.
• 1:29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, Ultra Trail Ninghai, he got fourth at the 105K, which is a competitive race.
• 1:29:10
  SPEAKER_00: He got 11th at Lavarado, and then...
• 1:29:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think it just reprinted his second at Mount Fuji
• 1:29:17
  SPEAKER_00: because I think he got second last year behind Joaquin Lopez.
• 1:29:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think he raced Mount Fuji this year.
• 1:29:22
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then he was also third at Hong Kong 100K last year in a
• 1:29:33
  SPEAKER_00: slower time.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then he has raced UTMB.
• 1:29:38
  SPEAKER_00: He got DNF in 2024, DNF in 2023, 20th place in 2022, and then DNF in 2019.
• 1:29:47
  SPEAKER_00: So he really hasn't figured it out,
• 1:29:48
  SPEAKER_00: but he is a good 100-mile racer, and he hasn't over-raced this year.
• 1:29:52
  SPEAKER_00: So who knows where he's coming in?
• 1:29:55
  SPEAKER_00: And let's go out mean ding.
• 1:29:56
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Last two credit scores to talk about.
• 1:29:59
  SPEAKER_00: First one is going to be notable debutants.
• 1:30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Caleb Olsen, Chris Myers, Andreas Ryder, and Arnaud Bonin.
• 1:30:05
  SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, we'll talk about Caleb Olsen, highest UTMB index on the list.
• 1:30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Nike ACG athlete,
• 1:30:11
  SPEAKER_00: winner of Western States last year,
• 1:30:14
  SPEAKER_00: and nearly broke the course record, but not quite.
• 1:30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Has had more of a rocky start to this year.
• 1:30:20
  SPEAKER_00: He did race Arches 50K and win, which is just kind of like a local Utah 50K.
• 1:30:25
  SPEAKER_00: He did race Broken Arrow, but not like to win, just to kind of like use it as a tune-up.
• 1:30:29
  SPEAKER_00: He did race Speed Goat and had his best time yet,
• 1:30:31
  SPEAKER_00: five hours, 35 minutes, good enough for fourth place finish.
• 1:30:35
  SPEAKER_00: But it's really tough to know where he's at coming in.
• 1:30:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's kind of had a rocky...
• 1:30:39
  SPEAKER_00: He had like a femur bruise or femur or something.
• 1:30:42
  SPEAKER_00: And he didn't race Worlds last year, which was a bummer.
• 1:30:44
  SPEAKER_00: He went on to win Grampians, 100 miler.
• 1:30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully that was a really valuable takeaway because he raced it in 21 hours,
• 1:30:49
  SPEAKER_00: 19 minutes, raced through the night.
• 1:30:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd be curious to see what lessons he learned.
• 1:30:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be his debut UTMB.
• 1:30:55
  SPEAKER_00: He has, however, raced CCC multiple times and finished top 15 and CCC top 17 three times.
• 1:31:02
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 1:31:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was his fastest race at Spigo.
• 1:31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Really big question mark around Caleb.
• 1:31:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be curious to see how he races, what strategy he takes.
• 1:31:09
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like he's in it for the long haul.
• 1:31:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I'll see.
• 1:31:12
  SPEAKER_00: He might race.
• 1:31:13
  SPEAKER_00: I could see Caleb racing a smart race and not like being in it to win it,
• 1:31:17
  SPEAKER_00: but basically racing it conservatively.
• 1:31:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's Caleb Olsen.
• 1:31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Next one,
• 1:31:23
  SPEAKER_00: who I'm very curious and who I think has raced really intelligently,
• 1:31:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think Rod has built his season really well leading up to UTMB.
• 1:31:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Chris Myers has too.
• 1:31:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be Chris Myers' debut at UTMB.
• 1:31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Brooks athlete.
• 1:31:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, second place at Western States last year in a really amazing run, beat Killian.
• 1:31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then after Western, kind of had a Rocky.
• 1:31:43
  SPEAKER_00: He DNF CCC, came back too fast from Western.
• 1:31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Lined up at Ultra Trail Cape Town.
• 1:31:47
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he was going to do well there.
• 1:31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Also DNF.
• 1:31:49
  SPEAKER_00: But then this year, he's been very deliberate with what he's raced and seems very smart.
• 1:31:53
  SPEAKER_00: He raced Black Indian 50K,
• 1:31:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think just trained through it,
• 1:31:56
  SPEAKER_00: 15th place,
• 1:31:57
  SPEAKER_00: and then he did win Ultra Trail Mount Fuji,
• 1:31:59
  SPEAKER_00: 17 hours and 15 minutes,
• 1:32:00
  SPEAKER_00: a very impressive result,
• 1:32:02
  SPEAKER_00: and a very, very good time, and just a very competitive race as well.
• 1:32:07
  SPEAKER_00: He won it by over So, yeah.
• 1:32:24
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like he hasn't over-raced.
• 1:32:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably been in Europe for a while.
• 1:32:27
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like he's kind of a smart build-up.
• 1:32:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think Chris could surprise some of us and have a really good debut
• 1:32:35
  SPEAKER_00: at UTMB is what we're talking about, obviously.
• 1:32:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Last two notable debutants.
• 1:32:42
  SPEAKER_00: First one being Andreas Reiterer.
• 1:32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Super excited to see this guy.
• 1:32:45
  SPEAKER_00: La Sportiva athlete from Italy.
• 1:32:48
  SPEAKER_00: And...
• 1:32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Never a second athlete as well.
• 1:32:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's coming off of a second at Lavarado 120K.
• 1:32:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was right around Van Diemen's course record time last year, just behind Hannes.
• 1:32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Him, Hannes, and Tobias Geiser all worked together to just really have effective races.
• 1:33:05
  SPEAKER_00: All of them went sub 12 hours, which is extremely good at Lavarado.
• 1:33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Other races this year,
• 1:33:13
  SPEAKER_00: he did a Schnalstl Alpine Trail in He also raced Transvalcania, got sixth place.
• 1:33:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think he also went under the course record all the top six athletes did.
• 1:33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then he raced Chianti 100k to a second place beating out Vincent Bouillard,
• 1:33:51
  SPEAKER_00: which was really impressive.
• 1:33:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've seen him do well.
• 1:33:54
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen Andreas do well at CCC before he's got...
• 1:33:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's got multiple top tens at CCC.
• 1:34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 1:34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Third place in 2022.
• 1:34:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then...
• 1:34:13
  SPEAKER_01: He DNF 2023, 2024 DNF, and then 2025, I think he did get 11th place last year.
• 1:34:21
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of a mixed bag, two good results at CCC, two DNFs.
• 1:34:26
  SPEAKER_01: But it feels like his buildup has been really smart.
• 1:34:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's got a 10-hour race in March,
• 1:34:30
  SPEAKER_01: you know, a six, almost seven-hour race in Transvaulconia in May.
• 1:34:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then he's got Labarado in the end of June,
• 1:34:37
  SPEAKER_00: almost a 12-hour race,
• 1:34:39
  SPEAKER_00: and then seven hours in It feels like he's kind of managed his racing well.
• 1:34:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is going to be his debut at UTMB.
• 1:34:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big learning curve.
• 1:34:46
  SPEAKER_00: But it feels like he could be somebody that does well in his debut.
• 1:34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Last debutant, notable debutant, that I want
• 1:34:53
  SPEAKER_01: to talk about is Arnaud Bonin.
• 1:34:56
  SPEAKER_01: He is coming off of a fourth place at CCC last year.
• 1:34:59
  SPEAKER_01: And before that, he had another top 10 at CCC in 2024 in 10th place.
• 1:35:03
  SPEAKER_00: So far this year, he has raced only two races.
• 1:35:07
  SPEAKER_00: The...
• 1:35:09
  SPEAKER_00: French Long Trail Championships, where he got 21st place.
• 1:35:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then the Trail Alsace by UTMB,
• 1:35:14
  SPEAKER_00: he got 3rd place behind Camille Lesniak in Quarantine Play,
• 1:35:19
  SPEAKER_00: who I don't know as well.
• 1:35:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if you go 4th place at CCC, you got some seriously like speed.
• 1:35:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be his debut UTMB, and it's going to be his longest race.
• 1:35:30
  SPEAKER_00: CCC has been his longest race before this, from what I can tell.
• 1:35:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:35:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then notable debutants that are also Dark Horses and
• 1:35:40
  SPEAKER_00: who I think very well could debut in the top 10.
• 1:35:44
  SPEAKER_00: So guys to look out for that you might want to sneak as sleeper picks.
• 1:35:48
  SPEAKER_00: First one I want to talk about is Tobias.
• 1:35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Tobias Geiser, Dina Fit athlete from Italy.
• 1:35:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's really good friends with Hannes Nomburger and Andreas Reiterer.
• 1:35:57
  SPEAKER_00: They all went one, two, and tied, I guess, one and tied for a second.
• 1:36:01
  SPEAKER_00: He tied with Andreas at Labaredo.
• 1:36:03
  SPEAKER_00: So very, very impressive.
• 1:36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Second place in 11 hours, 55 minutes.
• 1:36:06
  SPEAKER_00: They all trained together in kind of like that German,
• 1:36:09
  SPEAKER_00: not German, sorry, the Italian and Austrian kind of like T-Roll region.
• 1:36:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Tobias is also...
• 1:36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Tobias is also, sorry, my watch told me to move because I've been sitting so long.
• 1:36:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's also won Mozart Marathon.
• 1:36:25
  SPEAKER_00: He had a DNF at Transvaal-Kanya.
• 1:36:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also had a very,
• 1:36:28
  SPEAKER_00: very good race in fourth place at Chianti 100K just behind Vincent Bouillard.
• 1:36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, he DNF'd at
• 1:36:34
  SPEAKER_00: He's DNF'd CCC in 2025, and he also DNF'd it in 2024, so he hasn't had
• 1:36:49
  SPEAKER_00: He hasn't had a great day at CCC yet, but it feels like he's kind of on the up-and-up.
• 1:36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Usually has like one DNF a year.
• 1:36:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's already got that out of the way.
• 1:36:58
  SPEAKER_00: It will be his debut UTMB, but it feels like he could have a good debut UTMB.
• 1:37:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's Tobias Geyser.
• 1:37:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then next up the thing I want to talk about is Antoine Charvalan.
• 1:37:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's basically like on his equivalent of...
• 1:37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Vincent Bouillard.
• 1:37:15
  SPEAKER_01: So he also designed shoes for,
• 1:37:18
  SPEAKER_01: and he lives in Zurich,
• 1:37:21
  SPEAKER_01: Switzerland, it looks like, at their headquarters, but he is a French athlete.
• 1:37:25
  SPEAKER_01: He did win TDS last year in a very, very fast 18 hours, 22 minutes.
• 1:37:29
  SPEAKER_01: Since then, he raced the French Long Trail Championships, got 13th place
• 1:37:36
  SPEAKER_01: Thirteenth place, it looks like.
• 1:37:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then this year, he also raced at European Trail Championships, the 50K.
• 1:37:45
  SPEAKER_01: He got third place just behind
• 1:37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Frederic Tronchand and Daniel Patisse.
• 1:37:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a very, very impressive result.
• 1:37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also raced Madeira Island Ultra Trail,
• 1:37:54
  SPEAKER_00: the Discover Trail, which I think is like the marathon course, five hours, won that.
• 1:37:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so...
• 1:38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Looking good,
• 1:38:01
  SPEAKER_00: the only caveat I have is that he did DNF his most recent race, UTMB,
• 1:38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Verbier,
• 1:38:07
  SPEAKER_00: the 77K,
• 1:38:09
  SPEAKER_00: but it sounds like he got a stomach bug coming into it based off his Instagram,
• 1:38:12
  SPEAKER_00: so I don't think it's anything to worry about injury-wise.
• 1:38:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was just a sickness leading up to the race.
• 1:38:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that is Antoine Charverlin.
• 1:38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely somebody to look out for.
• 1:38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely think he has a very strong chance of being that top French guy.
• 1:38:24
  SPEAKER_00: He has raced CCC.
• 1:38:26
  SPEAKER_00: He got 13th in 2024 and 22nd in 2023, and then he had a top 10 at OCC in 2021.
• 1:38:32
  SPEAKER_00: So he definitely has leg speed.
• 1:38:34
  SPEAKER_00: This will be his longest race by a good margin,
• 1:38:36
  SPEAKER_00: but he did win, not by a good margin, he did win TDS last year.
• 1:38:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is Antoine Chauvelin.
• 1:38:43
  SPEAKER_00: Next French athlete I want to talk about, who is also a dark horse, is Paul Cornut Chauvinck.
• 1:38:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I'm messing that up.
• 1:38:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Paul.
• 1:38:54
  SPEAKER_00: He is also a sleeper pick.
• 1:38:56
  SPEAKER_00: He won Madeira last year.
• 1:38:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first time he came across my radar.
• 1:38:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also won the UTMB Nice, the 165k in 18 hours and 52 minutes.
• 1:39:06
  SPEAKER_00: He did have a DNF at 90k to Mont Blanc.
• 1:39:08
  SPEAKER_00: This year he's only raced one race, but he did nail it.
• 1:39:11
  SPEAKER_00: He got a win at the UTMB Snowdonia 100k in 11 hours and 51 minutes.
• 1:39:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he beat a good field, including Jean-Philippe Schumi, Jeff Colt, Keith Wigley, Tom Jolie.
• 1:39:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I think one of these two guys is definitely going to go in the top ten,
• 1:39:28
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm having a hard time kind of choosing which one,
• 1:39:31
  SPEAKER_00: but I think definitely one of those two,
• 1:39:32
  SPEAKER_00: either Antoine Charverlin or Paul Cornette-Schauvinck,
• 1:39:35
  SPEAKER_00: possibly even both of them go in the top ten.
• 1:39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Last, of course, I want to mention is Ramon Manech.
• 1:39:39
  SPEAKER_00: He is a trailrunner
• 1:39:42
  SPEAKER_01: from Switzerland.
• 1:39:44
  SPEAKER_01: Who, I think he's Solomon-sponsored.
• 1:39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it says he's Mountain Coast now.
• 1:39:48
  SPEAKER_01: So he's Mountain Coast Athlete.
• 1:39:51
  SPEAKER_01: And he is coming off of a win at the Swiss Canyon Trail, 100K, 111K this year.
• 1:39:57
  SPEAKER_01: Wins at
• 1:39:57
  SPEAKER_00: Iger 35K.
• 1:39:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also raced Chianti, the 75-kilometer race, got fifth place there.
• 1:40:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then in his past, he did race Worlds last year to a 21st place for Team Switzerland.
• 1:40:10
  SPEAKER_01: He won the CAT UTMB 84K.
• 1:40:14
  SPEAKER_00: He did win Madeira Advanced in 2024 as well.
• 1:40:16
  SPEAKER_00: So he doesn't DNF a lot.
• 1:40:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's very good at like that 100K distance.
• 1:40:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we haven't seen him race, I guess, quite as long as a UTMB type stuff.
• 1:40:21
  SPEAKER_00: But he does do very good in that 10 to 13 hour range.
• 1:40:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he also had another Top Ten at Worlds long trail in 2023 and was just outside
• 1:40:52
  SPEAKER_00: of it in 2022 at Chiang Mai.
• 1:40:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that is Ramon Manech.
• 1:40:55
  SPEAKER_00: I would not be surprised to see him go in that 10-15 in his debut UTMB.
• 1:41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Alright,
• 1:41:02
  SPEAKER_00: that's the entire field that I would like to talk about,
• 1:41:04
  SPEAKER_00: so now we're going to get to the exciting part, the picks.
• 1:41:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, usual caveats,
• 1:41:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely going to change these,
• 1:41:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely going to give you other people who I think could go top 10,
• 1:41:13
  SPEAKER_00: and then it's all for funsies, so let's remember that.
• 1:41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Alright,
• 1:41:19
  SPEAKER_00: 10th place,
• 1:41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Antoine,
• 1:41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Charlotte Lynn, A French athlete, making his debut, winner of TDS last year.
• 1:41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Employee for ONN, 10th place.
• 1:41:30
  SPEAKER_00: 9th place, I'm going to go Théo Détienne.
• 1:41:32
  SPEAKER_00: He stuck his nose in it hard last year, did not stick to the landing.
• 1:41:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to learn from his mistakes, come back and get top 10.
• 1:41:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I just realized I left out Baptiste Chassain.
• 1:41:44
  SPEAKER_00: So apologies to Baptiste.
• 1:41:46
  SPEAKER_00: But he is a returning top 10.
• 1:41:50
  SPEAKER_00: He was second place finisher at UTMB in 2024.
• 1:41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then since then, he got 11th at Worlds last year.
• 1:41:57
  SPEAKER_00: This year,
• 1:41:57
  SPEAKER_00: 7th at the Chianti,
• 1:41:58
  SPEAKER_00: 4th at Marathon au Mont Blanc, 90k, and winner at Grand Raid Vaunt 2 by UTMB.
• 1:42:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyways,
• 1:42:07
  SPEAKER_00: while I say that,
• 1:42:08
  SPEAKER_00: so 8th place, I'm going to go, 8th place finish, I'm going to go Joaquin Leclerc.
• 1:42:12
  SPEAKER_00: Lopez, coming back, doesn't DNF, doesn't miss.
• 1:42:15
  SPEAKER_00: He steadily improves at UTMB.
• 1:42:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's not going to have his third place, but I think he's going to go in the top ten somewhere.
• 1:42:20
  SPEAKER_00: Seventh place, I will go Baptiste.
• 1:42:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what made me think of him.
• 1:42:22
  SPEAKER_00: Baptiste Jassain.
• 1:42:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry I skipped him.
• 1:42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Returning UTMB, second place finisher from 2024.
• 1:42:29
  SPEAKER_00: Very good French athlete.
• 1:42:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think kind of a superstar over there based off what...
• 1:42:35
  SPEAKER_00: So there's my three Frenchies in the top ten.
• 1:42:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I have even more, actually.
• 1:42:39
  SPEAKER_00: All right, sixth place, I'm going to go Josh Wade, smart UK racer, third place last year.
• 1:42:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's got UTMB figured out.
• 1:42:46
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth place, I'm going to go best UTMB yet for him, Rod Farvard, smart racing coming in.
• 1:42:51
  SPEAKER_00: I like his season buildup.
• 1:42:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think if he's going to have a good UTMB, this is going to be the year that he has it.
• 1:42:56
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth place, we're going to go Zach Miller, a man after my heart.
• 1:43:00
  SPEAKER_00: Coming back,
• 1:43:01
  SPEAKER_00: having a really amazing season this year,
• 1:43:03
  SPEAKER_00: racing super well, being super healthy, training super consistently.
• 1:43:07
  SPEAKER_00: Zach Miller, fourth place.
• 1:43:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, top three.
• 1:43:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is where it gets exciting.
• 1:43:11
  SPEAKER_00: Third place, I'm going to go John Alvin.
• 1:43:13
  SPEAKER_00: He sticks the landing, figures out UTMB.
• 1:43:16
  SPEAKER_00: Good enough for third place on his first finish.
• 1:43:18
  SPEAKER_00: Second place, I'm going to go Hannes Nauberger.
• 1:43:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's gone fourth, he's gone sixth, he's gone eighth.
• 1:43:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's had his best Laverito yet this year.
• 1:43:26
  SPEAKER_00: He finally has his highest finish in second place.
• 1:43:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the winner, you'll notice we're missing some big names.
• 1:43:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm leaving out some big names.
• 1:43:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go with Vincent Bouillard.
• 1:43:35
  SPEAKER_00: Wins.
• 1:43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Shocks us all.
• 1:43:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not shocks us all because he shocked us all at Western States.
• 1:43:39
  SPEAKER_00: But does something that everyone was saying is not possible.
• 1:43:42
  SPEAKER_00: Went to UTMB and Western in the same year.
• 1:43:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he's going to set the fastest record ever.
• 1:43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Noticeably, I'm leaving out Caleb Olsen.
• 1:43:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm leaving out Ben Demon.
• 1:43:53
  SPEAKER_01: We got Drew Holman.
• 1:43:55
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah,
• 1:43:56
  SPEAKER_01: but with that being said,
• 1:43:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm liable to change my mind on Ben and put him in my top 10
• 1:44:01
  SPEAKER_01: and take John Ablin out.
• 1:44:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm liable to sneak Caleb Olsen to win the back half in my top 10.
• 1:44:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I am very liable to swap out Rod Favre for Drew Holman.
• 1:44:13
  SPEAKER_00: So those are my picks.
• 1:44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I have four Finchies.
• 1:44:17
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I only had three in the top 10,
• 1:44:18
  SPEAKER_00: but I forgot I put Vincent Bjorn because he transcends.
• 1:44:21
  SPEAKER_00: The Frenchism.
• 1:44:22
  SPEAKER_00: So right now I've got two U.S., four Frenchies in my top 10, but that's who I'm liable to swap.
• 1:44:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think I swapped out or skipped over who I was liable to swap for
• 1:44:31
  SPEAKER_00: the women's field,
• 1:44:33
  SPEAKER_00: but people that I was leaving out for the women's field
• 1:44:34
  SPEAKER_00: that I would maybe put my top 10,
• 1:44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Jasmine Lother could definitely get a spot in there.
• 1:44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Antonina Ioshina, I'm very tempted to put her in my top 10.
• 1:44:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Lin Chen,
• 1:44:46
  SPEAKER_01: I could also put my top 10.
• 1:44:47
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so after, what, one hour and 45 minutes, that is my UTMB preview.
• 1:44:56
  SPEAKER_00: I hope it was helpful to you.
• 1:44:58
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you learned something new about trail running you've never heard of.
• 1:45:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that you really enjoy the biggest trail race in the world.
• 1:45:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed.