Ruth Croft, Tom Evans Storm to UTMB Victories

Ruth Croft and Tom Evans won the weather-shortened 2025 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB), emerging victorious through driving wind, rain, and even snow during the overnight sections.

Race officials modified the course to eliminate the Pyramides Calcaires due to the challenging conditions. The modification shortened the course by two kilometers, still leaving athletes with 107 miles and over 32,000 feet of climbing to do during the race.

Croft moved into the lead at roughly mile 80 of the course, overtaking longtime leader Courtney Dauwalter, and hold on for victory in 22:56:23. Dauwalter struggled immensely through the final 30 kilometers of the course, sliding all the way back to 10th place, finishing almost three full hours behind Croft.

Camille Bruyas had jockeyed with Croft for position throughout the night, running between second and third behind Dauwalter. Bruyas would, along with Croft, pass Dauwalter roughly two-thirds through the race, but could not match Croft’s strong late-race execution. Bruyas would still take second in 23:28:48. It’s her second silver at UTMB, to go along with second place finishes at Hardrock 100 and Diagonale des Fous.

Katharina Hartmuth rounded out the podium places, steadily moving through the field from 9th to 3rd in a 70 kilometer stretch of course.

On the men’s side, Evans put aside two straight DNFs at UTMB to take a resounding victory in 19:18:58, beating Ben Dhiman (who also had DNF’d the last two years) to the line by more than 30 minutes.

At roughly halfway through the race, Evans put his stamp of authority on the event. Having run with the leaders since the start, Evans pulled away in the stretch between Refuge Bertone and the aid station at Arnouvaz. Dhiman attempted to match the pace Evans set, but simply could not keep up as Evans scampered away.

Josh Wade would finish third, nearly 14 minutes behind Dhiman. Wade, like Hartmuth in the women’s race, emerged over the second-half of the race to earn his podium place. He took advantage of multiple blow-ups and late race drops as the conditions battered the field.

The challenging weather was just element to overcome as competitors traversed the mountains of France, Switzerland, and Italy. It was in the Italian section that race officials made the game-time decision to eliminate the tricky, technical Pyramides Calcaires ascent and descent. Officials would later estimate it saved athletes two kilometers, 200 meters of climbing, and between 20 to 30 minutes of race time.

There were 2,492 official starters of the race. As of this writing, more than 45 hours into the race, 1,418 athletes have finished. 825 athletes did not finish the race. 249 athletes remain on course. One of those that did finish — Heather Jackson, who has transitioned from pro triathlon to ultra trail running. In her first attempt at the long distance, Jackson finished in 19th place in 29:33.

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Top 10 Men’s and Women’s Finishers

Women’s Top 10

1. Ruth Croft 22:56:23
2. Camille Bruyas 23:28:48
3. Katharina Hartmuth 24:16:39
4. Anna Carlsson 24:39:42
5. Maëlle Deruaz 24:43:02
6. Magali Mellon 24:48:12
7. Lucy Bartholomew 24:51:32
8. Lauren Puretz 24:54:57
9. Claudia Tremps 25:05:07
10. Courtney Dauwalter 25:50:38

Men’s Top 10

1. Tom Evans 19:18:58
2. Ben Dhiman 19:51:37
3. Josh Wade 20:05:06
4. Ji Duo 20:15:05
5. Thibaut Garrivier 20:20:25
6. Ludovic Pommeret 20:40:34 
7. Yannick Noël 21:03:41
8. Jia-Sheng Shen 21:11:59
9. Rod Farvard 21:18:24
10. Jia-Ju Zhao 21:19:47

Images courtesy of UTMB.