In a race characterised by early air high quality points, noon warmth, and lots of racers who had their stomachs activate the high-altitude course, Katie Schide (pre-race interview) and France’s Ludovic Pommeret (pre-race interview) gained the 2025 Hardrock 100 in 25:50 and 22:21.
Schide’s end was each a brand new course file for the counterclockwise route and a brand new total course file. Pommeret’s win was a repeat of his 2024 victory and the race’s fifth-fastest end ever. Each ran uncontested for many of the race, with the gaps to their nearest rivals growing because the race went on.
The beginning of the 2025 Hardrock 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The 102-mile race, with 33,000 toes of elevation achieve and a 48-hour cut-off, began at 6 a.m. on July 11 below smoky skies resulting from close by wildfires, however the early air high quality points did nothing to sluggish end instances on the very entrance of the pack. Wildfires to the west and north in neighboring Utah and Black Canyon Nationwide Park resulted in low visibility, and the occasion provided to defer racer entries to the next 12 months for anybody who didn’t need to race. The air high quality index in Silverton was 142, decrease than ranges which can be thought of hazardous to the overall inhabitants. The smoke was most noticeable for the primary 4 to 5 hours of the race earlier than the winds shifted noon and the skies cleared noticeably. The smoke did return to a few of the low-lying areas of the route in a single day, with entrance runners mentioning they might style and scent it round Governor’s Basin and Telluride specifically.
Ludovic Pommeret hikes in entrance of David Ayala on the primary climb of the race with the smoke obscuring visibility within the background. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Situations had been additionally unusually sizzling, with temperatures in Ouray, the course’s low level, topping out at 85 levels Fahrenheit, which looks like intense warmth at altitude.
The race alternates route annually, and this 12 months it ran counterclockwise. It’s generalized as an “up the ramps and down the partitions” route for its longer uphills and shorter, however steeper downhills. Opinions range about which route is quicker, however course file instances for each instructions are shut.
Girls’s champion Katie Schide forward of the beginning. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Tragedy struck early within the occasion when runner Elaine Stypula sadly handed away resulting from an unknown medical occasion. In line with official stories, makes an attempt to resuscitate her by each the Hardrock course sweepers and search and rescue personnel had been unsuccessful. iRunFar extends its condolences to all who’re affected by this monumental loss. We’re so sorry.
2025 Hardrock 100 Girls’s Race
A 12 months after successful the Western States 100 and setting a brand new course file at UTMB, Katie Schide (pre-race interview) was the race’s heavy favourite, and she or he led from the beginning.
It was a cool 50 levels Fahrenheit firstly in Silverton, elevation 9,302 toes and inhabitants 713. A historic hearth truck led runners by city firstly, and by the point they’d achieved the Little Big climb and dropped into Cunningham Gulch at mile 9, Schide was already six minutes up on the ladies’s area and 5 minutes up on Courtney Dauwalter’s cut up from her 2023 counterclockwise course file. It was a global path behind Schide, as France’s Manon Bohard Cailler (pre-race interview), Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth (pre-race interview), Canada’s Stephanie Case (pre-race interview), and Spain’s Uxue Fraile ran by subsequent. The entire chasers had massive mountain resumes. Bohard Cailler gained final 12 months’s Diagonale des Fous race, Hartmuth was third right here in 2024, and Case was second right here in 2022.
Katie Schide ascends the primary climb of the race already within the lead. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Schide’s lead on the ladies’s area grew all through the day, and she or he continued to place time on Dawaulter’s file as nicely. Schide made it to the Sherman help station outdoors of Lake Metropolis, essentially the most distant city within the mainland 48 states, having coated the primary 30 miles in six hours. She was 35 minutes higher than Dauwalter’s cut up and as much as fifth total. Roughly one-third into the race, Bohard Cailler and Hartmuth held their second- and third-place positions.
Katharina Hartmuth celebrates the scene in Maggie Gulch early on within the occasion. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Hardrock’s common elevation is 11,000 toes above sea degree, however after exiting the Sherman help station, runners begin the climb as much as the 14,048-foot Handies Peak excessive level. A lot of the day’s smoke had handed, however now the warmth added to the problem.
Stephanie Case on the Grouse Gulch trailhead, some 43.5 miles into the race. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
By the point they obtained up and over Handies Peak and down into Grouse Gulch at mile 43.5, Schide was over an hour forward of second-place Bohard Cailler, and Hartmuth was one other half an hour again. Case was nonetheless fourth, and Amber Weibel, doubling again from ending 18th on the Western States 100 solely 12 days earlier, overtook Fraile for fifth.
After ending the 2025 Western States 100 simply two weeks earlier than, Amber Weibel hiked close to the entrance of the race on the primary climb. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
After spending not more than two minutes in any help station, Schide spent 10 minutes on the Ouray help station at mile 58.5. At 7,792 toes above sea degree, Ouray is the low level on the course, and that foreshadows the huge climb forward. The subsequent 11.5 miles climb, at first up Camp Chook Street after which up snow to Virginius Cross and the pierogi-cooking Kroger’s Canteen help station at 13,100 toes. Schide appeared to battle with some abdomen points leaving Ouray, however was an enormous 59 minutes up on Dauwalter’s 2023 tempo. She was additionally 69 minutes forward of second-place Bohard Cailler.
Manon Bohard runs into the city of Ouray in second place. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Schide reached the Kroger’s Canteen help station, mile 70, at midnight, 15:39 into the race. She’d misplaced a while to Dauwalter’s ghost, however was nonetheless 49 minutes forward of file tempo. There have been three climbs and roughly 30 miles to go. Behind Schide, it was nonetheless Bohard Cailler, Hartmuth, Weibel, and Case in that order, however with massive gaps between every runner.
Katie Schide taking in energy at Chapman Gulch help station at mile 84.5 after seeming to have a tough patch by the early hours of the night time. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Everybody gave the impression to be struggling, particularly with consuming, late within the race. Case had a 45-minute cease on the mile-66 help station however appeared to seek out the Kroger’s Canteen pierogis useful at mile 70. Hartmuth was pressed coming down Oscar’s Cross at midnight at mile 80 and was almost two hours behind Bohard Cailler, who was nonetheless in second. It was virtually one other three hours behind Hartmuth to Weibel and Case.
Manon Bohard rests for some meals and foot care in Telluride at mile 74.5. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
For Katie Schide, the problem elevated because the miles wore on, and her hole on the file continued to dwindle, but, she managed to maintain the tempo excessive sufficient to return to Silverton and kiss the famed end line rock in 25:50. It was 21 minutes higher than Dauwalter’s total course file from 2024 and 24 minutes forward of Dauwalter’s counterclockwise course file from 2023. Schide is now considered one of simply three individuals, alongside Kilian Jornet and Dauwalter, to have gained the world’s 4 most iconic 100 milers — Hardrock, Western States, UTMB, and Diagonale des Fous. Schide now has the course data at two of them.
Manon Bohard Cailler completed second, a spot that she’d held for almost your entire race, in 28:36. It was the race’s Eleventh-fastest end ever, and she or he remarkably by no means spent greater than seven minutes in anybody help station.
Katharina Hartmuth spent an hour in help at mile 91 however obtained entering into time to complete third in 32:39. Evidently, she was experiencing the identical imaginative and prescient issues that plagued her 2024 efficiency. Amanda Weibel and Stephanie Case had been by no means far aside within the race’s final third, and the pair completed fourth and fifth in 32:47 and 32:53.
The second half of the ladies’s high 10 finishers additionally had a dynamic race. Fraile, after operating inside the highest 4 within the race’s first half, slowed with power points resulting from not having the ability to eat within the day’s warmth. Fraile dropped many locations initially however moved again to sixth place by the Telluride help station at mile 74.5, and she or he held that spot by the end line. Aliza Lapierre ran contained in the second half of the ladies’s high 10 from begin to late race, as did Canada’s Becky Bates. Maria Semerjian of France and Betsy Nye moved into the ladies’s high 10 within the race’s final quarter, exhibiting glorious pacing.
[Editor’s Note: This article was published before all top 10 women have finished. We’ll continue to update it as they do.]
Aliza Lapierre climbing by the smoke an hour into the day. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 Hardrock 100 Girls’s Outcomes
- Katie Schide (On) – 25:50 (pre-race interview)
- Manon Bohard Cailler (Hoka) – 28:36 (pre-race interview)
- Katharina Hartmuth (Hoka) – 32:39 (pre-race interview)
- Amber Weibel – 32:47
- Stephanie Case (The North Face) – 32:53 (pre-race interview)
- Uxue Fraile – 34:55
- Becky Bates – 38:38
- Aliza Lapierre – 39:54
- Maria Semerjian – 41:33
- Betsy Nye – 42:57
From left to proper, Katie Schide, Manon Bohard Cailler, and Katharina Hartmuth chat earlier than the beginning of the 2025 Hardrock 100. This trio went on to change into the ladies’s podium finishers. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
2025 Hardrock 100 Males’s Race
The lads’s race was positioned as American Zach Miller (pre-race interview) versus a French trio of Mathieu Blanchard (pre-race interview), Germain Grangier (pre-race interview), and defending champion and course file holder, Ludovic Pommeret (pre-race interview). Miller was returning to the occasion after a race-week appendectomy prevented his 2024 begin. Blanchard gained the 2024 Diagonale des Fous, and Grangier was third at UTMB in 2023.
Zach Miller leads Mathieu Blanchard up the primary climb. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
It was alternately Miller, Blanchard, and Pommeret within the lead early, however because the race obtained entering into earnest, 30 miles and virtually six hours in, Pommeret made the primary massive transfer. The 49-year-old pushed the climb as much as Handies Peak, the course’s excessive level, proper heading in the right direction file tempo. He was chasing the course file of yet one more Frenchman, François D’Haene, who set the file in 2021 at 21:45. Miller, Blanchard, and Grangier stayed collectively because the second-, third-, and fourth-place runners, virtually seven minutes behind Pommeret.
Mathieu Blanchard runs by the wildflowers of Maggie Gulch at mile 15.5. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Pommeret flew down from the height and was joined by pacer Jim Walmsley at mile 45. After the large climb and descent, his lead had jumped to 14 minutes over the chasing trio, which was led by Blanchard. Grangier had a couple of minutes on Miller for third place because the race handed midway and a climb up Engineer Cross.
Ludovic Pommeret descends into Grouse Gulch at mile 43.5, after taking on the race lead about 10 miles earlier. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The race then dropped to its lowest level, 7,792 toes above sea degree, within the city of Ouray at mile 58.5. The underside then turns to a protracted climb up Camp Chook Street, all the way in which to 13,100-foot Virginius Cross and the well-known Kroger’s Canteen help station at mile 70. The highest stretches of the climb had runners postholing in snow, and the lead runners reached the cross nonetheless in daylight. For Pommeret, this was 13:56 into the race, and he was a minute behind D’Haene’s counterclockwise file cut up when leaving help. Blanchard and Grangier had been nonetheless chasing however shedding time on the chief, the gaps now 31 and 43 minutes, respectively. Miller was an additional 18 minutes behind Grangier.
Ludovic Pommeret (proper) is paced by Jim Walmsley (left) within the city of Ouray, 58.5 miles into the race. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Pommeret had no downside with the steep downhill from Kroger’s Canteen to the city of Telluride at mile 74.5, the most important city on the distant four-town linkup. Walmsley’s pacing obligation stopped right here, and 2024 UTMB winner Vincent Bouillard of France stepped in as Pommeret’s subsequent world-class pacer.
The entrance three held their spots the remainder of the way in which to the end, with the hole between Pommeret and everybody else growing. The highest runners climbed Grant-Swamp Cross, dropped all the way down to Island Lake, made it up and over one remaining and troublesome climb, and crossed Mineral Creek earlier than operating the ultimate two miles into Silverton all at midnight below an virtually full moon.
Ludovic Pommeret misplaced his monitor on the course data, ending above each D’Haene’s counterclockwise time and his personal total course file, however gained the race with out problem in 22:21. He stopped the clock with a ceremonial kiss of the finish-line rock. It was the race’s fifth-fastest end ever, and second-fastest this route. It was additionally the third 12 months in a row {that a} French man has gained the race, and the sixth 12 months in a row that a global man has gained.
Grangier obtained nearer to Blanchard within the in a single day hours however couldn’t fairly shut the hole. Mathieu Blanchard was second in 23:44 and Germain Grangier was third in 24:04, making for a French sweep of the rostrum.
Germain Grangier finishes third in his first try on the Hardrock 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Behind the three French runners, David Ayala overtook Miller for fourth place close to mile 80 and almost ran onto the rostrum. Ayala was coming into Hardrock as a three-time IMTUF 100 Mile winner and ran robust all day to a 24:22 end.
Miller battled abdomen issues for lengthy stretches of the day, however capped his year-long comeback from lacking final 12 months’s race with a fifth-place 25:49. He did all of it with out a pacer and in honor of Invoice Dooper, the ultrarunning superfan who handed away in 2018.
After taking fifth, Zach Miller celebrates the lifetime of ultrarunning superfan Invoice Dooper who handed away in 2018. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Having made up time and handed Jeff Rome on the ultimate descent, Brian Culmo, Hardrock’s personal end line coordinator, flew down the end chute for a sixth-place 26:18 end. Jeff Rome, a neighborhood to Silverton who positioned second within the 2018 Hardrock, adopted in 26:22 for seventh. Rome meticulously adopted splits, which allowed him to attain a PR on the course by eight minutes. His 26:30 final 12 months, whereas slower than this 12 months, had earned him fourth place.
Silverton native Jeff Rome (proper) runs by the city of Ouray. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Following some forwards and backwards with Rome and Culmo, Kyle Curtin completed eighth in 26:52 in his debut on the occasion. Gabe Joyes, who had solidly held his place for a lot of the race, took ninth in 28:26 whereas working by a number of points. Adam Behrendt rounded out the lads’s high 10 in 29:43.
Gabe Joyes seems to expertise one other psychological dimension on the Chapman Gulch help station at mile 84.5. He went on to complete ninth. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 Hardrock 100 Males’s Outcomes
- Ludovic Pommeret (Hoka) – 22:21 (pre-race interview)
- Mathieu Blanchard (Salomon) – 23:44 (pre-race interview)
- Germain Grangier (On) – 24:04 (pre-race interview)
- David Ayala – 24:22
- Zach Miller (The North Face) – 25:49 (pre-race interview)
- Brian Culmo – 26:18
- Jeff Rome – 26:22
- Kyle Curtin (Altra) – 26:52
- Gabe Joyes (Scarpa) – 28:26
- Adam Behrendt – 29:43
The all-French males’s podium for the 2025 Hardrock 100 (l-to-r): 3. Germain Grangier, 1. Ludovic Pommeret, and a couple of. Mathieu Blanchard. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Protection Thanks
Thanks a lot to the next people who helped iRunFar cowl this race: Olivia Rissland, Ashley Saloga, Ellie Greenwood, Marissa Harris, Casey Wyatt, Kat Gdela, Eric Blood, Alex Angstadt, Mark Conkright, Micaela Theisen, John Reese, Jo Ohm, Brady Burgess, Conor Felletter, Bryan Chandler, and Max Robinson.
