Hey y’all, we scrolled through 600+ IG posts and 140+ articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Friday’s issue so you could start the week without living on your phone. Here’s your Monday Ultra Minute:
Adrian Macdonald won his third Leadville Trail 100, while McKendree Hickory won in her Leadville debut. Macdonald finished in 15:47:23, 28:02 ahead of Matthew Zupan, with Tim Tollefson third in 16:45:14. Michael Mitchell, whom iRunFar profiled before the race, finished fourth in 17:48:07 with a new 100-mile PR. Hickory won in 19:39:12, followed by Jacquie Mannhard in 20:28:37 and Emma Wood in 20:33:33. iRunFar reported that Zupan moved up from 10th at mile 26, Tollefson’s podium was his first ultra finish in two years, and Hickory took the women’s lead by mile 84 after Ailsa MacDonald led the first 80 before finishing fourth in 20:42:07.
Jared Ewing won Leadville’s para men’s division, followed by Adam Popp and Brian Reynolds. Ewing finished in 24:39:52. Popp was second in 28:31:50, and his final-stretch video shows his family surrounding him to the finish. Reynolds finished in 28:55:43 for third. Matt Miller followed seven seconds later. Kyle Coon stopped at Winfield after 52.3 miles.
Dylan Flewelling and Tina Muir won Ultra Trail Whistler’s 100K. Flewelling won in 11:34:05, followed by Maxime Grosjean in 12:01:49 and Brandon Gardiner in 12:02:25. Muir won in 12:18:40, 46:37 ahead of Corinne Lemay Gaudet, with Arden Young third in 13:38:13. Flewelling called the final loop “absolutely criminal” and some of the hardest running he has ever done. Muir called the win the breakthrough she had envisioned and a return to elite racing, and said she plans to race CCC in 2027.
Hillary Gerardi won her fourth straight Trofeo Kima and lowered her own course record by 4:44. Gerardi finished in 7:25:54, ahead of Lucille Germain in 7:32:04 and Roberta Jacquin in 7:54:42. William Boffelli won the men’s race in 6:07:43, with Mattia Bertoncini second in 6:12:38 and Federico Nicolini third in 6:17:04. Gerardi’s previous official mark was 7:30:38 from 2022. Emelie Forsberg said she twisted her recently healed ankle, slowed, walked, and stopped her race.
Gabby De La Rosa won the inaugural Habanero 135 outright at 7IL Ranch in Cat Spring, Texas. De La Rosa finished in 30:12:15, 49:50 ahead of men’s winner Jose Arismendez. German Garcia was third overall in 36:40:54, followed by Preston Grossling in 37:30:36. The official table lists 18 finishers in the new distance. Kelly Swanson and Jared Rothlauf won the 100-miler in 20:08 and 19:47.
UTMB week is underway around Mont Blanc. On the official schedule, PTL started at 8 a.m. CEST Monday, and MCC followed at 10 a.m. Gatien Airiau won MCC in 3:26:58, only 23 seconds ahead of Florian Bernabeu-Seguy, with Jules Mongellaz third; Noémie Lepoutre won the women’s race in 3:55:55 ahead of Pauline Girardet and Juliette Chassagne. TDS starts tonight at 11:50 p.m. CEST. YCC and ETC follow Tuesday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.; OCC starts Thursday at 8:15 a.m.; and CCC and UTMB start Friday at 9 a.m. and 5:45 p.m., with UTMB at 10:45 a.m. CDT. John Sugden mapped the course overlap among UTMB, CCC, OCC, TDS, PTL and MCC, with a brief note on ETC and YCC, while Aid Station Fireball’s OCC preview breaks down the rebuilt 60K course and picks Tove Alexandersson and Frédéric Tranchand to win. Freetrail interviewed Hans Troyer and Singletrack interviewed Leah Yingling Monday as both continued their race-week coverage.
Dani Moreno wrote about reaching CCC after a training block interrupted by a family crisis and the death of a close friend. She described pulling back from runs rather than forcing the plan, then joining her Mammoth community in holding grief alongside joy for another close friend’s wedding. That changed her definition of a great block: not clean weeks without injury or chaos, but doing the best with the time available and believing it can be enough. “I didn’t become someone new. I became someone who can carry more,” Moreno wrote. After an OCC podium in 2022, a 2023 DNF, a broken ankle during a sixth-place 2024 finish, and last year’s broken toe, she says she is ready to “lay it all out there” at CCC.
USDA opened a rewrite of the Forest Service’s Travel Management Rule, separate from the Roadless Rule rescission proposal we covered Friday. The rule governs public motor-vehicle use on national forest lands. The Federal Register notice would remove national criteria intended to minimize environmental damage and user conflicts, establish a presumption of public access at existing roads, trails, and trailheads unless closure is justified, and exempt Class 1 e-bikes from motor-vehicle designation rules on bicycle-allowed trails. Current maps and designations would stay in place until revised, so no closed route opens immediately; comments close September 23. The Wilderness Society and Defenders of Wildlife oppose the pair as weakened safeguards, while the motorized-access BlueRibbon Coalition supports removing the minimization criteria.
Karel Sabbe completed France’s HexaTrek, and Cody Taylor finished an unsupported Long Trail out-and-back. Sabbe reported 33d 13h 48m and said he averaged 92 kilometers, 4,200 meters of climbing and descending, and 16 hours of running per day. Fastest Known Time lists his effort as a new supported FKT pending verification. Taylor reported 17d 8h 42m for the 550-mile, 135,000-foot route and called it the first complete unsupported out-and-back of the Long Trail. He carried all his food and gear and stretched 16 days of nutrition into Day 18.
John Kelly and Jack Scott explained why they ended separate record pursuits. Ten nearly perfect days into a supported Appalachian Trail attempt, Kelly ended it after realizing that even with his body healthy and the record ahead of schedule, he wanted to be with his family more. Another 30 days away would have meant missing most of his oldest child’s first cross-country season; Kelly framed the choice as giving up something he loves for something he loves more. Scott stopped his Pennine Way run after 110 miles, including 100 in under 20 hours. He wrote that continuing would have crossed a boundary between risk and self-harm that he was no longer willing to accept.
Ayyoub “Ello” El Osrouti says Last Soul Ultra’s yard-87 encounter did not break him, but sprinting in response was an unnecessary injury risk. We wrote Friday about Kiel Martin’s interpretation of Mark Dowdle following El Osrouti closely. In a full post-race Q&A, El Osrouti said Dowdle stayed behind him for two to three dark kilometers and stopped whenever he stopped. Still on yard 87, El Osrouti accelerated, then lay in a field for about five minutes before finishing with enough time to sleep. He rejected the idea that the encounter broke him mentally. El Osrouti also said checkups 36 hours after his 93-yard race found no tear or fracture, though inflammation and fluid around his right Achilles and medial ankle, plus knee pain, still made it difficult to bear weight.
The Ultra Minute is now supported by Altra. They reached out earlier this summer to say they’ve been longtime readers and were interested in supporting the project. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade and am currently really enjoying their Experience Wild 3+. If you’re shopping Altra, using this link lets them know TUM sent you, and is a great way to support us.
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As of our 1:31 p.m. CDT Monday check, Phil Gore was on day two of seven in Project 168, the challenge we mentioned August 7. He had covered about 175 miles by running a 4.17-mile loop every hour, and the live Telethon total had passed 44,750 Australian dollars.
After we wrote about Aaron Kubala’s Bigfoot 200 penalty Friday, race director Candice Burt added context in a comment on the Instagram version of the issue: organizers were beginning a rescue after Kubala reached Klickitat without his pacer and did not alert the aid station. The pacer arrived three hours later, so Bigfoot held Kubala for three hours. Burt said management used its discretion under the race rules to keep him podium-eligible; UltraSignup still lists him first in 47:21:11.
Sunmaya Budha withdrew from UTMB after a seven-week injury cycle, saying the original problem improved but compensation created another injury.
iRunFar reported that heavy rain cut Matterhorn Ultraks Extreme from 27 kilometers with 3,175 meters of climbing to 15 kilometers with 1,500 meters, removing technical high-alpine, glacier-crossing, and ridgeline sections for safety; Denisa Dragomir led Perrine Abadie and Patrycja Stanek, while Alex Oberbacher beat Martin Anthamatten by 37 seconds, with Louis Dumas third.
At Ultra-Trail des Chic-Chocs, Mylène Sansoucy lowered her 88K record by more than 40 minutes to 13:03:37 and finished fourth overall, ahead of Heidi Dorval and Delphine Duvernay Tardif; Justin Gaudreau set a men’s course record of 10:50:00, followed by Samuel Frigon and Remi Poitras.
Amelia Keyser-Gibson won the women’s race at the Olympic Mountains 50K in a course-record 5:45:36, becoming the first woman under six hours there.
Lastly, Ann Trason is having a little fun to open UTMB week, turning two baguettes into a trekking pole and missing a sub-60-second aid-station target while sitting down for wine and charcuterie.
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That’s it for today. If TUM helps you follow the sport without spending your whole day on Instagram, the best way to help it grow is to share this issue with one friend who’d get it. Or simply like this post. Thanks for reading.
Ken
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