French runner Blandine L'Hirondel arrived in Chamonix, France, last week needing one thing to complete her race résumé, while Colorado upstart Rachel Entrekin arrived as a wide-eyed rookie curious to find out what the legendary Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) race was all about.
The way the race played out, both things manifested for each of those runners on top of the podium after a punishing duel over the grueling 108-mile loop around the Mont Blanc massif through parts of France, Italy, and Switzerland. In all, the course includes 33,000 feet of vertical gain and loss as it takes runners up and down 10 high mountain passes.
Despite stumbling on tired legs several times in the final 5 miles, the 35-year-old L'Hirondel, a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist and professional trail runner, won the women’s UTMB race in stunning fashion on Saturday evening, completing the course in 21 hours, 54 minutes, and 49 seconds, faster than any woman in race history.
Although it’s technically not an official course record—that still belongs to American Katie Schide (22:09:31 in 2022) because a section of the traditional course in Italy was removed the past two years because of weather concerns. However, L'Hirondel easily surpassed Ruth Croft’s winning time from a year ago (22:56:23).
“I can’t believe it,” said L'Hirondel, who became the fourth French woman to win in the 23-year history of the race. “Maybe I will believe it in a few days that I am champion. But if I am the champion, the people here are, too, because they encouraged me the whole way through. You helped make this happen for me.”
L'Hirondel was already a European champion and a two-time world champion, so the UTMB victory was the last thing missing from her trophy case. It also allowed her to become the second runner after Croft to complete a sweep of all three UTMB World Series Finals championship events, having previously won the CCC 100K (2022) and the OCC 60K (2021).
Meanwhile, Entrekin, 35, who was famously the overall winner of the Cocodona 250 in Arizona in May, grinded her way through the course to finish second in 22:15:54, leading a charge of U.S. women who rose to the occasion in the absence of legendary American Courtney Dauwalter. Right behind Entrekin in third (22:17:28) was Emily Schmitz, 45, who grew up in Wisconsin but has lived in Chamonix for the past four years, and Colorado’s Careth Arnold, 36, in fourth (23:05:20).
“Those last climbs were so hard,” Entrekin said. “And it didn’t help knowing that Emily was an indeterminate short amount of time behind me. But, in a way, it was kind of fun, and we do these things to make it hard. Now that I’m done running, it’s nice to say, ‘Oh that was wonderful,’ but while I was out there, I was like ugggghhh!”
Early Race Shuffling
After defending champion Ruth Croft withdrew from the race on Wednesday, Dauwalter became the prerace favorite and seemed in prime condition to make a run at her fourth UTMB victory, having previously won in 2019, 2021, and 2023. She was leading the race through mile 80 last year, only to fade considerably in the final 20 miles to wind up in 10th place. But she rebounded this year with strong races at the Cocodona 250 in May and Hardrock 100 in July, giving her the confidence to return for another try at UTMB.
In fact, it was Dauwalter who started the fastest when the race finally got going after a two-hour rain delay on Friday night. She was the first woman through the relatively flat and fast first six miles of the course and was the first to hit the timing mat at the top of the 2,700-foot climb up Col de Voza. Entrekin and L'Hirondel were right behind her, and they surged with Australia’s Lucy Bartholomew into the lead on the way down into the town of St. Gervais.
“My original plan was to stick with people who knew what they were doing, ‘cause I didn’t,” Entrekin said. “I wanted to run at my own pace while gauging what those people were doing. But then I actually had a mini panic attack to Lucy Bartholomew and said ‘I don’t know what I am doing!’ and she said, ‘Yes, you do!’ and I said, ‘OK, you’re right!’ So I just decided to stick my nose in it and see what happened from the beginning.”
Although Dauwalter was 6 minutes behind in St. Gervais, she got herself back in contention and was as high as fourth place at the 29-mile mark on top of the Col du Bonhomme. But she quickly faded after that, slipping back to 30th place before dropping out at the 44-mile mark at about 5 a.m. local time. She later posted on Instagram that she wasn’t fully recovered and ready after the Hardrock 100.
By then, it was a two-woman race that would stretch into Saturday evening. Entrekin and L'Hirondel gapped Bartholomew by three minutes by the 32-mile aid station on the way into Italy. But then the aggressive effort of L'Hirondel got her ahead of Entrekin, making her the first woman to the 50-mile aid station in Courmayeur.
The separation continued building through the early morning hours, the way UTMB races usually unfold—not on a single dramatic move, but through the accumulation of small margins on the climbs, held or extended through the following descents. By the tiny Italian outpost of Arnouvaz, L'Hirondel's lead had stretched to 13:20, with American Careth Arnold moving into third behind Entrekin.
While L'Hirondel had previously finished among the top five women in UTMB twice, Entrekin's presence in the field was the story nobody quite knew how to predict. She'd never raced UTMB before, and while her Cocodona 250 win garnered a lot of justified attention, those are two distinctly different races with vastly different elevation profiles that require different kinds of training and racing strategies.
Entrekin arrived in Chamonix in early August and spent a month running every section of the course multiple times, especially the highest passes and steepest climbs and descents.
She raced well and hung on L'Hirondel's heels as best she could, but midway through the course the vert was getting to her. She was slower and less energetic than L'Hirondel going up and over the 8,300-foot summit of Grand Col Ferret, the highest point on the course, near mile 64.
Entrekin was overheard telling a camera operator during the race’s live stream that she felt like she’d been hit by a truck for 40 miles and that the course was extremely hard.
“I was really happy to make it to the halfway point, because I was really tired immediately,” said Entrekin, who worked as a physical therapist until she signed a professional contract with Norda in December. “But once you’re at the halfway point, you’re allowed to be tired.”
The Final Push
Once over the top of that pass and into Switzerland, L'Hirondel pushed the accelerator harder and opened up a bigger gap on Entrekin. By the time Entrekin reached the 80-mile mark at Champex Lac, she was 36 minutes behind L'Hirondel and fellow Americans Arnold and Emily Schmitz were suddenly within striking distance in third and fourth place, respectively.
The afternoon’s rising heat and the cumulative fatigue started to get to L'Hirondel, who slowed and occasionally stumbled over the big final three climbs on the way back to France. But she still had a 40-minute lead over Entrekin through 96 miles, so for the final 12 miles back into Chamonix, it was just about putting one foot in front of the other.
Entrekin, for her part, did everything she could to hold down second place, even though Schmitz had passed Arnold and was making up ground.
“I mostly just dissociated in this race and just ran as fast as I could,” Entrekin said. “With Cocodona, I was really one with the experience. With this one, it was almost being on autopilot. I knew that I would potentially get overwhelmed by all of the people, so I just locked my eyes on the ground and kept running.”
Schmitz has lived in Chamonix for many years, coaching and working for a human rights nonprofit, but she recently picked up a partial sponsorship with Hoka. She knew she was having a good day when she got to the 50-mile point in Courmayeur ahead of schedule and was feeling great. Then late in the race, she passed Arnold and moved into fourth, not realizing Entrekin was also in reach.
“I was trying to get away from the fourth woman because I knew she was coming close and then as I was speeding up, everyone was like, ‘Go get Rachel, you're so close,’ and I was like, ‘Well, maybe I'll try to get her,’” Schmitz said. “I think there is an advantage of living here and running on these trails all the time. It definitely helped today.”
Brian Metzler is a Boulder, Colorado, writer and editor whose work has appeared in Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Outside, Trail Runner, The Chicago Tribune, and Red Bulletin. He’s a former walk-on college middle-distance runner who has transitioned to trail running and pack burro racing in Colorado.
