Many Elite Americans Drawn for UTMB

A list of the elite Americans entered in the 2011 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.

By on January 19, 2011 | Comments

Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc smI’m beyond busy at the moment, but I can’t help my excitement for this year’s Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. The lottery was just held and the admitted American contingent is a who’s who list of ultrarunning. Here’s that list! (Each link to an athlete goes to coverage of them on iRunFar.)

Is that enough? Sorry, I’ve got to keep going!

  • Mike Wolfe – Last year’s second place runner will be back. (Added Jan 25)
  • Dakota Jones
  • Scott Jaime
  • Nick Clark – Brit who lives in the US
  • Joe Grant
  • Josh Brimhall
  • Jack Pilla
  • Nick Pedatella
  • Topher Gaylord – President of Montrail/Mountain Hardwear who has consistently put up great UTMB results. He’s finished UTMB 6 of the race’s 8 years.
  • Nicolas Mermoud – The head of Hoka One One, who now lives in Park City, UT, has some impressive UTMB finishes under his belt.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the ladies. They get their own list filled with some pretty accomplished mountain runners. In fact, put together these ladies have four of the five fastest Hardrock 100 times ever run by women. Oh, and Krissy won UTMB in 2009!

  • Krissy Moehl
  • Diana Finkel
  • Darcy Africa
  • Helen Cospolich – A TNF runner not on the entrants list, but who’ll be running.

That’s all I have time for the moment. Here’s the full registration listing. “Registered” or “To Pay” means a runner got through the lottery.

International
Ok, a few top international entry confirmations… I had to look, so I’ll share: Kilian Jornet, Miguel Heras, Thomas Lorblanchet, and Vincent Delebarre. Not on the list, as far as I can tell, include Dawa Sherpa and Julien Chorier. Numerous notable athletes (Jez Bragg, Lizzy Hawker, Tsuyoshi Kaburaki, Sebastien Chaigneau, Tracy Garneau, or any Americans) from title sponsor The North Face aren’t on the registered list. Enough are missing that I’ll assume that at least some will be running, but have the option to enter later.

CCC
One more thing before I go. I have to mention that Dave Mackey has entered the CCC race. He’s got to be one of the favorites to win.

Additional Info
If you’ve gotten this far, you’re obviously interested in UTMB. Check out iRunFar’s UTMB page for lots of articles and interviews from last year’s race, including interviews with Geoff Roes, Scott Jurek, and Kilian Jornet.

Call for Comments
Does this have anyone else completely stoked? Who will be the top US male resident? Will the top US woman be Darcy, Diana, or Krissy? Should we petition to move the USATF championship to another country, because this sure looks like the US championship?!

Geoff Roes Scott Jurek Karl Meltzer UTMB

Geoff Roes, Scott Jurek, and Karl Meltzer relax before UTMB '10.

Bryon Powell

Bryon Powell is the Founding Editor of iRunFar. He’s been writing about trail running, ultrarunning, and running gear for more than 15 years. Aside from iRunFar, he’s authored the books Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running, been a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, written for publications including Outside, Sierra, and Running Times, and coached ultrarunners of all abilities. Based in Silverton, Colorado, Bryon is an avid trail runner and ultrarunner who competes in events from the Hardrock 100 Mile just out his front door to races long and short around the world, that is, when he’s not fly fishing or tending to his garden.