In a race characterized by early air quality issues, midday heat, and many racers who had their stomachs turn on the high-altitude course, Katie Schide (pre-race interview) and France’s Ludovic Pommeret (pre-race interview) won the 2025 Hardrock 100 in 25:50 and 22:21.
Schide’s finish was both a new course record for the counterclockwise direction and a new overall course record. Pommeret’s win was a repeat of his 2024 victory and the race’s fifth-fastest finish ever. Both ran uncontested for most of the race, with the gaps to their nearest competitors increasing as the race went on.
The start of the 2025 Hardrock 100. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The 102-mile race, with 33,000 feet of elevation gain and a 48-hour cut-off, started at 6 a.m. on July 11 under smoky skies due to nearby wildfires, but the early air quality issues did nothing to slow finish times at the very front of the pack. Wildfires to the west and north in neighboring Utah and Black Canyon National Park resulted in low visibility, and the event offered to defer racer entries to the following year for anyone who didn’t want to race. The air quality index in Silverton was 142, lower than levels that are considered hazardous to the general population. The smoke was most noticeable for the first four to five hours of the race before the winds shifted midday and the skies cleared noticeably. The smoke did return to some of the low-lying areas of the route overnight, with front runners mentioning they could taste and smell it around Governor’s Basin and Telluride in particular.
Ludovic Pommeret hikes in front of David Ayala on the first climb of the race with the smoke obscuring visibility in the background. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Conditions were also unusually hot, with temperatures in Ouray, the course’s low point, topping out at 85 degrees Fahrenheit, which feels like intense heat at altitude.
The race alternates direction each year, and this year it ran counterclockwise. It’s generalized as an “up the ramps and down the walls” direction for its longer uphills and shorter, but steeper downhills. Opinions vary about which direction is faster, but course record times for both directions are close.
Women’s champion Katie Schide ahead of the start. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Tragedy struck early in the event when runner Elaine Stypula unfortunately passed away due to an unknown medical event. According to official reports, attempts to resuscitate her by both the Hardrock course sweepers and search and rescue personnel were unsuccessful. iRunFar extends its condolences to all who are affected by this enormous loss. We are so sorry.
2025 Hardrock 100 Women’s Race
A year after winning the Western States 100 and setting a new course record at UTMB, Katie Schide (pre-race interview) was the race’s heavy favorite, and she led from the start.
It was a cool 50 degrees Fahrenheit at the start in Silverton, elevation 9,302 feet and population 713. A historic fire truck led runners through town at the start, and by the time they’d done the Little Giant climb and dropped into Cunningham Gulch at mile nine, Schide was already six minutes up on the women’s field and five minutes up on Courtney Dauwalter’s split from her 2023 counterclockwise course record. It was an international trail 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 through next. All of the chasers had big mountain resumes. Bohard Cailler won last year’s Diagonale des Fous race, Hartmuth was third here in 2024, and Case was second here in 2022.
Katie Schide ascends the first climb of the race already in the lead. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Schide’s lead on the women’s field grew throughout the day, and she continued to put time on Dawaulter’s record as well. Schide made it to the Sherman aid station outside of Lake City, the most remote town in the mainland 48 states, having covered the first 30 miles in six hours. She was 35 minutes better than Dauwalter’s split and up to fifth overall. 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 in the event. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Hardrock’s average elevation is 11,000 feet above sea level, but after exiting the Sherman aid station, runners start the climb up to the 14,048-foot Handies Peak high point. Much of the day’s smoke had passed, but now the heat added to the challenge.
Stephanie Case at the Grouse Gulch trailhead, some 43.5 miles into the race. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
By the time they got up and over Handies Peak and down into Grouse Gulch at mile 43.5, Schide was over an hour ahead of second-place Bohard Cailler, and Hartmuth was another half an hour back. Case was still fourth, and Amber Weibel, doubling back from finishing 18th at the Western States 100 only 12 days earlier, overtook Fraile for fifth.
After finishing the 2025 Western States 100 just two weeks before, Amber Weibel hiked near the front of the race on the first climb. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
After spending no more than two minutes in any aid station, Schide spent 10 minutes at the Ouray aid station at mile 58.5. At 7,792 feet above sea level, Ouray is the low point on the course, and that foreshadows the massive climb ahead. The next 11.5 miles climb, at first up Camp Bird Road and then up snow to Virginius Pass and the pierogi-cooking Kroger’s Canteen aid station at 13,100 feet. Schide appeared to struggle with some stomach issues leaving Ouray, but was a massive 59 minutes up on Dauwalter’s 2023 pace. She was also 69 minutes ahead of second-place Bohard Cailler.
Manon Bohard runs into the town of Ouray in second place. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Schide reached the Kroger’s Canteen aid station, mile 70, in the dark, 15:39 into the race. She’d lost some time to Dauwalter’s ghost, but was still 49 minutes ahead of record pace. There were three climbs and roughly 30 miles to go. Behind Schide, it was still Bohard Cailler, Hartmuth, Weibel, and Case in that order, but with big gaps between each runner.
Katie Schide taking in calories at Chapman Gulch aid station at mile 84.5 after seeming to have a rough patch through the early hours of the night. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Everyone seemed to be struggling, especially with eating, late in the race. Case had a 45-minute stop at the mile-66 aid station but appeared to find the Kroger’s Canteen pierogis helpful at mile 70. Hartmuth was pressed coming down Oscar’s Pass in the dark at mile 80 and was nearly two hours behind Bohard Cailler, who was still in second. It was almost another three hours behind Hartmuth to Weibel and Case.
Manon Bohard rests for some food and foot care in Telluride at mile 74.5. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
For Katie Schide, the challenge increased as the miles wore on, and her gap on the record continued to dwindle, yet, she managed to keep the pace high enough to return to Silverton and kiss the famed finish line rock in 25:50. It was 21 minutes better than Dauwalter’s overall course record from 2024 and 24 minutes ahead of Dauwalter’s counterclockwise course record from 2023. Schide is now one of just three people, alongside Kilian Jornet and Dauwalter, to have won the world’s four most iconic 100 milers — Hardrock, Western States, UTMB, and Diagonale des Fous. Schide now has the course records at two of them.
Manon Bohard Cailler finished second, a spot that she’d held for nearly the entire race, in 28:36. It was the race’s 11th-fastest finish ever, and she remarkably never spent more than seven minutes in any one aid station.
Katharina Hartmuth spent an hour in aid at mile 91 but got going in time to finish third in 32:39. Evidently, she was experiencing the same vision problems that plagued her 2024 performance. Amanda Weibel and Stephanie Case were never far apart in the race’s last third, and the pair finished fourth and fifth in 32:47 and 32:53.
The second half of the women’s top 10 finishers also had a dynamic race. Fraile, after running inside the top four in the race’s first half, slowed with energy issues due to not being able to eat in the day’s heat. Fraile dropped many places initially but moved back to sixth position by the Telluride aid station at mile 74.5, and she held that spot through the finish line. Aliza Lapierre ran inside the second half of the women’s top 10 from start to late race, as did Canada’s Becky Bates. Maria Semerjian of France and Betsy Nye moved into the women’s top 10 in the race’s last quarter, showing excellent 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 through the smoke an hour into the day. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 Hardrock 100 Women’s Results
- 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
From left to right, Katie Schide, Manon Bohard Cailler, and Katharina Hartmuth chat before the start of the 2025 Hardrock 100. This trio went on to become the women’s podium finishers. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
2025 Hardrock 100 Men’s Race
The men’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 record holder, Ludovic Pommeret (pre-race interview). Miller was returning to the event after a race-week appendectomy prevented his 2024 start. Blanchard won the 2024 Diagonale des Fous, and Grangier was third at UTMB in 2023.
Zach Miller leads Mathieu Blanchard up the first climb. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
It was alternately Miller, Blanchard, and Pommeret in the lead early, but as the race got going in earnest, 30 miles and almost six hours in, Pommeret made the first big move. The 49-year-old pushed the climb up to Handies Peak, the course’s high point, right on course record pace. He was chasing the course record of yet another Frenchman, François D’Haene, who set the record in 2021 at 21:45. Miller, Blanchard, and Grangier stayed together as the second-, third-, and fourth-place runners, almost seven minutes behind Pommeret.
Mathieu Blanchard runs through the wildflowers of Maggie Gulch at mile 15.5. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Pommeret flew down from the peak and was joined by pacer Jim Walmsley at mile 45. After the big climb and descent, his lead had jumped to 14 minutes over the chasing trio, which was led by Blanchard. Grangier had a few minutes on Miller for third place as the race passed halfway and a climb up Engineer Pass.
Ludovic Pommeret descends into Grouse Gulch at mile 43.5, after taking over the race lead about 10 miles earlier. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
The race then dropped to its lowest point, 7,792 feet above sea level, in the town of Ouray at mile 58.5. The bottom then turns to a long climb up Camp Bird Road, all the way to 13,100-foot Virginius Pass and the famous Kroger’s Canteen aid station at mile 70. The top stretches of the climb had runners postholing in snow, and the lead runners reached the pass still in daylight. For Pommeret, this was 13:56 into the race, and he was a minute behind D’Haene’s counterclockwise record split when leaving aid. Blanchard and Grangier were still chasing but losing time on the leader, the gaps now 31 and 43 minutes, respectively. Miller was a further 18 minutes behind Grangier.
Ludovic Pommeret (right) is paced by Jim Walmsley (left) in the town of Ouray, 58.5 miles into the race. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Pommeret had no problem with the steep downhill from Kroger’s Canteen to the town of Telluride at mile 74.5, the biggest town on the remote four-town linkup. Walmsley’s pacing duty stopped here, and 2024 UTMB winner Vincent Bouillard of France stepped in as Pommeret’s next world-class pacer.
The front three held their spots the rest of the way to the finish, with the gap between Pommeret and everyone else increasing. The top runners climbed Grant-Swamp Pass, dropped down to Island Lake, made it up and over one final and difficult climb, and crossed Mineral Creek before running the final two miles into Silverton all in the dark under an almost full moon.
Ludovic Pommeret lost his track on the course records, finishing above both D’Haene’s counterclockwise time and his own overall course record, but won the race without challenge in 22:21. He stopped the clock with a ceremonial kiss of the finish-line rock. It was the race’s fifth-fastest finish ever, and second-fastest this direction. It was also the third year in a row that a French man has won the race, and the sixth year in a row that an international man has won.
Grangier got closer to Blanchard in the overnight hours but couldn’t quite close the gap. Mathieu Blanchard was second in 23:44 and Germain Grangier was third in 24:04, making for a French sweep of the podium.
Germain Grangier finishes third in his first attempt at the Hardrock 100. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Behind the three French runners, David Ayala overtook Miller for fourth place near mile 80 and nearly ran onto the podium. Ayala was coming into Hardrock as a three-time IMTUF 100 Mile winner and ran strong all day to a 24:22 finish.
Miller battled stomach problems for long stretches of the day, but capped his year-long comeback from missing last year’s race with a fifth-place 25:49. He did all of it without a pacer and in honor of Bill Dooper, the ultrarunning superfan who passed away in 2018.
After taking fifth, Zach Miller celebrates the life of ultrarunning superfan Bill Dooper who passed away in 2018. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Having made up time and passed Jeff Rome on the final descent, Brian Culmo, Hardrock’s own finish line coordinator, flew down the finish chute for a sixth-place 26:18 finish. Jeff Rome, a local to Silverton who placed second in the 2018 Hardrock, followed in 26:22 for seventh. Rome meticulously followed splits, which allowed him to score a PR on the course by eight minutes. His 26:30 last year, while slower than this year, had earned him fourth place.
Silverton local Jeff Rome (right) runs through the town of Ouray. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Following some back and forth with Rome and Culmo, Kyle Curtin finished eighth in 26:52 in his debut at the event. Gabe Joyes, who had solidly held his position for much of the race, took ninth in 28:26 while working through several issues. Adam Behrendt rounded out the men’s top 10 in 29:43.
Gabe Joyes appears to experience another psychological dimension at the Chapman Gulch aid station at mile 84.5. He went on to finish ninth. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
2025 Hardrock 100 Men’s Results
- 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 men’s podium for the 2025 Hardrock 100 (l-to-r): 3. Germain Grangier, 1. Ludovic Pommeret, and 2. Mathieu Blanchard. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Coverage Thanks
Thanks so much to the following individuals who helped iRunFar cover 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.
