Well, well, well, here’s looking at you, 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon, and happy 15th anniversary!
This weekend, the island of La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands, located off the coast of Morocco, will gather a few thousand trail runners from around the world to compete in one of the event’s six races, including its ultramarathon. The 73-kilometer (45.4 miles) ultra begins at the Atlantic Ocean, climbs to the top of a chain of volcanoes, reaches the island’s high point of 2,420 meters (7,940 feet), and descends back to the sea again. Before it’s over, though, there’s one last grunt of a climb up to the finish line in the city of Los Llanos at about 340 meters (1,120 feet) altitude.
Along the way, the route offers 4,350 meters (14,270 feet) of climbing. Unique to this course are its general runability and lesser degree of technicality than some European mountain ultras. That is, the kilometers pass quickly for so much elevation gain, and the course records show it. The records are 6:52:39 for the men, a time standing from 2015 by Luis Alberto Hernando, and 8:02:49 for the women, set by Ruth Croft just last year.
Weather is always a factor, with humidity pretty much guaranteed along with some heat. It’s common to see sea-level temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius (85 Fahrenheit) on race day.
We expect to see Dmitry Mityaev, who has twice finished second at this event, American David Sinclair who is coming off a historic course record at the JFK 50 Mile last fall, and Italy’s Andreas Reiterer, who races with a dependability that’s uncommon in the oh-so-volatile ultramarathon racing scene, and others all vying for the men’s win.
The race takes place on Saturday, May 10, starting at 6 a.m. Western European Summer Time, which is Friday, May 9 at 11 p.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time.
After a six-year hiatus at this event, which has included two race cancellations due to a global pandemic and a volcanic eruption, iRunFar is back on La Palma and covering the race. Stay tuned!
Be sure to also check out our in-depth 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon women’s preview.
The start of the 2019 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Contenders for the Men’s Win
Dmitry Mityaev
Dmitry Mityaev, who races neutrally, has been omnipresent in the international ultra scene for over half a decade, including at this race. Mityaev has a triplet of second places at this event among his four finishes, including last year. He does run a little hot-cold, so it’s likely we’ll see him sticking a podium finish or not making it to the finish line. Cases in point, in the last year since taking second at this race, Mityaev has won the 2024 Mont Blanc 90k and the 2025 Ultra Pirineu 100k, but has dropped from both the 2024 UTMB and 2024 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k. Let’s see how this goes!
American David Sinclair has been a standout runner for several years, but his ascendancy in 2024 took his career another step forward. To look at his top 2024 races, he started the year with two wins at more vert-y courses, the Broken Arrow Skyrace 46k and Speedgoat 50k. Then he totally shook things up with a historic, 10-minute course record at the longstanding JFK 50 Mile, running 5:08 on the super runnable course. On a course like Transvulcania’s, which involves a lot of vert over quite runnable terrain, Sinclair’s skillset should serve him well.
Andreas Reiterer
As far as we can tell, Italian Andreas Reiterer has been to Transvulcania once, in 2023, where he took third, 15 minutes back from the winner. That said, Reiterer has all the trail credentials pointing to an ability to win this event. He’s a prolific racer, and looking at his top results over the last few years shows a pair of podiums at the 2022 and 2023 Trail World Championships Long Trail, sixth place at the 2023 Les Templiers 80k, and a win at the 2024 Eiger Ultra Trail 101k. Let’s see how he fares in this year’s attempt at Transvulcania.
Slovakia’s Peter Fraňo appears to have finished Transvulcania once, but that was back in 2018 when he was less developed as a runner. In the years since, Fraňo has been eighth and third at the 2022 and 2023 Trail World Championships Long Trail, respectively. He’s also got three top CCC finishes, including fifth, seventh, and second at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 editions, respectively. It will be really interesting to see what he can do as a more fully developed ultrarunner at Transvulcania.
Pablo Villa
Spain’s Pablo Villa might be an outside shot at the win at this event, but the best part about ultramarathons is just how often the unexpected happens. Villa’s been to Transvulcania a couple of times before, racing in the top 10 of the ultra circa 2014 and 2015, and last year taking sixth at the event’s marathon distance race. Villa probably has the most robust racing resume of the top men here, including running on at least four Team Spains at the Trail World Championships, as well as winning Transgrancanaria a couple times and podiuming other times. Back in 2023, he took second at the 2023 Infinite Trails 60k behind winner Dmitry Mityaev.
The 2023 Transvulcania Ultramarathon men’s podium (left-to-right): 2. Damien Humbert, 1. Dakota Jones, and 3. Andreas Reiterer. Photo: Transvulcania
More Fast Men
Spain’s Manuel Anguita is no stranger to Transvulcania, with four prior finishes. This includes a seventh place last year, just 17 minutes behind the winner in what was a tight men’s race. This was also his fastest time by some 20 minutes over all those years of racing. Also in 2024, Anguita was fifth at the Mont Blanc 90k and eighth at UTMB. None of us should be surprised if Anguita finished higher in the field this year, given the strong racing he’s done in the interim.
Andreu Simon
Andreu Simón of Spain should contend. In the last couple of years, he’s had a pair of sixth places at the 2022 and 2024 CCC, the latter of which was behind second place Peter Fraňo. He also won Transgrancanaria in 2023 and was third at the 2024 Les Templiers 80k. Earlier this year, he won the super runnable EcoTrail Paris 80k as well. Admittedly, he’s one of the top men I’ve not seen race first-hand over the years, so I’m looking forward to seeing his combination of skills in the mountains and leg speed.
Matt Daniels of the U.S. will be a fun one to watch. An elite runner who has evolved to professional coaching but remains real fast himself, his top finishes over the last couple of years have included ninth at the 2023 Canyons 100k and second at the 2024 Chuckanut 50k.
Switzerland’s Ramon Manetsch is one of those runners who seems due a podium at an internationally competitive race. He’s so far landed near and in the top 10 of several of them, including a 12th place at the 2022 Trail World Championships Long Trail, eighth at the 2023 edition of the same race, and seventh at the 2024 CCC. I wonder if this year’s Transvulcania could be his breakout?
Luis Alberto Hernando
Luis Alberto Hernando (Spain) is the men’s course record holder, three-time champion, and just plain an icon of Spanish mountain ultras. While he is probably past his days of competing for the podium — he finished 12th at 38 minutes behind the winner at this race last year — he has a good chance of a top-10 finish. Hernando has always raced pretty selectively, and his last finish looks to be a second place at the Infinite Trails 60k last fall. It looks like he tried to race one of the Spanish spring openers, the Penyagolosa MiM 58k, but dropped.
Like the iRunFar team, it’s been since 2019 that Spain’s Jordi Gamito has been to Transvulcania, and that year he took 11th place. Gamito’s been racing ultras for a long time, and he’s still holding his own just fine. To look through his top results over the last few years, he’s a perennial top-10 finisher at the Ultra Pirineu 100k, including in 2022 and 2023, and he was third at the 2024 Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 115k.
When I think of France’s Kevin Vermeulen, I think of excellence in medium-distance trail running, the stuff that’s maybe four hours long or shorter. But he’s branched out as far as the 100k distance thus far, proving his ability at the longer distances as well. Looking at top performances in longer races, he was seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Canyons 100k and Les Templiers 80k last year. And for shorter stuff, he won the 2024 MCC, which is 38k long.
Lambert Santelli
We should expect to see Lambert Santelli of France making some noise in the men’s race. So far, it looks like his top races have been in 2023, when he won the Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 115k and was fourth at the Diagonale des Fous. A little over a month ago, he was fifth at the 2025 Ultra Trail Chianti 120k race, but was some 90 minutes behind the winner.
Santos Gabriel Rueda of Argentina is one of those runners who is always hovering among the top runners. While he has faster and slower results, he’s just plain dependable. Rueda’s top form over the years has probably been his 13th place at the 2023 UTMB. Another top result was 10th at the 2024 Transgrancanaria.
It’s always fun to watch longtime ultrarunner, the U.K.’s Harry Jones, compete. Over the last few years, his top result was an 11th place at the 2022 Trail World Championships Long Trail.
I’m eager to watch France’s Robin Juillaguet race, who seems relatively new to the ultra scene. In 2022, he finished just outside the top 10 at the Les Templiers 80k, and in 2023, moved up to finish fifth, within a second of Andreas Reiterer who took fourth.
Estanislao Rivero looks to be the Canarian with the best chance for a top finish in the men’s race. He’s finished Transgrancanaria at least seven times, including four top-10 finishes — in 2025, he was eighth. He’s also raced Transvulcania several times, but his last finish looks to be in 2018 when he was a different kind of runner.
Rounding out the top 10 at last year’s Transvulcania was Tobias Geiser of Italy. He also finished ninth at the 2023 edition, and he won the 2024 Grossglockner Ultra-Trail 110k. It will be fun to watch him vie for his third top-10 ranking.
Keep your eyes open for Spain’s Borja Fernández, who missed finishing in the top 10 of 2024 Transvulcania by under 30 seconds. I’m guessing his return means he’s looking to get inside that revered group this year.
Dmitry Mityaev (front) and Tom Evans running together in the 2024 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. Photo: Transvulcania
Call for Comments
- Alright, it’s your turn with your picks for the men’s podium at the 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. What do you think?
- Who should be in this preview and who isn’t? See an error or omission? You know what to do in the comments section!
