France’s Ludovic Pommeret repeated his victory from last year by dominantly winning the 2025 Hardrock 100. In the following interview, Ludo talks about his plan to climb conservatively and push the pace on the downhills, being worried about the smoke in the air during the early miles of the event, and enjoying the final miles of the race, including having the luxury of walking the final climb up Shrine Road shortly before the finish.
Read our 2025 Hardrock 100 results article for the full play-by-play on this year’s race.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to access it.]
Ludovic Pommeret, 2025 Hardrock 100 Champion, Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Ludovic Pommeret after his win at the 2025 Hardrock 100. How are you, Ludo?
Ludovic Pommeret: Not so bad. Good now.
iRunFar: Yeah. The ice cream helped?
Pommeret: Yeah. Ice cream. That ice cream helped a lot.
iRunFar: So, you won yesterday. You had a good race for yourself. The first half, it looked almost like I was watching a replay of last year.
Pommeret: [laughs]
iRunFar: Did the first half feel similarly good?
Pommeret: Yeah. I was good at the beginning of the race. I was not so bad at the end. But yeah. At the beginning of the race, this direction is quite fast because you have, let’s say, the “easy part” at the beginning. Thank you.
iRunFar: “Easy.” [laughs]
Pommeret: No. You still have Handies that is not that easy. Now that you have the most runnable part at the beginning of the race, and then you have this, yeah, last four big uphill or at least three from Telluride, but I count also the one from Ouray.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Pommeret: That is a big one.
iRunFar: We’ll get there. We’ll get there. But the first half, you felt pretty good.
Pommeret: Yeah. I was feeling pretty good. I was just having a pace, not easy, but yeah. A comfortable pace uphill.
iRunFar: Mm hmm.
Pommeret: Was pushing a bit more downhill. And yeah. That was feeling good.
iRunFar: Some of the folks who were racing at the front said that leaving Pole Creek and heading down to Sherman, you maybe tried to make a move or accelerate on the descent. Pretty, maybe aggressive?
Pommeret: Yeah. But that’s the trend that I wanted to give, for me on this race, to have a normal or easy pace on the uphill and to push a bit more on the downhill. I knew that my legs would support at least several downhills. At the end, it was a bit more difficult, but everything was good. Except really for me the beginning of the race, with the smoke, I was not feeling that good. And I was thinking to withdraw, yeah. To drop from the race.
iRunFar: Really?
Pommeret: Because, yeah.
iRunFar: For your health or you’re just in even in the moment you didn’t feel well?
Pommeret: Yeah. Because I knew that in Ouray, it was really smoky in the morning, and it will get worse. So, but finally, the winds turned. So yeah, to remove the smoke, so it was good to continue.
iRunFar: Yeah. So, for much of the first half and even past that, you were on course record pace. On it or a little bit ahead. Were you thinking of that or are you just running your own [race]?
Pommeret: I was not checking. Yeah. I knew in Ouray, because I arrived around the course record. But then, I just focused on my pace. And yeah. I was more playing the race than the course record, but I still had it in the mind. And my pacers, too, because when Vincent [Bouillard] took the pacing after Jim [Walmsley], he was pushing, because we were just a bit late.
iRunFar: Mm hmm.
Pommeret: Close, but still a bit late. So, he was pushing a lot. I tried to push more on the uphill, but then it was also worse on the downhill. So, yeah. And then at the end, I knew that it was over for the course record. So I just finished the race, let’s say, yeah, in a more comfortable zone.
iRunFar: Not like last year?
Pommeret: Yeah. Not like last year. I didn’t want to finish like last year. And we just had a, we were scared during one moment because when we were crossing the river,
iRunFar: Yeah.
Pommeret: Where there’s just a small uphill after, we seen two lights just behind. So I went, “No, it’s not possible. Not the runners that are coming now.” And so I, yeah. We were just pushing until Vincent was checking the split. And he said, “No. It’s not runners.”
iRunFar: We’re going to back up a little bit because coming out of Ouray to Kroger’s, you had multiple problems. Things went wrong.
Pommeret: [laughs] Yeah.
iRunFar: So, what happened in the tunnel coming out of Ouray?
Pommeret: Yeah. Just before the tunnel, Jim told me, “Remove your cap for the tunnel.” And just a few minutes after, I did not remove my cap. And just before entering the tunnel, I just hit the rock. And going out the tunnel, I was feeling the blood on my face. And, okay, I was feeling good, and Jim just had a look, and said, “It seems not too bad. So just put the cap on, cover that.” And a little later, when we crossed the river, Jim removed his shirt and just cleaned a bit my face.
iRunFar: Aw.
Pommeret: Just that, if we arrived at the aid station full of blood, they would not stop me. [laughs]
iRunFar: To be fair, Jim also said, “If a competitor comes next to you, but if you’re all bloody and the other competitors know that, [they will think] Oh, maybe he’s injured or hurt.”
Pommeret: Oh, yeah. It was more that they don’t stop you at the aid station.
iRunFar: Okay.
Pommeret: Because I felt not bad.
iRunFar: And you had no concussion or,
Pommeret: No, no. It was okay. I was feeling good, but just feeling the blood and yeah, the face. But yeah, it was okay. It was under the hat and all good.
iRunFar: And what happened on the final climb up to Kroger’s?
Pommeret: On the final climb, nothing special. It’s just steep, and I broke one pole at the end, just at the rear end. I think it was already a bit damaged before.
iRunFar: Okay.
Pommeret: Because I saw that there was one part that was bending a bit too much. So, yeah, it just broke on the final part of Kroger’s. It was nice with the sunset there.
iRunFar: It looked beautiful.
Pommeret: Yeah. And they were not proposing the mezcal so Jim had to ask for it. [laughs]
iRunFar: And he has it?
Pommeret: He has it for sure. You have to take the mezcal, that’s for luck, you know.
iRunFar: You know, but it’s maybe the case. So, then you’re continuing on the course. And at this point, Mathieu [Blanchard] is still not that far behind.
Pommeret: Yeah. In fact, I never, from Handies, I’ve never seen anyone after. Yeah. Just at Engineer, there was someone when I was really at the end, someone was coming. Maybe Zach [Miller], I don’t know if it was Zach.
iRunFar: All three of them were really close.
Pommeret: But then I’ve never seen them. And I was not asking, I was just keeping my own pace. And pushing, doing what I can.
iRunFar: I think Jim said that maybe he even asked you if you wanted to know what the difference was, but you were,
Pommeret: No. I said, I wanted to stay on my pace.
iRunFar: You can only go as strong as you can go.
Pommeret: Yeah. No need to know where are the other runners until I stay on my pace. And if there’s something going really bad, maybe I want to know, or if I have some margin or not. But whatever. It’s a race, so you have to push what you can.
iRunFar: And things got hard, but nothing went horribly.
Pommeret: No. But Grant Swamp Pass was quite long. And the last downhill is, on the paper, it’s quite short. It’s when you are at the top, only 12 kilometers. So, I don’t know in miles, but. And you say, okay, maybe it could be one hour. But no, it’s not one hour because it’s a single trail. You don’t see. There’s a lot of grass. There’s a lot of rocks, so it’s not too fast. And that’s the last one also.
iRunFar: Mm hmm.
Pommeret: So, you are still always afraid to yet, to make a mistake and fall down.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Pommeret: And the course could be over in the last down, you know.
iRunFar: And was it nice to arrive at the last four kilometers on the nicer trail, the Rainbow Trail? Was it nice to not have to push 100%, like last year you did?
Pommeret: Yeah. Except we didn’t, because we had seen these two lights. So just end of the last uphill and the maybe the first 500 meters, we pushed because we had seen this light. And then Vincent checked on his phone, and then we relaxed and enjoyed the rest. Yeah. Last year, I did not enjoy so much the end of the race because I was pushing too hard. This time we were speaking, and walking all the way to the shrine, so.
iRunFar: You got the walk the last uphill climb. So obviously you were running really well. You were on course record pace. When you start to fall off that or you were going slower on those last three climbs, how do you keep your mind in a in a positive place? How do you stay happy?
Pommeret: Yeah. Okay. Even if I miss the record, it’s still a win in this race. So, yeah. I was happy for that. And there were also good runners, even better than me on the paper, that are behind. So, you can only be happy for that.
iRunFar: Of course. So I want to know the other of your competitors, Mathieu, Germain [Grangier], they are all talking about how strong you are descending. Like, incredible. And, do you have any advice or tips for people to be better?
Pommeret: I could not say all my secrets. [laughs] No, but I knew that my legs were ready for downhill. I don’t know how many downhills, but at least a few of them. So, yeah, I tried to push and make the difference. Yeah, it’s also a way to manage the race. And, yeah. When the other racers say that they take several minutes in the downhill, maybe they will push more the next one, but maybe it’s not good for them. So, yeah. Maybe it’s one of my strengths to have this downhill, especially when it’s not so technical. When it’s too much technical, I don’t want to take too much risk. So, yeah.
iRunFar: But I also see that not everyone uses poles on the descent, but you do, yes?
Pommeret: Depends. More at the end. Yeah. It depends. On the technical part I like to use them. When it’s fast, of course, I’m not using. But, yeah, I use them. I know there’s not so many runner [using them], I think Germain is using a bit also downhill. So yeah, it depends.
iRunFar: Yeah. Do you plan to run any more long events this year?
Pommeret: Long events? Yes. I have a bib for UTMB and Grand Raid de la Réunion. So Grand Raid de la Réunion for sure and UTMB, I still don’t know.
iRunFar: Maybe not both.
Pommeret: Yeah.
iRunFar: Well, congratulations on your second win here.
Pommeret: Thanks, Bryon.
iRunFar: And do you think we might see you back here next year?
Pommeret: It could be. It’s possible. I have a bib, you know?
iRunFar: And you did joke at the finish,
Pommeret: Now I am a true Hardrocker.
iRunFar: You are a true Hardrocker, but I heard you want Dale to add a third direction?
Pommeret: Yes, yes. If you can find one.
iRunFar: Bravo.
