Last year’s champion, Ludovic Pommeret, of France, returns to the 2025 Hardrock 100 hoping to have another perfect day. In the following interview, Ludovic talks about the race last year, his training leading up to this year’s event, his thoughts on some of the other top men in the field, and what he hopes for during this lap around the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Also, a bonus question about living out of his car with his wife during his time in America.
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Ludovic Pommeret Pre-2025 Hardrock 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar, here with Ludovic Pommeret before the 2025 Hardrock 100. How are you, Ludo?
Ludovic Pommeret: Hi, Bryon. Hi, everyone.
iRunFar: You’re well?
Pommeret: I’m not so bad. Yeah. Just climbing to the shrine, it was a bit hard, but yeah. I think it’s okay. It’s like stairs. You know?
iRunFar: Yeah.
Pommeret: You are never ready. You climb stairs, and you say, Oh no, I’m not ready. I’m breathing too hard.
iRunFar: Good thing Hardrock is a very gradual course.
Pommeret: Most part.
iRunFar: So, you’ve been here, well, let me go back to last year. It’s been a year since you ran and won Hardrock in, of course, record time. Do you have any thoughts on that a year later, what that accomplishment means to you?
Pommeret: I’m not sure I have caught the meaning. One year after, what’s the meaning?
iRunFar: Yeah, your Hardrock win.
Pommeret: Yeah, it was the perfect day. So, what’s to say? I have to add nothing. Yeah, I’m just wondering if I should come again because when you have a perfect day, there’s a huge chance that it’s, again, a perfect day.
iRunFar: It’s a gamble. It’s a risk.
Pommeret: Yes, it’s a risk.
iRunFar: Because right now you have the perfect image of perfect race.
Pommeret: Yeah, but as the bibs are really hard to get, so when you have one free, you have one.
iRunFar: You have one?
Pommeret: You can’t refuse. So that’s why I’m here and we’ll see. And I don’t know if it’s you or someone else that told me that to be a real Hardrocker, you have to do both directions.
iRunFar: That’s kind of the old school legend of it. Yeah. You’re a Hardrocker after both finishes.
Pommeret: Both finishes or both directions?
iRunFar: Well, both directions. Yeah.
Pommeret: Both directions.
iRunFar: Both directions. Well, you’re back here. Since Hardrock last year, you finished fifth at UTMB and it’s just a long string of accomplishments for you. Is going to and running these races in the mountain still play? Is it work? What is the training to you? Do you enjoy it a lot?
Pommeret: Yeah, I enjoy it to be here for the training first. For the travel also because we arrived quite early, even earlier than last year. And we enjoyed some parts in Colorado, to the Great Dune Sands.
iRunFar: The Great Sand Dunes National Park, yeah.
Pommeret: Great Sand Dunes, okay, not in order.
iRunFar: No, it’s okay.
Pommeret: And I just go to Leadville to see why Courtney is so strong, maybe because of altitude. Not only.
iRunFar: Not only, yeah.
Pommeret: So, it was great to have a bit of a road trip and then I spent time here in Silverton for Softrock and just hike a bit around.
iRunFar: So, you’ve been in the United States for almost a month now? More than a month?
Pommeret: More than one month, yeah, 4th of June.
iRunFar: Outside of running, are there any best adventures or favorite memories of that time so far?
Pommeret: I don’t know. The bear on Red Mountain Pass that was just eating a deer five meters from us. So yeah, that was nice.
iRunFar: You were driving over the road?
Pommeret: We were on the grass, so it was okay. And then the marmot at Kendall Mountain was fun also. Not fun, but…
iRunFar: What happened?
Pommeret: She tried to eat the wires of the car. And we just woke up because we were sleeping there and they just wake up at half past 6, so that’s nice but…
iRunFar: Yeah, that’s a problem here. The marmots can get into the cars.
Pommeret: Yeah, they could damage the cars, so that’s why we wanted to chase it.
iRunFar: And so, you have been also running quite a bit here in the U.S. So, you’ve done at least two Softrocks. You’ve done a bunch of other training on the course. I think you’ve run more on the course than anybody this year. What have you enjoyed on the course so far?
Pommeret: There’s different parts, but I like to know the trail. I will not need to put my navigation even if I have one. But no, I like some parts and I have done Softrock, the first Softrock with the backpacking and tent and so on with Celine so it’s…
iRunFar: Your wife?
Pommeret: Yeah, it’s another adventure. And yeah, I really like this trail. Some parts are difficult. I have not done only the Hardrock trail. I have done several also 14ers like Redcloud, Sunshine, Sneffel. Uncompahgre, I never could never pronounce it.
iRunFar: Uncompahgre.
Pommeret: Uncompahgre.
iRunFar: Very good.
Pommeret: Wetterhorn, a tricky one.
iRunFar: Wetterhorn, yeah.
Pommeret: So that night I was also on [San Juan] Solstice 50 [Mile] for cheering a bit.
iRunFar: The San Juan Solstice? Yeah, great. Did you do your second Softrock with Mathieu Blanchard for some of it or no?
Pommeret: Yeah, a young guy in trail running, he’s quite promising.
iRunFar: I don’t know if he can hold up with the old guys, though.
Pommeret: You have to take care, take care also, because I think I heard that he’s eating American quads, so you have to take care. I’m French so I’m safe.
iRunFar: Maybe Mathieu will share. So you are back here at Hardrock and you had the perfect race last time. What can you hope to get from this race?
Pommeret: Why not have a perfect second race?
iRunFar: Why not? I like it.
Pommeret: I waited 25 years to get a perfect day. Why not twice in two years? I don’t know.
iRunFar: Okay. I like it. And do you feel your fitness is as strong as last year or similar?
Pommeret: It’s still difficult to say. As I say, just to climb the shrine was difficult, but it’s okay. I have not big injuries. I still have some small, but when you are old you always have injuries, so you have to deal with them.
iRunFar: Indeed.
Pommeret: And no, nothing is red.
iRunFar: Nice.
Pommeret: We have most of green, small orange, but that’s okay.
iRunFar: And you’ll rest for two days, and it’ll be okay.
Pommeret: Yeah, I have two days of rest. So lot of time to recover.
iRunFar: Perfect. Well, best of luck, Ludo. I hope you have another perfect day out there.
Pommeret: Thanks. I hope so.
iRunFar: And a bonus question for you, Ludo.
Pommeret: Okay.
iRunFar: For much of the time you’ve been in the United States, you were camping in your rental car with your wife. That’s a dream to be the dirtbag trail runner in one’s 20s or 30s. But it’s kind of a challenge as we get close to 50. Do you have any tips for keeping it fun?
Pommeret: Yeah, we got really quite a big car, seven seats, so we can have quite space in the back to lay down with, not a real mattress, but at least in inflatable one and with a real pillow. So, no, it’s good. Just the river are quite cold for the bath, but by chance we can take sometimes hot showers in Silverton or Lake City.
iRunFar: Nice. It’s good to hear that.
