Two-time defending champion and course record holder Ludovic Pommeret of France comes to the 2026 Hardrock 100 after a month-long adventure of running in the Colorado mountains. In the following interview, Ludo talks about what keeps bringing him back to the race, how he has no real training plan, his Softrock loops this year, training with some of the other top men in the lead-up to the race, the secret to his longevity as a runner, and his Fourth of July 5k race in Silverton dressed as a rooster.
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Ludovic Pommeret Pre-2026 Hardrock 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Eszter Horanyi with iRunFar here with Ludo Pommeret. We are about four and a half days before the 2026 Hardrock 100.
Ludovic Pommeret: Oh, four and a half day. Okay.
iRunFar: How are you feeling?
Pommeret: Good. The training is done. Now we have to wait, see how the fires are behaving and the smokes, and we’ll see. But yeah, now I feel not too bad, but it’s still a huge work to do. Each time I’m doing a Softrock, I say, “How I can do that in one row?” So we see.
iRunFar: Yeah. But you’re a two-time defending champion. You’re the course record holder. What draws you back to this race every year?
Pommeret: Why not? Because I have a bib.
iRunFar: Fair.
Pommeret: Yeah, you have a bib. So the bib are quite rare. You can say rare? Yeah, okay. So when you have won, you should come back, and it’s a good time also to visit Colorado. I have not done whole Colorado. I’ve not yet been in Rocky Mountain [National Park]. So maybe next time. I don’t know.
iRunFar: Yeah. That’s one of the things I’d like to ask, is how much of Hardrock because you’ve been here for four weeks or almost six weeks now, I guess, give or take.
Pommeret: Yeah, one month.
iRunFar: How much of Hardrock is an excuse to just come play in the U.S.?
Pommeret: Yeah, that’s correct. That’s exactly that, because when you are at home, you can train, but you always have something else to do. When you are here, okay, you train and then you are … First, you have to acclimatize and so you train quite easy. I can do some hike with my wife and a bit of tourism, but hiking tourism. So now for sure, it’s an excuse that we have six weeks that is kind of vacation.
iRunFar: Yeah. And you have a really unique way of traveling around the U.S. when you come here. It’s very not the standard professional runner way of doing things.
Pommeret: Now it’s almost glamping, you know, because we have more and more comfort, I would say. And now we have a mattress in the car. Last year, it was not. We have a solar shower, so now it’s good.
iRunFar: So you’re no longer bathing in creeks. You have an actual solar shower?
Pommeret: Yeah, yeah, that’s good. But it’s good to be in the car because you can move everywhere and it’s quite easy to camp everywhere in Colorado. So that’s good.
iRunFar: Yeah. And what has this America tour consisted of?
Pommeret: America tour?
iRunFar: Yeah, like this trip to America. What have you gotten up to?
Pommeret: I discovered other part of Colorado, like Pikes Peak and part of some 14ers of the Sawatch Range. Next time, maybe Rocky Mountain, we’ll see. But it’s good to mix this work for Hardrock for acclimatize and also do some 14ers. That’s funny to see some of them. Some are not that easy, but some are easy. So it’s good.
iRunFar: Yeah. I have to ask, what did you think of the Sawatch and those 14ers over there?
Pommeret: Yeah, that’s good. I did one, during one hike, I was alone, not with Céline this time. I did three of them. It’s Yale, Harvard, and Columbia.
iRunFar: That seems about right.
Pommeret: And on the map it looks quite easy. And then between Harvard and Columbia it was not that easy.
iRunFar: Did you stay on the high ridge or did you drop down?
Pommeret: No, I stay on the ridge.
iRunFar: Okay. That was exciting.
Pommeret: Yeah, but on the map there was a trail. Yeah, it’s almost a trail. But it was funny because there was a mountain goat, and that was the first time that I see mountain goat as close, and it’s quite huge. The white one, I know it’s mountain goat, the big one, white.
iRunFar: Then when did you get to Silverton?
Pommeret: I think around the 14th of June.
iRunFar: Okay.
Pommeret: And then we started the backpacking Softrock as usual, I would say. And it was nice to have some hike with Céline, and she did not do the full Softrock. She made some shortcuts and some side-by-side hitchhiking. It’s quite easy to get some shortcut by the jeep or side-by-side. So that’s good.
iRunFar: Yeah. And I believe you’ve done two and a half Softrocks already this year?
Pommeret: Yeah. Almost three. Missing some small pieces, but then …
iRunFar: That’s what’s curious to me, is a lot of people, they come here and they have really specific training plans. They have intervals to do and a certain number of miles. And it feels like you come here and you go do Softrock two and a half times and you’re just out playing in the mountains.
Pommeret: Yeah, that’s correct. I have no plan and my coach say, “It was not so bad the first time, so let’s do the same.” And I’m not doing interval. For me, doing interval at high altitude, maybe it makes more fatigue. Mainly it’s slow pace and sometimes you are just … I have done Handies up and down quite fast just to give a higher pacing, but most of the time it’s quite low pace, just try to acclimatize a bit.
iRunFar: So it really is, you’re just out here playing?
Pommeret: Yeah, and I can change my plan depending on if there’s friend, or I did with Tom [Evans]. But yeah, I have no real plans. Just, I try to have more race day when we are close to the race, of course. But this morning, I hike with Jimmy [Keene] really slow. It was nice.
iRunFar: So it feels like there’s been a whole group of elite men who’ve been out here in the month of June that you’ve been training with. What has that been like, running with Tom and running with Jimmy and having that group?
Pommeret: So Jimmy did, I this morning was my driver. That’s not Jimmy Elam.
iRunFar: Oh, the other Jimmy. Jimmy Keene.
Pommeret: Yeah, Jimmy Keene. So thanks for what he’s doing because he is giving a really strong help on that. So that’s good. And I run with Jason [Schlarb], Jimmy [Elam], Tom. It’s nice to share some miles together. And I remember the first with Jason and Jimmy Elam. It was a bit fast. But with Tom, the first part of Softrock that we had done together was really blah, blah, hiking and it was nice. We didn’t see the time running, so it was good to share and to know a bit more. I know them, but not that deep. When you are sharing a long hike, you can share a lot more.
iRunFar: Yeah, yeah. It feels like there’s just been like this sense of camaraderie that you’ve all had.
Pommeret: Yeah, of course. We will race against each other. But everybody is preparing what they think is the best, and we’ll see during the race, but it’s not a reason to not train together. Of course, you can have some specific training alone because you want to be alone this time, but yeah, let’s say endurance run or hike, it’s good to share. And I like to share with someone and to not be alone all the time in the mountains. I like sharing that, yes.
iRunFar: So last year when we did our pre-race interview with you, we talked about, you’re one of the older runners here and you talked about as you get older, there’s always little injuries, but there weren’t any red flags.
Pommeret: Yeah. Still the case.
iRunFar: Still the case?
Pommeret: Sometimes small pain in the knees, but I think nothing that could prevent, at least start the race because now maybe just one hike on Tuesday and then it’s rest. So everything is more or less green, as green as it could be when you are 50 years old.
iRunFar: So the follow-up question, like the actual question I want to ask, how do you do it? What’s the key?
Pommeret: For what?
iRunFar: To being a 50 year old and being out here doing this at your level. What’s the secret sauce?
Pommeret: I think there’s no secret. I’m slower, I’m slower, but I can compensate with other knowledge, I would say, about pacing. Just about mental preparation maybe. It’s funny because each time I’m with Jimmy Keene, my driver who drive my crew, I say, “I’m not professional.” You see, when we are discussing with Tom, he’s much more professional than I am, but it’s the way I like to be just by the feeling. And try what I think to be the good way to prepare, but I don’t know.
iRunFar: So last question. I believe yesterday you did a bit of an opener race during the Silverton 4th of July celebrations [the Blue Ribbon 5k].
Pommeret: Yes.
iRunFar: Can you tell us a bit about that?
Pommeret: Yeah, yeah. I did not get my PR. I don’t know why, but I was running with Jimmy Keene and I was running with a rooster costume. You say costume or outfit? Yeah. So that was funny, not that much comfortable for run, but you know that the rooster is the French animal, like you have the eagle for the USA. So that’s the rooster for French, so that’s why we were carrying all that. And then we did the parade with the Hardrock community, Hardrock runners, with my crew, with all … We were six in rooster, so it was nice.
iRunFar: I think that sounds like perfect preparation. Well Ludo, best of luck on Friday and we’ll see you out on course.
Pommeret: Thank you. Bye-bye.
