Manon Bohard Cailler of France ran a consistent race to finish second at the 2025 Hardrock 100. In the following interview, Manon talks about sharing early miles with Katharina Hartmuth, losing the ability to eat for the final 10 hours of the race, wanting to come back and try the event in the other direction, and what a gift it was to have her father pace her in the second half of the race.
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.]
Manon Bohard Cailler Post-2025 Hardrock 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Manon Bohard Cailler. It’s the day after the 2025 Hardrock 100 endurance run. You’re the women’s second-place finisher. Congratulations, Manon.
Manon Bohard Cailler: Thank you, Meghan. And I am, I enjoy the weather and the ceremony. It’s really, really good moments.
iRunFar: You have been in America for a few weeks with the intention of preparing for this race. And now the last three days has been living the adventure of this thing you’ve been thinking about. What’s on your mind right now?
Bohard Cailler: My mind is really good. Really positive race. Satisfied. I have good assimilation of altitude. It’s sure. I make 16 ascension climbs which were great, I think, pace, at the beginning, slow economic, and I had a lot of pleasure during 120 kilometers. The end, a little bit complicated because I couldn’t eat since Telluride. Really complicated to see food and even drink. I can’t drink a lot. So, complicated for the three final climbs, and then slow, slow at the end. But, the finish line and the time, I think is good. It’s not incredible, but it’s a good time for my first Hardrock.
iRunFar: Yeah. Yeah.
Bohard Cailler: So, I want to be better another time.
iRunFar: Ah, you want to do it again, do you?
Bohard Cailler: Maybe. Maybe. We are in love with Colorado.
iRunFar: Yeah. I love that. To ask you a few questions about early race, you and Katharina [Hartmuth] were spending some time together. Yes?
Bohard Cailler: Yeah.
iRunFar: Yeah. How was that?
Bohard Cailler: Katharina is a partner of Hoka team, so I know her. I know her ability, potential, for climbing. We have the same pace during the climb.
iRunFar: Okay.
Bohard Cailler: So, it’s really good moments. We speak. But after, I take my personal pace and doing the flat portion because there’s not really a lot of flat portions, but there is a portion where you run, and you run down, and maybe I take a few minutes for her. But I hoped to have more time with her, but I see it was more complicated for her after. But it was a great moment with her. Yeah.
iRunFar: I think after maybe 50 kilometers, it was for you, Katie [Schide] was quite far in front, and then Katherina was quite far back. So, you were by yourself running your own race for a large part of it.
Bohard Cailler: Yeah. A large part, but I am alone a long time.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Bohard Cailler: So when I take the pace, I was really happy with my father because, I pass, maybe, eight hours alone with, it’s incredible nature and environment, but I make, I put little bit music. I want to be concentrating on my pacing. But, a pacer, it’s really important for this kind of race for security, but even for the diversion. It’s important too, because it’s long. It’s very long.
iRunFar: Yeah. And so your pacer was your dad, Patrick, who’s 60 years old. And he paced you from Ouray to the finish?
Bohard Cailler: Yeah. Yeah.
iRunFar: What was that like?
Bohard Cailler: He’s not in the, the body this moment is little bit, injuries. So, he didn’t know if he can, if he’ll be able to make this part with me. So, it’s a challenge for him too, I think. A little bit pressured because he wants, really wants to support me at the end. So emotionally, the end is really, really strong. For me, it is an incredible adventure with him because, he loves to make this race. And when he sees a technical, long portion, with rock and mineral portion, “I don’t know if it is for me.” But he discovered the race and, I take his experience. So, it’s really important for me too. But father and daughter, not really easy, because emotionally, he is…
iRunFar: Very worried.
Bohard Cailler: Worried about if I fall, and me too, because he is 60. So the technical part, I am concentrating on his feet and not on my feet. So maybe it’s not the better choice, but I want really, make this edition with him. And, it is an incredible gift that he accepted, to make the pace.
iRunFar: Oh, such a gift. Yeah. You said you had stomach problems for the last three climbs. Do you think it was heat or altitude, or do you know maybe what happened?
Bohard Cailler: I have no problem with my stomach, this edition. I really, training with my support nutrition. And I am really better with my stomach. I patch it.
iRunFar: Oh, yeah.
Bohard Cailler: With, or put a compression on my stomach, so it’s better. But I have completely, I don’t want all food and…
iRunFar: Appetite is gone.
Bohard Cailler: Yeah. Appetite. No appetite. And I can’t force it because I have a problem with this. But no digestive problem,
iRunFar: I see.
Bohard Cailler: Impossible to eat for ten hours, and drink too. So I think there is training again for this, but it’s better, here by here, with this. So maybe one day I have a race with no problem.
iRunFar: No problems. Yeah.
Bohard Cailler: But I don’t know because ultra is really specifically for this, and we can’t run and eat. We are not made for that.
iRunFar: We’re not made. Yeah.
Bohard Cailler: There is no solution, I think, even training, and eating by feeling.
iRunFar: Last question for you. Hardrock is a dream race for many people, and I know you have thought about it for years. What did it feel like to reach the finish and to finish something you’ve been thinking about for so long?
Bohard Cailler: I don’t understand that.
iRunFar: Yeah. Like, Hardrock was a dream.
Bohard Cailler: Yeah.
iRunFar: Like, you really wanted to complete the race. So just trying to understand the feeling of the finish line for you.
Bohard Cailler: Really, satisfaction because I am really not sure to finish when I arrive here. Even if I have the information of altitude, slow, it’s long. It’s longer, like Diagonale [des Fous], but it is, it’s less kilometers. I have all of this information, but if you are not here, you can’t understand.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Bohard Cailler: Run in 4,000 meters. It’s really complicated. So, during 25, 30 hours, really, really incredible, big energy for your body. So, I don’t know before the race if I am able to run this race. And today, I am really satisfied of this because it’s a dream come true. And I have the patience to make another time to have another emotion and have a better preparation for this. Yeah.
iRunFar: Congratulations on your second-place finish.
Bohard Cailler: Thank you.
iRunFar: And I can’t wait to see you come back and go the other direction.
Bohard Cailler: Okay. I don’t know where, but if the lottery is okay with me. Maybe in two or three years.
iRunFar: Congratulations. Two or three years.
Bohard Cailler: Three years. Yeah. It’s maybe three years because another loop.
iRunFar: Yeah. There you go. Congratulations.
Bohard Cailler: Thank you.
