The 2025 Hardrock 100 is the first time France’s Manon Bohard Cailler is lining up for the event, and she says that the course holds many of the elements that French mountain runners look for. In the following interview, Manon talks about getting acclimated to the area and how the high elevation makes pacing tricky, her intentions for eating and drinking throughout the run, and getting to have her dad, Patrick Bohard, as her pacer.
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Manon Bohard Cailler Pre-2025 Hardrock 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Manon Bohard Cailler. It’s a couple of days before the 2025 Hardrock 100. Hi, Manon.
Manon Bohard Cailler: Hello, Meghan.
iRunFar: I guess I got your name kind of right.
Bohard Cailler: It’s okay. Manon Bohard Cailler. It’s it.
iRunFar: Very nice to meet you. Welcome to Silverton. This is my home and this is iRunFar’s headquarters.
Bohard Cailler: Me too. Really amazing to finish your first Hardrock, there is one on two here, I think, here for you.
iRunFar: Yeah, a couple of Hardrocks for me.
Bohard Cailler: I hope I will be another finisher for this year. Yes.
iRunFar: You will be.
Bohard Cailler: I hope. I have been here for two weeks. So the altitude, the acclimatization is good, the body is great. So, I have prepared my mind, and mentally to take part in this incredible adventure.
iRunFar: Right. So you’ve been here for two weeks, you said you’ve been acclimating to the altitude. Talk about that altitude for a little bit because much of this race takes place at 4,000 meters, which if you were in the Alps, you would be unable to run. You’d be on glaciers or climbing. Talk about what it’s like for you to come here and be running at these high altitudes.
Bohard Cailler: I am really positively surprised by my capacity to have a good feeling in altitude. But yes, when you climb at 4,000 meters, it’s complicated. The pace doesn’t really up, but the feeling, it’s incredibly difficult. Maybe take breaks, maybe ventilation a lot, drink a lot here, and eat more because we have more needs, energetic needs in altitude.
So, I think I have all the parameters to be fine during the race. But I am scared about the one, two, three, I think 15 or 16 climbs, and eight tops with—
iRunFar: 4,000 meters.
Bohard Cailler: 4,000 meters. It is incredible. So, I just want to be on my pace, on my race, and have a really slow start to assimilate all the tops, and all the parameters, eating, altitude. And it is an ultra, so it is, for the body, it is so—
iRunFar: Long…
Bohard Cailler: Long and with variability, cardiac variability, muscle. Maybe when you run in high altitudes, maybe you preserve your muscles. So maybe I have a good surprise after 100 kilometers. I don’t know. But I am excited and I am surprised. Then curiosity about my body, and want to make the race in good abilities.
iRunFar: Amazing.
Bohard Cailler: Yes.
iRunFar: You must have confidence though, because you have so much experience at big mountainous races. You were the Diagonal des Fous winner last year. You have won Madeira [Island Ultra-Trail], you have won TDS. Also, your family, your father is well known for his mountain running and you have been running with him since you were a child. So you must have confidence bringing all that experience, even though there are new things here.
Bohard Cailler: I don’t know if I have a lot of experience because in ultra trail, 100 miles, it is just my third. So I am, again, an amateur, I think. But yes, my feeling about this kind of endurance. It’s incredible. I love it. I have really good capacity when there is a hard climb and long down. So I think it is my profile, but with altitude, with all of the parameters I tell about just before, I don’t know. But I think it is a first experience and I hope maybe if there is another possibility, to have other experiences of this kind of run. Yes.
iRunFar: I am always very interested because French mountain runners and ultra mountain runners love Hardrock. They sign up for the lottery and then they come here. The French ultra athletes seem to have so much interest. Can you help to explain a little bit, in France, how do people think about Hardrock? Why is there this draw for people like you to come to here?
Bohard Cailler: Maybe in France and in Europe, the trail takes a huge exponential [growth.] Even if female, we are not enough at the start of the ultra, maybe it’ll be changed, I hope. But in France we like this kind of atmosphere, with wild and, austere?
iRunFar: Austere?
Bohard Cailler: Austere environments. When you, after two, three, four, five hours, when you return to civilization with ambience, good feelings, positive feelings, like here when you go to Silverton, it is a city. But for a long time you are alone with the nature, with wild, and your mind, and yourself. I think we search for this kind of adventure. We take this race like an adventure.
In France, we want to take part at American races, American dreams, like Hardrock or Western [States]. We follow a lot of this kind of race for lot of things. We love this Hardrock. My friend is really jealous, my friend, my family really. We learn about this in my family. My father [entered the lottery], a lot of [times]. So yes, it is really a privilege to be here for this, for running this race. Yes.
iRunFar: You mentioned your father, Patrick Bohard. He’s a famous icon of French trail running. He has applied for the Hardrock many times himself. He’s here to pace you.
Bohard Cailler: Yes, because I told him, put [in] the ticket, a lot of [times]. We went to Colorado when I was young as a family to go hiking and discover the country. So it’s normal and it is a chance, lucky for me to have my father pace me, follow me, help me during this race with his experience because I am building my experience. But he has a lot of experience about this, from Tor des Géants. It is maybe it’s feeling, it’s like the same…
iRunFar: Similar feelings.
Bohard Cailler: Similar feelings and similar world. So I think it is a good help, mentally and physically, and the adventure, without him, it’s not the same. My husband made the crew. So it’s a family adventure for me during this holiday and race. We discover culture, sport, discover Durango, discover all the places around Silverton. It’s important for us too.
iRunFar: I love it. Best of luck making your first lap in the Hardrock 100 and enjoy the family adventure.
Bohard Cailler: Yeah, thank you, Meghan. Wish me a little bit of luck because I think luck, it’s important for ultra. There is a part of luck.
iRunFar: Some confidence and a little bit of luck.
Bohard Cailler: Okay, cool.
iRunFar: Thank you.
