This Week In Running: October 20, 2025

World championships, world records, and racing all over the world. There’s a lot to talk about!

You can also check out our race coverage from earlier in the weekend:

• 2025 IAU 24-Hour World Championships Results: Sarah Webster Smashes World Record, Andrii Tkachuk Wins
• Great Britain’s Sarah Webster Sets Women’s 24-Hour World Record

IAU 24-Hour World Championships – Albi, France

The world’s best raced all day on a 1.5-kilometer (0.93 miles) loop. It was the 15th edition of the race and the first IAU 24-Hour World Championships since 2023.

Men’s Race

After a well-paced start that put him behind numerous competitors, Andrii Tkachuk (Ukraine) gained the lead some seven hours into the race and added to his advantage the rest of the way. Tkachuk totaled 294.3k (182.8 miles), nearly nine kilometers better than his closest chaser. He was third at the 2023 championships.

On wildly different terrain, Tkachuk was 121st at the Trail World Championships Long Trail race just three weeks ago.

Late passes pushed Jo Inge Norum (Norway) and Matti Jonkka (Finland) into the silver- and bronze-medal positions with 285.5k (177.4 miles) and 283.6k (176.2 miles), respectively.

Matt Urbanski was the top U.S. finisher in 19th with 255.0k (158.4 miles).

World-record holder Aleksandr Sorokin (Lithuania) did not start the race. His world record from 2022 stands at 319.6k (198.5 miles).

Finland won the team race, with France and Poland second and third.

Men’s Top 10

1. Andrii Tkachuk (Ukraine) – 294.346k (182.898 miles)
2. Jo Inge Norum (Norway) – 285.513k (177.409 miles)
3. Matti Jonkka (Finland) – 283.699k (176.282 miles)
4. Támas Bódis (Hungary) – 279.780k (173.847 miles)
5. Emil Krog Ingerslev (Denmark) – 278.132k (172.823 miles)
6. Andrzej Piotrowski (Poland) – 274.313k (170.450 miles)
7. Radek Brunner (Czech Republic) – 271.182k (168.504 miles)
8. Tomi Ronkainen (Finland) – 269.788k (167.638 miles)
9. Diego Filiu (France) – 266.554k (165.628 miles)
10. Geeno Antony (India) – 265.198k (164.786 miles)

Women’s Race

Only after nine hours did Sarah Webster (Great Britain) get into the top five, and only after 17 hours did she take the go-ahead lead. Webster went on to win with 278.6k (173.1 miles), and it was a new world record, surpassing the 2023 record by Japan’s Miho Nakata. Webster smashed Nakata’s old mark by over 8k (5 miles). She finished fifth overall, too.

It really did take a world record to win the race. Webster led Holly Ranson (Australia) in second and Nakata herself in third, past Nakata’s old mark, too.

Ranson was second with 274.1k (170.3 miles), and Nakata, the 2023 world champion and then-world-record holder, was third with 271.9k (169.0 miles).

Marisa Lizak was the top American in seventh place with 247.1k (153.5 miles)

Great Britain won the team competition ahead of Australia and Japan.

Women’s Top 10

1. Sarah Webster (Great Britain) – 278.622k (173.127 miles)
2. Holly Ranson (Australia) – 274.172k (170.362 miles)
3. Miho Nakata (Japan) – 271.987k (169.004 miles)
4. Kelsey Price (Great Britain) – 257.129k (159.772 miles)
5. Patrycja Bereznowska (Poland) – 251.371k (156.194 miles)
6. Carmen Maria Pérez (Spain) – 249.480k (155.019 miles)
7. Marisa Lizak (U.S.) – 247.190k (153.596 miles)
8. Corrine Gruffaz (France) – 245.359k (152.459 miles)
9. Ida Slorafoss (Norway) – 241.467k (150.040 miles)
10. Katarzyna Chojnacka (Poland) – 238.305k (148.075 miles)

Full results.

Diagonale des Fous – Réunion Island, France

The 165-kilometer (102 miles) island traverse is one of the world’s classic and most difficult 100 milers. The course gained roughly 10,000 meters (32,800 feet) on mostly technical trails.

Men

French men took the first four finish spots, and Baptiste Chassagne took the win while working on short recovery. Chassagne won here in 23:31, and he led the entire race. Just three weeks ago, Chassagne was 11th at the Trail World Championships Long Trail race in Spain.

Yannick Noël was second in 24:27, 2023 race winner Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz was third in 25:13, and Ludovic Pommeret was fourth in 25:30. It was Pommeret’s third big 100 miler of the year. He won the Hardrock 100 and was sixth at UTMB, all within the last three months.

Women

The women’s race wasn’t even close, and Blandine L’Hirondel (France) won by five hours with a time of 27:26.

Marianne Hogan (Canada) chased but dropped 124k into the race while still in second place, and then there was no one close to L’Hirondel, whose time was five minutes better than Katie Schide’s winning time from the 2023 race.

L’Hirondel was doubling back from a fourth-place run at August’s CCC race.

Second- and third-place Manon Campano (France) and Anne Champagne (Canada) finished in 32:33 and 33:01, respectively.

Full results.

Les Templiers – Millau, France

Endurance Trail

The long course 100k contest had Rémy Brassac (France) and Agathe Bes (France) in first at 9:37 and 11:13. There were nearly 1,300 finishers in this one.

Grand Trail des Templiers

There’s a lot of race distances at this event, but the 80k (50 miles) race stands as the premier race, and nearly 2,700 runners lined up at the start.

The top five men all finished under seven hours, and Pierre Livache (France) scored a 40-second win over Juho Ylinen (Finland) for the win. Livache and Ylinen ran 6:45 and 6:46, and third-place Antoine Thiriat (France) was only minutes behind in third at 6:49.

Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) kept the host country from a sweep at the marquee distance. Fielder ran 7:53 to win the women’s race, six minutes better than second-place Marie Goncalves (France), who finished in 7:59. Adeline Martin (France) was further back in third at 8:11. Fielder won last year’s race in 7:42.

Boffi Fifty

Clément Lalba (France) and Jessica Brazeau (U.S.) won the 47k race in 4:05 and 4:57, respectively.

Marathon des Causses

Ninth at the recent Trail World Championships Short Trail contest, Sylvain Cachard (France) came back to win the 34k race here in 2:35. Women’s winner Julie Lelong (France) did it in 3:06.

Full results.

Défi des Couleurs – Beaupré, Quebec, Canada

The three-day event hosted the Canadian Mountain Running Championships for Vertical and Up and Down disciplines.

MSA Vertical

Saturday’s race went up 760 meters over 5k in distance. Meikael Beaudoin-Rousseau (U.S./Canada) got to the top first in 28:06. Beaudoin-Rousseau holds both U.S. and Canadian citizenship, and this win makes him the Canadian Uphill Champion. Canada’s Remi Leroux and Alexandre Ricard were second and third in 28:25 and 29:20.

Canadians made up the top three women. Tenth at the World Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race three weekends ago, Élisa Morin won the women’s climb in 33:55. Catherine Cormier and Courtney Brohart were next to the top in 34:36 and 35:49.

MSA Up and Down

The next day 10.5k race ran up-down, up-down with two high points and 960 meters of elevation gain.

Remi Leroux doubled back and won the race in 51:25, over two minutes better than David Sinclair (U.S.) and his 53:33 run. Sinclair was fourth in the Vertical race. Alexandre Ricard was third for the second straight day, finishing in 56:02.

Canadian women again swept the podium. Élisa Morin scored victory again with a 64:07 run. Claudine Soucie and Courtney Brohart were second and third in 66:58 and 68:28. Brohart was also third for the second straight day.

Full results.

Big Dog’s Backyard World Championships – Bell Buckle, Tennessee

They’ll be going for a while on the 4.16-mile loop. This year’s event was the individual world championships for the backyard discipline, and 75 runners from 40 different countries were expected at the start on Saturday morning local time.

Backyard world-record holders Phil Gore (Australia) and Megan Eckert (U.S.) are still racing as of this article’s writing on Sunday evening, and so are former record holders Merijn Geerts (Belgium), Ivo Steyaert (Belgium), and Harvey Lewis (U.S.).

Former world record-holder Łukasz Wróbel (Poland) missed the time cutoff after 17 hours, and Sam Harvey (New Zealand) is out too after 24 hours.

Full results.

Additional Races and Runs

Fully Vertical Kilometer – Fully, Switzerland

Just weeks after winning the World Mountain Running Championships Uphill race, Rémi Bonnet (Switzerland) scored a new vertical kilometer world record. Bonnet climbed 1,000 meters in 1.92 kilometers in 27:21. The climb averages 52% grade, so steep that helmets are required. Bonnet climbed with poles. Philip Götsch (Italy) set the previous world record at 28:53 on this same course in 2017. Axelle Mollaret (France) won the women’s race in 32:52, and that too was a new world record. Incredibly, Mollaret has now bested the women’s world record three times in the last couple months. Full results.

Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon – Malaysia

Both course records fell in the race’s 32nd year. The mountain run went for 26k with just over 2,500 meters of elevation, and it was part of the Skyrunner World Series. Italy swept the men’s podium with Gianluca Ghiano, William Boffeli, and Luca Del Pero going one-two-three in 3:05, 3:06, and 3:15. Ghiano was 32 seconds better than Boffeli. The women’s race wasn’t nearly as close. Anastasia Rubtsova (Russia) crushed everyone else with a 3:46 winning time. Ainara Alcuaz (Spain) and Lina El Kott (Sweden) were second and third in 4:12 and 4:27. Full results.

Ultra-Trail Ninghai – Ningbo, Zhejiang, China

The event dates back to 2013 in mountainous eastern China and is held, in part, on a historic hiking trail running through mountains and bamboo forests. The long course went 64 miles and had over 16,000 feet of climbing. Ionel Manole (Romania, living in Spain) gained the lead near mile 30 and won in 10:37. He was the only non-Chinese man inside the top 10. Manole was fifth here a year ago also in 10:37. Ling-Jie Chi (China) scored an upset win over Fu-Zhao Xiang (China) in the women’s race. The two ran 11:34 and 11:48. The top 10 in the men’s 36-mile race was entirely Chinese, with Er-Qing Wu winning in 5:01. Ruth Croft (New Zealand) scored a women’s win over Hậu Hà (Vietnam) with 5:51 and 5:58 finishes. Full results.

Cappadocia Ultra-Trail – Cappadocia, Türkiye

Christian Meier (Canada) and Anastasiia Shpak (Russia) won the 63k race in 5:21 and 5:53. Full results.

Trail de Bourbon – Réunion Island, France

Held as part of the Grand Raid Réunion event alongside Diagonale des Fous, Jean-Charles Breton (France) and Clémentine Geoffray (France) won the 103k race in 13:38 and 15:23. Geoffray was sixth at the recent Trail World Championships Short Trail race. Full results.

Wild Duluth Races – Duluth, Minnesota

In the 17th running of the event, Christian Hall won the men’s 100k race in 11:23, and Cari Hayes won for the women in 13:48. The 50k event saw two of our fastest times ever with Ben Cogger missing his own course record from last year by less than four minutes and Chelsey Youngberg breaking the women’s course record by over half an hour. Full results when available.

Rogue Gorge – Union Creek, Oregon

The first-year point-to-point 50 miler had Edward Murphy and Pollee Brookings on top in 6:58 and 7:50. Matthew Guarino and Hana Morris won the 50k in 4:03 and 4:51. Full results.

California Fall Classic – Healdsburg, California

Kris Brown took the lead near mile 48 and there was no stopping him after that. Brown won the 100k race in 10:04, and women’s champ Dia Davis ran 11:47 for an hour-plus lead on second place. Jacob Banta and Joelle Vaught won the accompanying 55k race in 4:21 and 5:17. Full results.

Blue Sky Trail Marathon – Fort Collins, Colorado

Mitch Klomp and Dara Procell won in 3:14 and 4:05. Full results.

NCAA Division I Pre-National Invitational – Columbia, Missouri

Mountain runner Lukas Ehrle (Germany) ran 23:56 for 8k and 34th place. Ehrle competes for Ole Miss. Full results.

Ghost Train 100 Mile – Brookline, New Hampshire

Dirk Walther won the men’s race in 16:43, and Jennifer Kenty was the women’s champion in 18:17. Full results when available.

Tecumseh 50k – Nashville, Indiana

Men’s winner Joshua Horton ran 4:50, but Rachel Schack was the overall winner in 4:43. Full results.

Pony Express Trail Run – West of Faust, Utah

Andrea White won the 100 miler overall with a women’s course record time of 17:00. Daniel Woodbury won the men’s race in 20:54:05. In the 50 miler, Stephen Glod won the men’s race in 7:10:01. Davis Merrill was the women’s champion in 8:17:08. Full results when available.

Cranmore Mountain Race – North Conway, New Hampshire

The race went 6.2 miles over two laps, and winners Lars Hogne and Kasie Enman did it in 43:09 and 47:33. Full results.

Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3,100 Mile Race – Queens, New York

The world’s longest road race started way back on August 30 on a 0.55-mile loop. Andrea Marcato (Italy) won the men’s race for the sixth straight year in 46 days, 16 hours, 19 minutes. Daniela Bojila (Italy) leads the women’s race and is expected to finish on the afternoon of October 20. Full results.

Uwharrie 100 Mile – Mt. Gilead, North Carolina

The race was held on a 20.5-mile multi-lap course. Chris Mershon and Tami Sari won in 22:21 and 31:43. Full results.

The Itch 50k – Ocala, Florida

Yianni Babiolakis and Rebecca Connor did it the fastest in 5:02 and 5:21. Full results.

Call for Comments

I keep thinking that the world-class racing is going to quiet down, but there’s still a lot happening every week. What did you like from this past weekend, and what else can you add to this week’s excitement?