Tom Evans from the U.K. returns to the 2025 UTMB after having variable success at the festival’s races, including a win at the CCC and a UTMB podium finish. In the following interview, Tom talks about being a new dad and how that’s changed his outlook on racing and life, feeling relaxed before the race, and how he’ll try to take his own advice on patience and pacing to have a successful race.
For more on who’s racing, check out our in-depth men’s and women’s previews and follow our live race coverage starting Friday.
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Tom Evans Pre-2025 UTMB Interview Transcript
Tom Evans: Hello, my name is Tom Evans, and I am here with Meghan from iRunFar. Meghan, how are you doing today?
iRunFar: I’m good. Hi, Tom Evans from Tom Evans. How are you?
Evans: I’m very well, thank you. How are you?
iRunFar: Good. I’m so excited to see you here in Chamonix again.
Evans: I’m very excited to be here. It sort of almost feels like a home from home, having been here for the last nearly two months.
iRunFar: I was going to say, I’m the visitor and you’re the local now.
Evans: Oui. That’s as far as the French, no, the French goes a little bit deeper, but yeah. It’s really nice to be back. Baby was with us last year …
iRunFar: In a different way.
Evans: But in a very different capacity. So, yeah, it’s been amazing. It’s been a really fun build. Definitely a very different build to most years. Like I used to think that for a good training block, I had to go on my own and sort of be this mountain monk, whereas I take my Western States build where I live with Abby [Hall] and Cordis Hall and had so much fun. And then we’ve basically just tried to take that build, those sort of atmospherics in the house, to here. And yeah, Soph, my wife, and our baby Phoebe, have been out the whole time, and we’ve had friends, family, and yeah. It’s just been a really, really fun build-up. And I’ve genuinely rediscovered the love for the sport, which is always a nice thing.
iRunFar: I need to back up for a second and congratulate you.
Evans: Thank you very much.
iRunFar: And Sophie on Phoebe’s birth, your three-month-old daughter.
Evans: Thank you very much. Yeah, it’s been incredible. People say it’s the most special thing, and it really, really is. And it has been, yeah, it’s been incredible. And Soph has just been amazing.
iRunFar: The champion of all champions.
Evans: And has just taken to being a mom, just like a duck to water. And yeah, it’s incredibly, incredibly special. And having her out here has just been, yeah, made it even more of an enjoyable training block.
iRunFar: How has it been for you transitioning from Tom the monk who traineth seriously to Tom, the dad, who is, yeah, just fitting things in around the needs of another human added to your life?
Evans: Yeah, I think the way that we have done it, I guess, in a similar way to previous years, is looked very much at the demand of the event. And I think going back, we look back over my 2022 training data with my coach, Scott Johnston, looking at, yeah, what is the minimum amount of work that we need to do? And then what is the maximum amount of work my body can tolerate? And just make sure we’re in between those lines. So, from the week of the birth, I didn’t do much. I ran, I think, yeah, maybe ran three, four days later.
iRunFar: Fair.
Evans: Because you’re just so tired. And I think for me, it was just having the confidence to do that and to then build back into things and have a really successful training block. I don’t think the training has changed much. There’s definitely less faffing.
iRunFar: You just get right to it. Do your training.
Evans: Yeah. If I’ve got a session, I’ll do strides and drills as I’m warming up, and then just roll into it. So if it says it’s a 70-minute session, I’m probably out the door for like 72 minutes. So yeah, the dad intervals.
iRunFar: Dad intervals!
Evans: Yeah. I’ll coin the phrase. So yeah, I think it’s worked really well. And it’s also just meant that you just don’t dwell on a bad session. You get back, you have a good run, a bad run. It’s been really hot. It’s been cold. It’s been rainy, whatever it is. Like, you get home, you’ve just got this bundle of joy that, yeah, now give something back. And she’s so smiley, and it’s just really special. I think it’s definitely, yeah, I guess changed the dynamics of the training block, that it’s not just about you, which I really like. I like helping people. And yeah, when you’ve got a baby who is reliant on you for everything, it’s incredibly special.
iRunFar: You’ve, how shall we call it, an enduring relationship with this festival? I think you came here in 2018 for the first time.
Evans: 17.
iRunFar: 2017 for the first time. 2018.
Evans: Yeah.
iRunFar: 22, 23, and 24.
Evans: Correct.
iRunFar: That’s it. I think that we can call that enduring.
Evans: Yeah. It’s a long-standing relationship.
iRunFar: There have been some highs and some lows there. Some things as high as UTMB podium, and a win at CCC, and then a couple did not get around the loops.
Evans: Yeah.
iRunFar: Yeah. How do you define like, when you look at this place in this race today, what are your overarching thoughts?
Evans: I think at the beginning, I was very good at listening to my own advice, telling myself to be patient. And then I think the worst, the best, but the worst thing was finishing third in my first year here. I did it off not the best training, 12 months after knee surgery.
iRunFar: Did you get to thinking it was easy?
Evans: Not easy, but I thought, yeah, easier than I thought.
iRunFar: Easier than it actually was.
Evans: Yeah. Easier than it actually is. And because I just went in so relaxed, and when people made moves off the front, I say those people, Kilian [Jornet] and Jim [Walmsley], made moves off the front. I was like, okay, cool. Like that’s, I’m not there yet. I would like to be there in the future, but I’m not there at the moment, in my first UTMB in my second 100 miler. So I sort of let them go off the front. I didn’t say I let them go off the front. They went off the front and I didn’t …
iRunFar: They did their thing, and you did yours.
Evans: And I didn’t feel the pressure to follow them. Whereas in, then in 2023, 2024, those moves have happened and I’ve gone with them, and that’s not the strategy that plays to my strengths. I am, my strengths are from Trient to the finish. I need to get there with good legs, or with average legs. Average to acceptable legs.
iRunFar: Average to above-average 100-mile legs.
Evans: Correct. Yeah. It’s never going to feel easy, but yeah. So for me, the strategy this year, I guess what I’ve learned is it’s just being patient. It’s letting the race come to you, and being really deliberate and purposeful with my strategy. And it will, pacing-wise, the strategy is fairly similar, and I won’t be following any early moves, certainly.
iRunFar: Not leading the race to St. Gervais.
Evans: I hope not.
iRunFar: Not taking it out at Contamines.
Evans: Something has gone seriously wrong if I’m there, and you will watch this back and I’ll say, gosh, darn it.
iRunFar: Shoot.
Evans: Yeah. I’ve slightly messed up here. So no, and who knows, everyone else might decide, “Actually, I’m going to go off even more cautiously than Tom is,” and you end up there. But for me, it’s very much, I’m on this loop. Yes, it is a race, but it’s more of almost like a personal time trial. If I’m capable of running the time that I’m setting out to run, and under the conditions, and I managed the race really well, then you’ll be up there, unless there are guys who can go faster. Or girls who can go faster. And you just never know. And with this race, I think it’s really easy to plan for the first half. So yeah, it is a far more cautious first half of the race and a far more aggressive second half of the race.
iRunFar: If all goes well in the first half.
Evans: Precisely. So yeah, in order to get to the fun bit, you’ve got to go through the “happy to let people go” and just hike a little bit, and just keep fueling, and keep hydrated. Knowing that actually the race gets really fun from top of Grand Col Ferret, and it’s then actually fun. And you then think, oh, this is why I do the sport. Rather than sitting on a rock just before you get to Bertone thinking, why do I do this sport?
iRunFar: Not that you had that personal experience.
Evans: No, no, no. I’m not even sure I made it onto a stone. So yeah, I think lessons learned, be patient, listen to my own advice. Very good at giving advice, and it’s sometimes easier to give it than it is to take it, especially when it’s your own. So yeah, I have made the mistakes and the, not even the plan. I’m sure I will make mistakes in this race again, I’m sure I’ll make mistakes this year and in subsequent years, but it won’t be the same mistakes that I have made in the previous two.
iRunFar: So to follow that then, what does, like, if you’re doing what you’re planning on doing, what do you look like at Courmayeur, and then what do you look like at La Fouly? What’s going on?
Evans: I think at Courmayeur, I’ve got a smile on my face. I think that’s the most important thing. And I am happy, and I am content. Yes. And people say when you get to Courmayeur with your legs feeling good, again, it’s all relative, your legs always feel horrendous in Courmayeur because you’ve just done a really steep, long downhill.
iRunFar: Long downhill. Yeah.
Evans: So it’s all relative. So it’s, what does good look like in Courmayeur? I eat, and I drink, and I sit down with confidence in Courmayeur, and I change my top if I need to, which it looks like I’m probably going to need to, because I think it might be a bit drizzly. And then in La Fouly, what does it look like? Still with a smile, but sort of bit between the teeth, a little bit more focus is what I would like things to look like.
iRunFar: This year’s race, I think, is really interesting because, well, I guess when I think of UTMB weather, I think either it’s boiling hot and weather’s an issue that way, or it’s what’s going to happen this weekend, where cold and rain is the deciding factor. And for somebody like you, I think that what’s going to happen is going to favor you. You come from a place where there’s like 12 days of sunlight a year.
Evans: The best-case scenario.
iRunFar: How does that weather factor into your thinking this weekend?
Evans: I think it’s all about being proactive rather than being reactive, and just having the best strategy and a really solid plan. So, for example, having one of the crew watching the UTMB feed, and if they see anything, me with my rain jacket on or my gloves on, it’s then at the next aid station having fresh gloves and a fresh jacket. So they know already without me coming in saying, oh, we already need this. It’s just thinking a bit ahead and me putting my trust in them, but them also being able to look and say, okay, well, this is what Tom’s doing now. This is what Tom is going to want. So yeah, I think being proactive with it. I’d much rather put my rain jacket on 10 minutes early than a minute too late. Then it can be too late. I think what will make the way that people manage the night will be really interesting to see. It’s not been cold at night for a couple of years. It’s not been really cold at night since I’ve done the race. It’s always cold on Grand Col Ferret. That’s just what it is. But I think this year, you might even see rain pants going on with some people.
iRunFar: Rain pants, man.
Evans: I don’t think anyone’s, no, I don’t think anyone’s ever finished in rain pants except for Robert Hajnal.
iRunFar: Ol’ Robert.
Evans: Yeah. Even if it was pouring with rain, whatever happens, I would be taking them off at Flégère. I’m not finishing in rain pants, I promise.
iRunFar: No garbage pants on the finish line.
Evans: No, no, no. So yeah, I think it will all be about race management and taking a minute or two to sort yourself out. Losing a minute or two, but having the trust and the faith that that’s the right decision. And be really purposeful and deliberate with that decision. Okay, cool. I can feel the rain, and it’s cold. Rain pants. I’m above 2,000 meters, 6,000 feet. I’m putting my rain pants on. And then, again, when you need to take them off, cool, sun’s come up, it’s now not cold. It’s time to take them off and just be really deliberate with it, and have the confidence that this is the right decision. This is my strategy. It doesn’t matter if anyone else is doing it or if everyone else is doing it, but do it because that’s what I want to do, rather than because it’s what other people are doing.
iRunFar: Last question for you. Are you going to be thinking about your daughter anywhere out in the course and sort of channeling dad energy?
Evans: Yes, I am. [Takes off hat and shows it to Meghan]
iRunFar: Yes, you are.
Evans: Yes, I am. She’s on the inside of all of my hats.
iRunFar: That’s so sweet. Literally close to your brain.
Evans: Correct. Yes, she’s already in my heart. Now, she’s in my head as well. So, yes, 100%. I guess this year I want to set the example of I’m now not just Tommy ultrarunner. I like to think I’m so much more. I want to be the best husband, the best dad that I can possibly be. And yeah, I can’t wait for her in a few years to be able to look back at pictures and be like, oh, I was here. I might not, I definitely won’t remember. But, yeah, I was here and got to watch Daddy do these things. So, yeah, it’ll be really, really special this year.
iRunFar: You know, I’ve known you for a while now, and that’s very touching. Like this is a different Tom Evans. So, yeah. Thanks for sharing that.
Evans: No, you’re more than welcome.
iRunFar: Yeah. Best of luck to you.
Evans: Thank you very much.
iRunFar: On getting around this loop.
Evans: Thank you very much.
iRunFar: See you out there.
Evans: See you afterwards.
