The 2024 UTMB final kicked off five and a half hours ago in Chamonix and the big story so far is an absolutely stunning performance from Katie Schide.
The US runner joined the pack of male runners at the front of the race pretty much right out of the starting gates and at just over 50 km into the 176 km course she looks to be stuck to them like glue. We watched as she came through the second checkpoint at Saint Gervais only a minute or two behind last year's winner Jim Walmsley, and a couple of checkpoints later at Notre Dame de la Gorge she remained towards the front and looked a lot like she was enjoying herself.
At the time of writing this, Schide is placed an unbelievable 11th overall and currently has a lead of about five kilometers over second-placed Blandine L'Hirondel of France, who's just ahead of Canadian Marianne Hogan. We have no idea if she can keep this pace up for another 120 km but since what she's already achieved seems impossible, we're not making any predictions and just looking forward to finding out.
Originally from Maine, Schide has lived in the Swiss Alps since 2016 and already took first place at this year's Western States, plus she won the UTMB back in 2022, so we’re guessing she knows what she’s getting herself into.
In the men’s race, Walmsley started out looking like he was having some gear issues when he passed us in Saint Gervais but by Notre Dame de la Gorge he seemed to have his kit sorted and had taken up the lead. It's fair to say he's looking for another win but GB's Tom Evans is keen for redemption after a disappointing DNF at in 2023 and has been sticking close, with Timo Tollefson (US), Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon (France) and Schide's partner Germain Grangier (France) taking turns at rounding out the top three.
In other news, last year’s champ Courtney Dauwalter may not be competing this year, but she’s here in the crowd and passed us at Notre Dame de la Gorge where she was cheering on the other runners. What a great sport. Meanwhile, based on cheering alone, the fan favorite is Ludovic Pommeret who won this year's Hardrock 100 at the ripe old age of 49 and is hanging tight at 26th overall tonight.
The runners have a long and quiet night ahead of them as the crowds head home, but the temperatures are comfortable and the stars are out. If they don’t run too fast, we’ll be catching up with them tomorrow morning in Italy to see how they’ve fared through the night.
