The surprises keep coming this morning at the UTMB finals, with at least one record-setting finish on the cards and a men's race that's turning out to be nothing like what we expected.
Let's start with the big news – we reported overnight that Katie Schide (US) had taken an early and impressive lead at the front of the race and now nearly 19 hours in, we can confirm that she's remained in the top 14 overall for almost the entire race.
She last passed us in Forclaz heading down towards Trient in Switzerland and she looked fresher than any of the men in the lead. Right now, she's heading down towards Vallorcine and projected to finish in Chamonix at 3:43 p.m. local time, which would shave nearly an hour off Courtney Dauwalter's record.
Running about an hour behind Schide, Canada's Marianne Hogan is holding strong in second place and New Zealand's Ruth Croft is chasing her down.
Over in the men's race, it's been a night of plot twists and wild surprises, with most of the projected podium-grabbers DNFing including last year's winner Jim Walmsley who dropped at around 80 km due to a knee injury that's been plaguing him since his Western States win earlier this summer. Meanwhile, Britain's Tom Evans' bid for redemption after last year's debacle was denied when he withdrew at 105 km and most recently, Schide's partner Germaine Grangier pulled out.
All that has left a big vacuum at the front of the men's race and a little-known French runner named Vincent Bouillard seems all too happy to step in and take the lead. The teamless runner came through Triente a full 34 minutes ahead of the next fastest runner this morning and depending on how this next 45 minutes go, could stand a chance of breaking Walmsley's record with a sub-20 hour finish looking likely. All we know about him so far is that he works for running shoe brand Hoka, and he's fast.
Behind him, Baptiste Chassagne (France), Joaquin Lopez (Ecuador), Hannes Namberger (Germany) and Ludovic Pommeret (France) are still battling it out for a podium spot.
It's been a relatively warm night, which may have helped the runners overnight, while it's hot and humid here in Chamonix today making these final few hours extra tough for the elites. We're here at the finish and will report again when the first athletes cross the line.
