UTMB: Canadian Marianne Hogan runs to heroic 2nd-place finish

Katie Schide, the American who lives and trains in France, led UTMB aggressively from the start, running under record-holder Courtney Dauwalter‘s pace for the initial parts of the race and taking the win Saturday in Chamonix in 23 hours, 15 minutes, 12 seconds. Montreal’s Marianne Hogan maintained a beautifully tenacious performance, finishing in 24 hours, 31 minutes, 22 seconds.

American Kaytlyn Gerbin, 33, held a firm third-place position for much of the race and arrived in Chamonix in to wrap up a race she had prepared for years to run (she had registered in UTMB for the past three years but was unable to compete until the 2022 event). She rounded out the podium in twenty-five hours, forty-four minutes, and seven seconds.

Earlier in the day, Kilian Jornet won the men’s race in a new course record of 19:49:30; Canadian Mathieu Blanchard was only a few minutes behind him, in 19:54:50, and Tom Evans of the U.K. was third, in 20:34:33. 

Schide, 30, entered the race with two previous top-ten UTMB finishes in 2019 and 2021, and a second-place finish in the 2018 UTMB CCC (101K). Along with her partner, pro-runner Germain Grangier, she lives and trains in Chamonix, and spent the last year with a focus on ski-mountaineering rather than running. In a pre-race interview with iRunFar, Schide explained that the fitness transferred over to running well and provided a mental break: “I think it’s a nice mental break to come back to running and just be really excited to go running and not like, “OK, I have to go running.”

In an exciting moment captured by drones, Hogan stormed passed Schide, who had paused to tuck away her running poles, during a long stretch on the Grand Col Ferret section of the race. Hogan maintained the first-place position for some time before Schide was able to rally and regain the lead to win.

“I had a pretty bad time at Arnouvaz,” explained Schide. “And Marianne passed me on Col Ferret there when I was having a low moment. She was looking really good and I was thinking she would just go. But then I knew I was gaining on her in the climb up to Champex-Lac and then I thought okay, let’s just see what happens as there were three climbs left and plenty of time to figure it out.”

Hogan, 32, took third at this year’s Western States 100-miler, and spent the last month in Europe preparing for the race. She ran strong early in the year, winning the Bandera 100K and taking second (behind 2021 UTMB champion Dauwalter) at Ultra-Trail Cape Town. She was recovering from an ankle injury before her remarkable performance at WSER, and fans were eagerly anticipating Hogan’s UTMB race.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Marianne Hogan (@marianneinbedford)

Hogan did not disappoint, and she exemplified both grit and grace as she ran, two words used by UTMB announcers to describe the performances of both Schide and Hogan.

What a 171km run by Mathieu Blanchard and Marianne Hogan @utmbmontblanc today!

A 2nd ?place finish in under 20 hours for Mathieu and 2nd ?place finish for Marianne Hogan.

We’re so proud of the unbelievable efforts made by every athlete who raced this week. ? pic.twitter.com/7RBzrZLqgs

— Salomon (@SalomonSports) August 28, 2022

“In it to have the best time of all (figuratively, not literally),” Hogan shared to social media before the race. Known for maintaining her huge smile and contagiously joyful attitude, Hogan is good friends with Salomon teammate and fellow Canadian Mathieu Blanchard (Blanchard grew up in France but is a recent Canadian citizen), who took second overall in 19:54:50. It was a thrilling race for all, but particularly for Canadians, as these two resilient and enthusiastic athletes took their well-deserved positions on the world stage at the UTMB podium.