Top 10 trail stories of 2025
From records to breakthroughs, here are the trail stories that stood out last year
Matt Westlake
Trail running didn’t slow down in 2025—it got faster, feistier and, in a few cases, downright tough to fathom. From records falling on familiar courses to Canadians showing up on the biggest stages in the sport, the year delivered no shortage of moments worth stopping for. These are (a few of) the trail stories that shaped the season and stuck with us long after the finish lines were packed away.
10. Kilian Jornet completes epic U.S. mountain challenge
Spain’s Jornet created (and conquered) his “States of Elevation” project by linking all 72 of the contiguous United States’ 14,000-foot peaks in one human-powered push, covering more than 5,100 km with over 123,000 m of vertical gain. Over 31 days he alternated between running, biking and climbing from Longs Peak to Mount Rainier, often spending nearly 15 hours on the move each day through rugged alpine, desert and forest terrain.
9. Courtney Dauwalter throws down 2:38 marathon in an aerodynamic prototype
OK, this may not qualify as a story about trail running—but when the GOAT of ultrarunning runs not just one, but two, smoking-fast marathons, both trailrunners and roadies alike take notice. In early December, Dauwalter ran a 2:38:55 at the 2025 California International Marathon, chopping 11 minutes off her previous personal best in just two months. She did it in a never-before-seen Salomon road prototype and came within a couple of minutes of the U.S. Olympic Trials standard.
8. Canadian women make history at world mountain and trail running champs
Canada made history in Canfranc-Pirineos as the women’s uphill squad brought home a team bronze—the nation’s first at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. On the long trail, B.C.’s Jazmine Lowther pushed into fourth against a stacked field, narrowly missing an individual medal.
7. Swiss runner smashes vertical kilometre world record
Swiss mountain runner Rémi Bonnet burned up the Fully Vertical Kilometre in Valais, Switzerland, covering the 1.92-km, 1,000-metre climb in 27 minutes and 21 seconds, more than a minute faster than the 2017 world record. Bonnet still managed to blow past the previous best time on a route with gradients above 50 per cent—one of the steepest vertical kilometre courses in the world.
6. Tara Dower breaks overall Long Trail speed record in Vermont
U.S. ultrarunner Dower tore through Vermont’s Long Trail to set a new overall supported Fastest Known Time, covering the 273-mile (439.5-km) route in 3 days, 18 hours and 29 minutes. Running southbound from the Quebec border to Massachusetts with a crew and pacers, she pushed through long nights and relentless climbing to take more than two hours off the previous best.
5. Irish runner sets new women’s 100-mile world record at Tunnel Hill 100
Caitriona Jennings set a new women’s 100-mile world record at the Tunnel Hill 100 in Illinois, covering the 160.9 km course in 12:37:04 on her first attempt at the distance. She broke the previous mark of 12:42:40 set in 2017 and finished fourth overall on the fast, double out-and-back course.
4. Colorado ultrarunner shatters 31-year-old women’s course record at Leadville Trail 100
Anne Flower tore through the Leadville Trail 100 in 17:58:19, smashing Ann Trason’s long-standing women’s course record on the high-altitude out-and-back course. Racing steadily from the early miles through the late climbs, she finished second overall at the 100-mile classic, one of the fastest performances the race has ever seen.
3. Ethan Peters demolishes Canadian Death Race course record
Fernie-based Peters pulverized the Canadian Death Race 118-km course in 11:36:52, smashing a 14-year-old course record by almost 40 minutes and finishing more than 90 minutes ahead of the next runner. He didn’t stop there, either; Peters wrapped up the 2025 racing season with a dominant win at Patagonia Bariloche by UTMB.
2. Canada’s Stephanie Case wins Ultra-Trail Snowdonia just six months post-partum
Case powered through 6,300 metres of climbing and a brutally technical course in Eryri, Wales (Snowdonia), pausing to breastfeed along the way, and crossed the line ahead of the rest of the women, only learning she’d won once she reached the finish.
1. Quebec’s Marianne Hogan returns to the Western States podium
Western States 100 rewarded patience this year, and Hogan played it right from start to finish, staying steady and strong through the night to reclaim the same spot she earned in 2022, when she ran her first WSER just months after coming back from a devastating leg injury. Her time this year was more than an hour faster than her 2022 finish.
