Whereas the climate impacted races earlier within the week, it was clear skies for a lot of the 100-kilometer 2025 CCC race. The course ran from Courmayeur, Italy, to Champex-Lac, Switzerland, and in the end to the end in Chamonix, France. The race totaled 20,013 ft of elevation over its 62.1-mile distance and had over 2,100 runners on its 9:00 a.m. begin line on Friday, August 29.
It was the UTMB World Sequence Closing for the 100k distance, and paid 13,000 Euro to its winners as a part of a complete 75,000 Euro prize purse.
Some thought of this yr’s CCC essentially the most aggressive race within the UTMB Mont Blanc competition. With an eye fixed towards restoration for subsequent month’s World Mountain and Path Working Championships in Spain, some prime runners who would sometimes race the complete UTMB loop opted for the shorter CCC race.
Francesco Puppi on his solution to profitable the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
Martyna Młynarczyk (Poland) fought off a late-race problem from Sylvia Nordskar (Norway) to win the ladies’s race in 11:41. Nordskar was solely 18 seconds behind as the 2 ran the race’s second- and third-fastest instances ever. Młynarczyk’s win got here after she dropped at June’s Western States 100, and it improved on her 2024 second-place CCC end.
Males’s winner Francesco Puppi (France) attacked after Champex-Lac at mile 34 and ran away from David Sinclair (U.S.) and everybody else over the race’s second half. Puppi’s 10:06 end time was additionally the race’s second-fastest ever. Sinclair stayed second to the end, however might by no means make up any time on Puppi.
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Learn on for the complete race story.
It’s also possible to try extra outcomes from the week’s UTMB Mont Blanc competition:
2025 CCC Girls’s Race
The entire final three champions have been again. Toni McCann (South Africa), 2024 winner, 2023 winner Yngvild Kaspersen (Norway), and 2022 winner and course-record holder Blandine L’Hirondel (France) have been the race favorites, and 2024 runner-up Martyna Młynarczyk (Poland) returned too.
Kaspersen didn’t wait lengthy to go. She climbed the opening six miles and 4,000-plus ft to Tête de la Tronche in 1:20 elapsed. L’Hirondel and McCann have been over two minutes slower to the highest, and the primary 10 runners have been already six minutes aside.
By the point they dropped from that 8,306-foot course excessive level after which ran eight largely flat miles to achieve Arnouvaz at mile 16, issues appeared totally different. Kaspersen was nonetheless shifting however had significantly fallen again with an ankle damage and would later drop from the race. As an alternative, L’Hirondel and McCann have been seconds aside, and Młynarczyk and Anna Tarasova (Spain) shaped a entrance 4 that have been inside a minute of one another. After Tarasova, it was practically three minutes again to fifth-place Sylvia Nordskar (Norway).
Martyna Młynarczyk on her solution to profitable the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
L’Hirondel attacked on the brief climb to Grand Col Ferret at mile 19, reaching the 8,261-foot prime a minute forward of McCann and Młynarczyk, however Młynarczyk struck again on the lengthy downhill that adopted. At practically the identical second that Młynarczyk handed L’Hirondel, McCann fell whereas operating in third close to mile 25.
Champex-Lac is the race’s unofficial midway level at mile 34 and indicators that two main climbs are carried out with three to go. Right here, Młynarczyk led L’Hirondel by two minutes at 5:50 elapsed. Nordskar and Tarasova have been now third and fourth, greater than three minutes behind L’Hirondel. Veronika Leng (Slovakia), Julie Roux (France), Tabor Hemming (U.S.), Lotti Brinks (U.S.), Robyn Lesh (U.S.), and Eleanor Davis (U.Ok.) rounded out the remainder of the highest 10. McCann dropped from the race at Champex-Lac, and Hemming would later drop close to mile 44.
Młynarczyk and L’Hirondel continued to duel to La Giète at mile 41. They have been nonetheless solely two minutes aside, and behind them, Tarasova had closed to a few minute of L’Hirondel.
After which the ladies’s race obtained extremely thrilling.
Sylvia Nordskar ending second on the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
At La Flégère at mile 48 and with solely 4 downhill miles to the end, Nordskar was surging and L’Hirondel was beginning to fade. Nordskar had closed to inside 37 seconds of longtime chief Młynarczyk, and Tarasova too had leapfrogged L’Hirondel to take third and was solely 45 seconds again of Młynarczyk.
Tarasova by no means obtained there, however simply as dusk got here, Nordskar hauled previous Młynarczyk at 11:13 elapsed.
Młynarczyk wasn’t carried out although, not even shut, and she or he danced previous Nordskar with a profitable transfer at 11:29 on the race clock.
Martyna Młynarczyk received in 11:41:55. It was the race’s second-fastest end ever behind L’Hirondel’s course report from 2022 of 11:40. The CCC was a Western States 100 Golden Ticket race too, with three automated entries accessible to the 2026 version. That affords Młynarczyk an opportunity for redemption after dropping close to the midway level at this yr’s Western States 100.
Sylvia Nordskar held on till the tip. She was second in 11:42:13, a mere 18 seconds behind over the 100k distance.
Anna Tarasova was third in 11:44:18. The entrance three have been separated by simply over two minutes, yet one more sign on the fast development of the aggressive depth of ladies’s path ultrarunning.
Anna Tarasova ending third on the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
2025 CCC Girls’s Outcomes
Martyna Młynarczyk (Poland) – 11:41:55
Sylvia Nordskar (Norway) – 11:42:13
Anna Tarasova (Spain) – 11:44:18
Blandine L’Hirondel (France) – 11:53:31
Veronika Leng (Slovakia) – 12:00:27
Lotti Brinks (U.S.) – 12:02:23
Robyn Lesh (U.S.) – 12:16:10
Julie Roux (France) – 12:24:18
Jing-Yan Tang (China) – 12:42:54
Allison Baca (U.S.) – 12:44:05
Full outcomes.
The 2025 CCC ladies’s podium (left to proper): 2. Sylvia Nordskar, 1. Martyna Młynarczyk, 3. Anna Tarasova
2025 CCC Males’s Race
It was a deep race, and so it was no shock that on the prime of the Tête de la Tronche, an almost six-mile and 4,000-plus foot climb proper from the beginning, an enormous group of males got here via collectively. The highest 13 have been inside a minute of one another at 1:14 elapsed. Race favorites Francesco Puppi (Italy) and Eli Hemming (U.S.) have been among the many leaders. Puppi is having an distinctive yr, highlighted by a win on the Canyons by UTMB 100k, his debut for the space. Hemming received final yr’s OCC race forward of Puppi.
At 8,306 ft, Tête de la Tronche was the course’s excessive level from the place runners descended for about three miles earlier than a flatter eight-mile stretch to Arnouvaz at mile 16. The group was nonetheless collectively there, with the primary 10 runners all inside a minute of one another. Andreas Reiterer (Italy) was on the very entrance, and David Sinclair (U.S.), Hemming, Anthony Costales (U.S.), Drew Holmen (U.S.), and Jeshurun Small (U.S.) gave the U.S. 5 runners inside the highest 10.
Francesco Puppi profitable the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
A steep three-mile climb to Grand Col Ferret adopted, the race’s second main ascent. At 8,261 ft, it’s practically as excessive as the sooner Tête de la Tronche. The People remained, however Reiterer began to fall again for the primary time within the race. He crested Grand Col Ferret in ninth, nearly three minutes off the chief.
After Grand Col Ferret, the race runs 11 miles downhill, first via La Fouly and on to Praz de Fort earlier than climbing to Champex-Lac, Switzerland, at mile 34. Though past the midway distance, Champex-Lac marks the unofficial midway level of the race, and it’s thought of to be the place the “actual race” begins with three extra main climbs to go.
Close to the delicate five-hour mark, earlier than Champex-Lac, Hemming began to fall again. Right down to a lead two then, Puppi and Sinclair have been into Champex-Lac greater than three minutes forward of Holmen and Hemming, who have been operating collectively in third and fourth. Puppi and Sinclair have been out and in of that mile 34 support station collectively, however Puppi flew via city upon exit to realize quick separation. China’s Guang-Fu Meng was now in fifth, practically 5 minutes again, and Huo-Hua Zhang (China), Reiterer, Small, Simon Paccard (France), and Andreu Simon (Spain) made up the again half of the highest 10 at with solely 10 minutes from first to tenth place. Zhang would later drop, and Reiterer, Simon, and Costales completed exterior the highest 10.
Puppi created a four-minute lead on Sinclair within the subsequent seven miles to La Giète at mile 41. This stretch included a flat part adopted by the third of the race’s 5 large climbs. Behind Sinclair, Small was all of a sudden operating large. He jumped 4 spots, passing Reiterer, Zhang, Holmen, and Hemming, to sit down third, however 10 minutes again of Sinclair and quarter-hour again of Puppi. It was solely about 4 minutes from third-place Small again to the tenth man, and there have been roughly 22 miles to go.
David Sinclair appears to be like happy together with his second place on the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
There’d be loads of shuffling behind him, however on the very entrance, it was Puppi’s race the remainder of the best way. His break leaving Champex-Lac was the go-away transfer, and his lead on Sinclair grew to 9 minutes after the race’s fourth large climb, Les Tseppes, close to mile 46. Puppi ran alone up over La Flégère at mile 58 after which downhill into Chamonix.
In solely his second go on the 100k distance, Francesco Puppi received in 10:06, the occasion’s second-fastest end ever behind Petter Engdahl’s course report from 2022 of 9:53.
David Sinclair stayed second to the end in 10:13. He’s excelled within the U.S., with course information on the Speedgoat 50k and JFK 50 Mile amongst others, however this was a global breakout.
Drew Holmen was the most effective of the remainder, and he closed onerous on Sinclair, ending third in 10:16.
Drew Holmen celebrates as he finishes third on the 2025 CCC. Photograph: UTMB
2025 CCC Males’s Outcomes
Francesco Puppi (Italy) – 10:06:02
David Sinclair (U.S.) – 10:13:42
Drew Holmen (U.S.) – 10:16:15
Arnaud Bonin (France) – 10:26:03
Jeshurun Small (U.S.) – 10:28:57
Guang-Fu Meng (China) – 10:31:36
Eli Hemming (U.S.) – 10:34:36
Loïc Rolland (France) – 10:36:41
Mario Olmedo (Spain) – 10:40:19
Gui-Du Qin (China) – 10:43:24
Full outcomes.
The 2025 CCC males’s podium (left to proper): 2. David Sinclair, 1. Francesco Puppi, 3. Drew Holmen. Photograph: UTMB
