{"id":5034,"date":"2025-09-06T02:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T02:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/5034\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T02:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T02:16:08","slug":"ruth-croft-on-the-biggest-obstacle-in-completing-historic-ultra-trail-du-mont-blanc-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/5034\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruth Croft on the biggest obstacle in completing historic Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victory was far from straightforward<\/a>. Alongside the spectacular views, Croft had to battle more than 9600m of elevation as well as torrential rain and snow. Conditions were so severe on the Pyramides Calcaires that the course was altered for competitor safety.<\/p>\n

Croft, however, was ready for whatever came her way. She told the Herald she had been given a \u201cwake-up call\u201d earlier this year after failing to finish at Transvulcania in the Canary Islands when she suffered hypothermia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was most worried about the conditions,\u201d Croft said. \u201cI\u2019ve been chasing perpetual summers for years, so I never really train or race in bad weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions were brutal with snow and torrential rain over the Col de la Seigne.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a pacing plan, but once night fell it became about survival, making sure I wasn\u2019t burning too many matches. That was the biggest challenge this year.<\/p>\n

\"RuthRuth Croft wins the 2025 UTMB in 22h 56m 23s. Photo \/ UTMB<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year I went out more aggressively and had more lows. But there are still those moments: seeing the sunrise in Italy, running along a balcony with glaciers around you and those are memories you hold on to even when you\u2019re suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croft knew victory would make history, but she insists that was never her goal when she began her journey more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

She said seeing fellow New Zealander Anna Frost competing on the world stage made her want to follow in her footsteps.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first dreamed of this when I was living in Taipei around 2012 or 2013,\u201d Croft said. \u201cIt\u2019s taken a long time to get here, but that was always the vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach race has served a different purpose in my career. I did the 50K when I was running shorter distances, and UTMB was something I\u2019d wanted to do since I first came to Chamonix back in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taken 10 years to get to that point. There was a lot of relief reaching the finish line, especially after struggling through the last 50km.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 2300 competitors took part in the event, with thousands of fans lining the streets at the start and finish.<\/p>\n

Croft called witnessing the fanfare a wild experience but said what made the win extra special was having her family there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s another race like it on the circuit. The start line is intense, with the first 30km lined with people.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Les Contamines, the 30K aid station, it\u2019s the last time you see your crew before Courmayeur, 50K later. Then you hit Notre Dame de la Gorge and it\u2019s like a tunnel of people \u2013 the final send-off into the night. The support on course is unbelievable. In Vallorcine, with 20K to go, there was another huge crowd.<\/p>\n

\"RuthRuth Croft on her way to victory at the 2021 Tarawera Ultra-Trail 102km race. Photo \/ Graeme Murray<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat made it truly special was sharing the day with my family and friends that came from New Zealand, and my partner, who works at the event but crewed me from Courmayeur to the finish. More than the result, it\u2019s the support around you that stays with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Croft said she was feeling \u201cpretty wrecked\u201d afterwards, with her body sore and her feet swollen.<\/p>\n

Her coach Scott Johnston played a big role in her success. He also trained the men\u2019s winner, Britain\u2019s Tom Evans, who crossed the line in 19h 18m 58s.<\/p>\n

As for the future, Croft said it\u2019s too soon to know if she will return to defend her crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of me does want to go back,\u201d she said. \u201cLast year we had perfect conditions. This year was the complete opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course was changed, the weather was awful. I\u2019d like another crack, but it\u2019s too early to make any decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victory was far from straightforward. Alongside the spectacular views, Croft had to battle more than 9600m of elevation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6632,4498,6326,2046,6636,6627,6625,6630,2024,6643,6637,6628,78,6631,6635,111,139,69,6626,6644,90,3512,6560,6641,6624,6638,6180,6633,213,6639,6642,223,6634,6640,6629,540,6027],"class_list":["post-5034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-battled","tag-beat","tag-biggest","tag-career","tag-challenge","tag-completing","tag-croft","tag-du","tag-europe","tag-francis","tag-gave","tag-historic","tag-in","tag-montblanc","tag-mountains","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-obstacle","tag-odds","tag-on","tag-racing","tag-rain","tag-runner","tag-ruth","tag-sheer","tag-shes","tag-snow","tag-sports","tag-survival","tag-tells","tag-the","tag-torrential","tag-ultramarathon","tag-ultratrail","tag-where","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}