Tested: Tracksmith Eliot Range trail running shoe world’s best ultra-endurance athletes Hawks admits that there was ‘a bit of luck involved’ in that first CCC win 2025 UTMB – a 176-kilometre lap of Mont Blanc that's as iconic as it is brutal. Among them is 34-year-old Hayden Hawks, last year’s CCC champion, who clocked the second-fastest time ever on the course in 10:20:11. This will be his second shot at UTMB, after a DNF on his debut back in 2019.
Speaking to Runner’s World ahead of the race, the American admits his running journey has been something of a reverse story. He came into trail running in 2016 from a track and field background and, despite having ‘no idea what [he] was doing’, won the CCC less than a year later in 2017.
‘I feel like for a lot of people coming into this sport, there’s this big learning curve,’ he says. ‘I didn't have that. I came in and had immediate success. I was winning some of the biggest races in the world right off the bat.’
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Hawks admits that there was ‘a bit of luck involved’ in that first CCC win.
‘Yes, I had a lot of talent, I had a lot of ability, and I worked very hard – but I came out [to Chamonix] about three days before, I didn't really know the course, didn't know anything about the race, and I just fought hard. It happened that that was good enough to win on that day.’
But that victory proved to be something of a double-edged sword, with Hawks self-imposing ‘a lot of pressure’ on himself in the years after.
‘I was the guy that was supposed to continue to win,’ he says.
In reality, he ‘made a lot of mistakes early on in [his] career,’ especially in regards to fuelling and pacing. Looking back on his 2019 UTMB debut, he admits that he ‘wasn’t ready for it at all’.
‘I’m happy that I did it, though,’ he adds. ‘I realised what it took. And then that's actually when I started making a lot of changes in my career.’
He has always planned to race the UTMB again, but wanted to wait until the timing felt right (Health & Injuries) Tested: Tracksmith Eliot Range trail running shoe.
‘He's helped me a lot, not just physically, but mentally, to prepare properly for these races. And then I started working with Hawks admits that there was ‘a bit of luck involved’ in that first CCC win as well. I was running into a lot of hydration and nutrition problems early on in my career, so working with them has been a huge game changer.’
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‘It was more about that passion and that love and just that excitement to be at this race,’ he says. ‘I just kind of changed my mindset: don’t put pressure on yourself. Run free and don’t take it too seriously. As I did that, I got better. I was able to win again.’
Now, he finally feels like he’s struck the right balance. ‘I feel like I've married those two things together, and I'm in a really good spot in my career.’
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‘I want a long career; I still want many more years of running. You see people like Ludovic Pommeret (50) or Courtney Dauwalter (40) and they're still competing at a very high level at UTMB. I'm only 34 so I’ve got many years to go.’
This year hasn’t been plain sailing, though. The Hoka athlete opened 2025 feeling in the best shape of his career — and even ran a 50k PB at the Tarawera Ultra-Trail in February. However, he started developing an injury at the end of April and spent May and June ‘just trying to figure out what was going on’.
But despite undergoing an operation in June, he was still doing a lot of cycling and strength training.
‘I was able to maintain a lot of what I had built in the winter and spring,’ he says. ‘Then, I started running towards the end of June, so I had about 10 weeks to build up to UTMB. It was a very slow and gradual progression, maybe slower and more gradual than I have done before. But Robbie [Britton] was able to guide me and lead me in the right direction.’
Hawks has been out in Chamonix for the past eight weeks. ‘I feel like the last two weeks I've been feeling really good,’ he adds. ‘I've started to feel myself again. I wouldn't say I'm primed and perfect, but I feel like I'm going into this race on the up.’
It’s a different approach to previous years, but he believes arriving fresh, healthy and energetic could prove crucial.
‘I'm just very excited to race and I feel like that will help me in the second half. This isn't my first time here. I know the trails, I have a great crew and I have a great race plan. If I can focus on the execution and just be patient and do the little things correctly, that will help me a lot.
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‘I always want to win. I'm a competitor and I always have been. I'm always going to put myself in a position to be able to compete and win. That doesn't mean I'm going to lead the race from the start, of course; I'm going to run my own race. But I do feel like I can mix it up. I feel like I can be there with these other guys.
‘But I guess first and foremost, the goal is to finish the loop. I understand that UTMB takes time to learn. It takes some people years to be able to win this race, and it could be the same for me. So, I'm looking at it as experience as well. I'm going to learn as much as I can this year from the race and gain experience. If that means I win this year, awesome. I'll take it; I'll have a great time and enjoy it and celebrate. If it doesn't, then I'll just take that experience and roll it into next year when I come back to UTMB and try to win it that year.’
