The Best, Most Impactful Images from the 2025 UTMB Mont-Blanc Trail Race

With thousands of runners from literally over 100 countries participating at the 2025 UTMB Mont-Blanc race week, there’s no shortage of special moments. We present the 23 images that defined this year’s pinnacle week of global trail running.

(Photo: Jacob Zocherman)

Published September 5, 2025 01:00PM

UTMB race week is like nothing else in the world. For seven days, the ski village of Chamonix, France—wedged into the French Alps, bounded closely by Switzerland and Italy—becomes the center of the trail running world. In the alphabet soup of event names—PTL, OCC, CCC, UTMB, and more—there’s a range of races that span from the star-studded 106-mile main event to the lightning-quick OCC (which ended in a sprint finish in 2025) to the otherwise incomprehensible 180-plus mile PTL.

While the distances and numbers of racers may vary, the one thread that runs through the whole week is this: Chamonix is the place to be for trail running each fall, and with such high stakes comes an avalanche of beautiful, triumphant, heart-breaking, and sometimes hard-to-see images.

This year with the help of two of the sport’s top photographers—Jacob Zocherman and Peter Maksimow—we’ve combed through hundreds of images to pick the 23 photos that best capture the breadth and depth of the 2025 UTMB Mont-Blanc. From the elation of victory at the pointy end of the field, to the heartbreakingly difficult conditions, as well as the behind-the-scenes shots—the ones just off-center from the action—that you’d have to be in Chamonix to see.

So whether you were one of the thousands lucky enough to attend one of the most challenging UTMB Mont-Blanc events in history or you want to see the sights from the comfort of home, we present the best images of the 2025 UTMB Mont-Blanc:

Setting the stage for what would be an incredible week of elite-level trail racing, American Jim Walmsley kicked off the World Series events on Wednesday with a nail-biting victory at the 57K OCC event.

Though a less-common sight in North America, unique “solutions” like door-less urinals help transform the otherwise summertime sleepy ski village of Chamonix into a trail running outpost/staging area.

Some runners, like this CCC participant, subjectively won the race before the gun even went off.

Unlike other international-level endurance events, there is nowhere in Chamonix to hide from the looming French Alps, hulking above both sides of the valley. The result is an ominous, almost dreadful feeling that the mountains impose pre-race.

Given that the tens of thousands of racers, friends, family, fans, and media are all crazy for trail running, no one drives the crowds more crazy than celebrité femme Courtney Dauwalter. Dauwalter could hardly walk a few feet during race week without being mobbed by well-wishers.

The otherwise quiet and quaint streets of Chamonix transform into a pulsing, living mob as the main event kicks off.

Far from the din of the enthusiastic crowds, aid stations set at varying positions among the Alps play temporary refuge for the week’s walking wounded.

As a veteran combat photographer himself, cameraman Jacob Zocherman described the people off the race course waiting for their event to start “like being shipped of to the front line.”

At the 2025 UTMB Mont-Blanc, the main character in every single event was the ever-changing (and terrifying) weather conditions. With snow and heavy winds at high altitudes, many of the set courses had to be rerouted for the safety of the racers.

With the carnage behind them, racers were able to (finally) enjoy the sites of Chamonix and the company of their friends, family, and fans.

The temporary center of the trail running universe also plays host to literally every type of “trail culture” character imaginable.

In contrast to the nervous runners in technical gear spread out everywhere, it’s easy to forget that the events pass through quiet French, Italian, and Swiss villages with villagers who simply don’t want racers peeing on their lawns.

UTMB racers in the main event contended with some of the worst conditions of the week, as rain pounded the leaders through the early hours of the night. Despite the weather, fans still turned up in droves to even the wettest and most remote sections of the course.

Simply covering UTMB race week requires a PhD in European travel, weather forecasting, and navigation.

Despite some of the worst conditions in years, veteran UTMB reporters noted that the fan presence was measurably larger than anything they’ve ever seen before.

Not everyone’s race is a dream come true. In aid tents, helpers and support crew tended to runners feeling the effects of the distance, the elevation gain, and the elements.

Despite being the overwhelming favorite in the CCC event (and all smiles at the start line), South Africa’s Toni McCann (far right) was one of many who failed to finish during this year’s UTMB race week.

Looking more like a MASH unit than an aid station, staff treated all sorts of running and weather-related injuries in hopes of getting racers back out on the course to finish their event.

After taking a commanding lead, but then struggling badly in the closing miles, Joyline Chepngeno became the first Kenyan to win a UTMB World Series event by taking victory in the OCC.

Despite fading through the back half of the 106-mile UTMB main event, American favorite Courtney Dauwalter still soldiered on to finish in 10th place—a fan favorite until the end.

The crowds in Vallorcine, only a handful of miles from the finish line at the UTMB main event were on another level in 2025. Here, eventual race winner Tom Evans soaks in the atmosphere after a long night of brutal racing.