The “UltraRunning Journal” North American Ultrarunner of the 12 months (UROY) awards, which have been offered since 1981, are arguably probably the most prestigious in North American ultrarunning, recognizing runners from or dwelling within the area. For the previous 17 years, I’ve been honored and privileged to serve on the panel of voters that selects the award winners. Every voter has their very own system for rating runners, and the ultimate outcomes all the time embody some surprises. This yr, as I’ve finished previously, I assumed it could be enjoyable to evaluate my poll with the precise award winners and supply some evaluation and commentary.
Jim Walmsley wins the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path. Picture: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
2025 Males’s Prime-10 North American Ultrarunners of the 12 months
Right here is the ultimate top-10 checklist for the boys’s North American Ultrarunner of the 12 months award:
- Jim Walmsley
- Caleb Olson
- Ben Dhiman (U.S., lives in France)
- David Roche
- Hans Troyer
- Seth Ruhling*
- Chris Myers
- Will Murray
- Mathieu Blanchard (France, lives in Canada)*
- David Sinclair
*Included within the last prime 10 and never on my poll
Caleb Olson chasing down Chris Myers by means of Deadwood Cemetery at mile 49.5 of the 2025 Western States 100. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Right here is the ultimate top-10 checklist from my poll:
- Jim Walmsley
- Caleb Olson
- Hans Troyer
- Ben Dhiman
- Will Murray
- David Sinclair
- Drew Holmen**
- Kilian Korth**
- Chris Myers
- David Roche
**Included in my poll and never within the last prime 10
Ben Dhiman ending in second on the 2025 UTMB. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
In evaluating my poll to the ultimate outcomes, a number of notable issues popped out:
- There have been two runners who made the ultimate checklist, however had been left fully off my poll: Seth Ruhling and Mathieu Blanchard. I weighed Drew Holmen’s third place at CCC and win on the Lavaredo Extremely 80k forward of Ruhling’s home outcomes on the Canyons 50k, Black Canyon 100k, and Western States 100. Moreover, I used to be very impressed with Kilian Korth’s dominance of the 200-mile distance in 2025 — the place he received all three of the triple crown occasions — which gave him my eighth-place vote over Blanchard.
- The largest discrepancy in my poll was with David Roche, whom I had tenth, and the panel had fourth. I believe this resulted from the best way I weigh DNFs in my calculations. Roche’s DNFs at Huge Alta 50k and Western States weighed closely in my rating.
- I positioned Hans Troyer forward of Ben Dhiman, which went in opposition to the panel’s vote. I used to be merely impressed with Troyer’s depth and breadth of performances in 2025 and felt he deserved a spot on the rostrum, particularly after his dominating win on the JFK 50 Mile.
Hans Troyer crossing the American River in the course of the 2025 Western States 100. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
2025 Girls’s Prime-10 North American Ultrarunners of the 12 months
Right here is the ultimate top-10 checklist for the ladies’s North American Ultrarunner of the 12 months award:
***Brady identifies as non-binary and competes within the girls’s race. They had been included within the last prime 10 and never on my poll.
Katie Schide on her approach to profitable the 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path. Picture: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Right here is the ultimate top-10 checklist from my poll:
- Katie Schide
- Rachel Entrekin
- Careth Arnold
- Anne Flower
- Abby Corridor
- Tara Dower
- Jade Belzberg
- Megan Eckert
- Courtney Dauwalter
- Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe, lives within the U.S.)****
****Included in my poll and never within the last prime 10
Rachel Entrekin on her approach to profitable the 2025 Cocodona 250 Mile. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
As on the boys’s facet, there have been a number of notable variations between the lists:
- I gave Emily Hawgood the nod over Riley Brady in my last evaluation. Whereas Brady’s three wins — together with a course document on the Black Canyon 100k — had been spectacular, their Western States DNF positioned her behind the always-steady Hawgood, whose solely blip was an underwhelming efficiency at UTMB. I gave Hawgood bonus factors for ending there, though it was not her day.
- I positioned Rachel Entrekin two locations larger than the panel, primarily based on her unbelievable racing quantity, and the truth that she received each race she entered and had zero DNFs. I additionally down-ranked Abby Corridor barely on account of her DNF at UTMB.
- Whereas Anne Flower’s yr was unbelievable, I assumed each Entrekin and Careth Arnold had extra spectacular years from begin to end. This can be by advantage of the worth I place on quantity and never essentially on the deserves of particular person performances.
Riley Brady profitable the 2025 Black Canyon 100k in course document time. Picture: Howie Stern
John Medinger, the previous writer and proprietor of “UltraRunning Journal” who presides over this annual train, says to the voters, “Annually we discover ourselves evaluating apples and oranges (or, as one voter put it: apples versus oranges versus pineapples versus bananas. And perhaps kumquats!) How does a quick 50k stack up in opposition to a stellar six-day run? A quick highway time versus a tricky mountain run? Whereas these variables will inevitably inject a level of subjectivity, simply attempt to be as analytical and goal as you possibly can.”
A last remark: As I stay up for subsequent yr’s balloting, I feel I might want to modify the best way during which I weigh DNFs. The game has clearly modified dramatically since I first grew to become a voter, and I might want to modify each my expectations and procedures shifting ahead.
Till subsequent yr…
Bottoms up!
Anne Flower setting a brand new girls’s 50-mile world document on the 2025 Tunnel Hill 50 Mile. Picture: Micki Colson/Colson Pictures
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from Marble Brewery in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Marble Cerveza is a deliciously easy tackle a basic Mexican lager. Weighing in at a easy 5% ABV and that includes a crisp and candy aftertaste, Marble Cerveza is an prompt basic.
Name for Feedback
- What did you consider the ultimate prime 10 of the North American Ultrarunner of the 12 months awards?
- Who else would you’ve gotten included?
