One of New Zealand’s leading trail runners and the 2024 Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB champion has clinched an impressive second place finish on her UTMB debut.

Ruth Croft becomes the highest ever Kiwi finisher in the UTMB, eclipsing Scotty Hawker’s third in 2019, and the first New Zealand woman to make the podium in the UTMB.

Ruth completed the 176-kilometre (101-mile) course with 10,000 metres of elevation in 22:48:37.

The Kiwi put together an almost perfectly executed race that saw her start conservatively and move through the gears in the second half of the course as she began to pick off her fellow competitors to charge through into the runner up spot.

Despite her phenomenal performance there would be no catching the eventual champion, with American Katie Schide shattering the course record on her way to claim her second UTMB victory.

Katie led the women’s race from start to finish, crossing the finish line in 22:09:31. Canadian Marianne Hogan rounded out the women’s podium in 23:11:15.

After almost making it to the UTMB start line last year only to be thwarted by illness just days before the race, Ruth was excited to make her UTMB debut this year and was determined to enjoy her experience.

“My build up this year was a lot better compared to last year, I didn't make the start line last year because I got sick the week before but this year I felt really strong, partly due to my coach, Scott Johnson, and just mentally pretty relaxed to be honest," says Ruth.

"I tried not to take it too seriously and just wanted to try and have as much fun as you can over 170 kilometres.

“I think it's slightly psychotic [to run 170km) but for the most part I did have quite a lot of fun. There were a few low patches, the first 50km, but after that, things started to pick up.”

American Katie Schide is the 2024 UTMB Champion. Photo: UTMB.

Ruth’s second place finish in the UTMB further cements her status as one of the world’s best ultra runners and adds to her impressive collection of results at UTMB Mont-Blanc, having previously won both the CCC (100km) in 2015 and the OCC (50km) twice, in 2018 and 2019.

The gruelling UTMB race started in the early hours of Saturday morning NZT, with Ruth crossing the finish line nearly 23 hours later in the early hours of Sunday morning NZT.

The UTMB is one of the world’s best known endurance races. It is the centrepiece of the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc, a week-long event based in Chamonix, France, which sees 10,000 runners compete in seven different races, and the UTMB World Series Finals.

On Saturday, fellow Kiwi Daniel Jones finished fourth in the CCC, UTMB Mont-Blanc’s 100km race.

Full results of the women’s and men’s UTMB are available at live.utmb.world.

For more information about the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc and UTMB World Series Finals visit montblanc.utmb.world. For more information about Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB visit tarawera.utmb.world.