The Arc of Attrition by UTMB 2025: Start times, route, tracker and how to follow live

This is a preview of the 2025 race. Click here to read about brilliant wins for Lewis Ryan and Noor van der Veen in the 100 – plus here for record-breaking displays from Tom Evans and Elsey Davis in the 50.

The Cornwall-based Arc of Attrition, or ‘Arc100’, is on the horizon, with runners preparing to take on the British ultramarathon in south-west England.

A regular fixture on the January ultrarunning calendar, the event is renowned for bitter weather conditions as competitors navigate the astonishing South West Coast Path National Trail.

The draining 100-mile jaunt, which is now part of the UTMB World Series, has a strict 36-hour cut-off time – meaning the task is not one for the faint of heart or inexperienced. The event also hosts a shorter 50-mile race, the ‘Arc50’, which takes place over the same weekend.

All those who compete over the 100-mile course will earn an Arc of Attrition buckle – although they vary depending on the runners’ finishing time. A Black Buckle is the reward for competitors who break the 24-hour barrier, a Gold Buckle for 30-hour finishers and a Silver Buckle is the honour for completing the course inside the 36-hour cut-off.

The ‘Arc100’ boasts a DNF rate of over 50%, a stat that showcases the punishing challenge that awaits runners due to the route and the weather,

With race weekend on the horizon, here is our guide to the Arc of Attrition including start time, route, previous victors and how to follow the action….

Arc of Attrition start time and race tracking

The 2025 Arc of Attrition is due to start on Friday January 24 at 12:00pm (midday) in Coverack. There is a 36-hour cut off for completion, meaning runners must have reached the Eco Park in Porthtowan by midnight on January 25.

The Arc50 begins at the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno at 8:30am on Saturday January 25. It has a cut off of 15 hours and 30 minutes, meaning runners also have that midnight deadline to make it back to the Eco Park.

UTMB will provide live tracking for ‘dot watchers’ here.

Start list

In the women’s race France’s Claire Bannwarth is the highest rated female on the UTMB Index at 705. She competed – in unusually low-key fashion – in the World Trail Majors’ Hong Kong 100 the week prior, so it will be interesting to see if she does make it to the start line but few ultrarunners clock more race miles than her.

Other highly ranked athletes include 2024 Chester Ultra victor Zoe Murphy (GBR), Kaiserkrone 2024 winner Noor Va Der Veen (NED) and Centurion North Downs Way 2024 champion Sarah Page (GBR).

Ivan Hrastovec (SLO) has a UTMB Index of 819 and he is expected to challenge on the men’s side. He competed at Knap Trail 2025 – T’Douga on January 4, finishing 13th. He was a DNF at last year’s UTMB Mont Blanc.

David Ryan (IRE) will take him on, as will a number of British runners including Mick Clifford, Hugh Tibbs, Chris Kelly, Lewis Ryan, Thomas Vickery and Charles Pearson.

There will be major interest in the men’s ‘Arc50’ where Britain’s Tom Evans is set to compete. Evans won the Western States Endurance Run in 2023, but has failed to finish at UTMB Mont Blanc the past two seasons.

Route

The Arc of Attrition is a point-to-point race, starting in the Cornish south coast town of Coverack and finishing in Porthtowan on the north coast. It is 100-miles long, almost entirely following the Cornish section of the South West Coast Path as runners complete an ‘Arc’ around the Cornish peninsula.

The route has 4,010m of total elevation across its 100 miles. Whilst the route itself is hard, the primary challenge for runners is the weather rather than the land; a winter race on the coast, it is infamously windy, wet and cold.

Almost entirely sticking to trails, there are a few sections where the route does join up with the road, but only where the South West Coast Path itself does the same. There are only two spots at which the race departs from the path, at Cape Cornwall and St Ives Island.

There are four checkpoints in the race, spaced around 20-miles apart, which all have a variety of supplies and food: the first is at Porthleven, 24.5 miles after the start, the second 14 miles later at Penzance, the third a further 16.5 miles along at Land’s End and the fourth in St Ives after another 24 miles.

The Arc50 starts at the unique Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, but also finishes in Porthtowan.

Arc of Attrition record times

Emma Stuart made the headlines in 2023 when she absolutely shattered the women’s course record – knocking nearly four hours off Anna Troup’s previous best time.

Mark Darbyshire broke his own course record in 2024 becoming the first runner to dip under the 19-hour mark on his way to victory number two at the event.

There have been other big-name winners too, not least Nicky Spinks in 2022 and this year’s Winter Spine hero Kim Collison in 2019.

• 2024 – Men: Mark Darbyshire 18:51:54 / Women: Sabrina Verjee 23:03:40
• 2023 – Men: Gavin Dale 19:56:58 / Women: Emma Stuart 21:22:16
• 2022 – Men: Mark Darbyshire 19:12:48 / Women: Nicky Spinks 25:35:52
• 2020 – Men: Steve Wyatt 21:24:31/ Women: Anna Troup 25:21:14
• 2019 – Men: Kim Collison 20:43:46/ Women: Laura Swanton-Rouvelin 26:48:13
• 2018 – Men: Steven Wyatt 23:44:18/ Women: Maryann Devally 32:26:32
• 2017 – Men: Paul Maskell 21:25:01/ Women: Maryann Devally 27:56:12
• 2016 – Men: Pat Robbins 22:44:49/ Women: Natalie Taylor 27:59:50
• 2015 – Men: Duncan Oakes 22:48:43/ Women: Charlie Ramsdale 26:33:54