Top trail runners from around the globe will test themselves across Australia’s alpine region this week at Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko by UTMB.
The 2025 event will see more than 3,400 runners take part between 27-29 November in the fourth edition of the trail running festival, with the elite fields a mix of experienced campaigners and those new to the sport, all out to race for the top step on the podium.
Runners are set to take on one of four distances, with 100 Miles, 100km, 50km and 30km on offer, with tight racing expected across the events. Here’s how the feature events are looking…
KosciMiler
The KosciMiler will test runners over more than 160km of racing, beginning at 3am local time on Friday morning in Jindabyne, with the course working its way through some of the country’s best trails before finishing in Thredbo.
The women’s race is headlined by Newcastle’s Stephanie Auston, who returns to the KosciMiler after finishing second in the last two editions of the event, while also winning the Kosci100 in 2022.
Auston has had a successful 2025 to date, with wins in 21km and 45km events so far this year, and she’s looking forward to returning to the Snowy Mountains.
“I’m excited, a bit scared, but ready for the challenge,” said Auston. “I really love these trails and this part of Australia so doing it for a day sounds pretty good to me. It’s pretty runnable, flowy and fun.
“I haven’t really put together a good run over 100 miles, on such nice trails I want to see how much I can run and hold it together for a bit longer, also I want my crew to have a good time and not be out in the elements for too long so finishing on Friday would be nice,” she said.
Lining up alongside Auston is Brisbane’s Jessica Schluter who will be making her debut in Kosciuszko, having most recently taken on the 120km event at Lavaredo Ultra Trail by UTMB in Italy in June . Canberra’s Sarah Parkins is returning to the event after unfortunately not finishing in 2024, but was most recently on the podium in the 100 Mile distance at Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB in New Zealand in February.
Canberra’s Mike Carroll is the top ranked male in the KosciMiler and is no stranger to the trails of the Snowy Mountains.
“I’m feeling excited to return to the Snowies for a long day of running in the mountains. I grew up in the Snowy Mountains so it’s going to be special to run such a big distance around this area,” said Carroll. “It’s another race that I’ll have family there to watch and crew, and that always makes the experience pretty special.”
Carroll didn’t finish the KosciMiler last year but bounced back with a second-place finish in the 100km at May’s HOKA Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB, a result that he took a lot of out.
“Leading up to UTA this year I’d had well over a year of races that didn’t quite go to plan for different reasons,” he said. “I think the UTA experience just confirmed for me that if I kept enjoying the training and process eventually there would be opportunities to have a good day.
“A successful race I think is just enjoying the day and being grateful I have the opportunity to do things like this. 100 Miles is a huge task and in an environment like the Snowies there is a lot that can happen,” said Carroll. “If I can manage myself well and adapt to the conditions I’d be happy. Last year was a good experience in things happening out of your control, I’m hoping I can learn from that.”
There are a number of runners out to challenge Carroll on Friday, including Sydney-based Frenchman Eric Conce who won the debut 100 Mile event at HOKA Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB this year. Conce has raced the 100km and 50km distances at Kosciuszko in the past and will be taking on the KosciMiler for the first time this week.
Switzerland’s Robin Fournier will be racing his first Australian UTMB race this week, having most recently finished 22nd in a world class field at the HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc in August, while Newcastle’s Vlad Shatrov will be looking for a repeat of the performance that earnt him second at the inaugural KosciMiler back in 2022.
Kosci100
Friday morning will also see hundreds of runners taking on the 100km event, beginning in Perisher and finishing in Thredbo. Melbourne-based British athlete Sophie Broome returns to the Kosci100 after finishing third in the event in 2023.
“I’m feeling prepared and surprisingly calm heading into this week’s race. The training is in the bank, the body and mind feel good and now I’m focused on getting to the start line ready to get the best out of myself and enjoy the whole experience, I’m excited to see what the day brings,” said Broome.
“Finishing on the podium in the Kosci100 in 2023 was my biggest result up to that point. It gave me a huge confidence boost and showed me I can compete with some of the strongest ultrarunners in Australia. It also gave me my first opportunity to race internationally at a major event, the UTMB World Series Finals, which was an amazing experience.”
Broome is out to put all that she’s learnt from racing into action when the starter horn goes at 7.30am on Friday morning.
“I’m hoping to apply all the experience I’ve gained over the last two years to put together an even stronger performance. The Kosci100 course suits my strengths and I think this is the right place for me to try and qualify for the UTMB World Series Finals again,” she said. “I’m trying to focus on the process rather than the outcome during this race. Success is about executing my plan with discipline while also adapting when problems come up, if I can stay present and focused and make good decisions during the race, I’ll be happy.”
Anna Pillinger returns to the Kosci100 for the first time since 2022 where she finished fourth, while Spanish runner Buha Bali will be keen for another strong performance like she had last year, where she finished third in the event.
America’s Justin Grunewald is set to race in Australia for the first time this week, and while the course in the Snowy Mountains will all be new to him, he is no stranger to finishing on a podium. Grunewald won last year’s Desert RATS Trail Running Festival by UTMB in Colorado and was second in the 102km at the 2024 Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB in New Zealand. France’s Loris Lassere will also be taking on this week’s event for the first time but brings with him a wealth of experience across multiple distance that he will be looking to put to good use.
Kosci50
Both the women’s and men’s 50km events are expected to be hotly contested races, with a mix of international and local runners set to line up on Thursday morning.
In the women’s Kosci50 Iceland’s Andrea Kolbeinsdottir will race for the first time in Australia, and heads to Kosciuszko off the back of three wins this year at home. Australia’s Lucy Bartholomew will take on the Kosci50 for the first time and heads to the Snowy Mountains following an impressive seventh place finish at HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc at the end of August, her best result at the pinnacle event in the sport.
New Zealand’s Juliette Soule was second in the Koscis100 last year and will race across the 50km distance this week.
“I loved racing at Kosci last year, it’s such a beautiful course so I’m happy to come back and hopefully experience a better weather day. Last year I did Kosci100 in the lead up to Tarawera 102km which worked pretty well and I was eager to replicate that this year but despite my love of longer ultras, doing a 50km is realistically a better lead in to Tarawera as it’ll be less of a breakdown stimulus, easier to recover faster and continue building,” said Soule. “Also, I’ll hopefully be running faster in the 50km which translates well to Tarawera, and I know the 50km has a pretty deep field on the women’s side which I’m always keen to jump into.
“A great day at Kosci for me would be a run where I know I throw myself into the competitive fire. Competition is a big part of the magic of racing and what enables things to come together and push you to faster times than you would’ve thought yourself capable of. Success for me would be taking some risks and embracing the suffering,” she said.
Soule got her first taste of racing at the top international level this year when she took on the 100km CCC at HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc, an experience that she took a lot out of.
“CCC was a huge learning curve for me, on a practical level the terrain, altitude and elevation was unlike any race I’ve done before and impossible to replicate here in Australia,” she said. “I gained a lot of strength as a runner in the time I spent over in France in preparation. On the mental side, it reinforced my dedication to sport and a belief in myself that I have the potential to compete at the top level. I’m certainly not at that top level yet but I have all the support and systems in place to continue to develop as an athlete over years to come.”
In the men’s Kosci50 Michael Diumantes returns to Kosciuszko for the first time since taking on the Kosci100 in 2022. The Canberra-based runner has had a strong last few years of racing, including a win in the 100km event at Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB in 2024. Out to challenge him across the 50km is Ben Duffus who has been racing at the top level in Australia for more than a decade, with race wins and podium finishes across the country.
“After concentrating more on 20km races recently, I’m excited to be stepping back up to 50km at UTK,” said Duffus. “The Snowy Mountains are absolutely beautiful and I’m looking forward to spending more time on these wonderful trails, it looks like a fast first third of the course so I’m expecting the pace to be hot from the gun.
“Success in any race is feeling as though I did the best I could on the day with what I had,” he said. “This course has a lot of sting in its tail, so if I can feel strong on the climb up to Eagle’s Nest then that would be a great day.”
