Mountain Ultra Trail Gender Split

28 May 2023

MUT, Africa’s only UTMB race along the beautiful Garden Route in South Africa – been there, natch, just happened this weekend for the first time under the UTMB banner. And here are their numbers:

MUT Miler (165KM) Starters: 42, DNF: 17, Finishers: 25 – 2 women 8%.
MUT 100 (98KM) Starters: 66, DNF: 8, Finishers: 58 – 15 women 26%.
MUT 60 (59KM) Starters: 164, DNF: 7, Finishers: 157 – 34 women 22%.
MUT Marathon (42KM) Starters: 342, DNF: 14, Finishers: 328 – 103 women 31%.
MUT Challenge (25KM) Starters: 404, DNF: 6, Finishers: 398 – 225 women 57%.
MUT Lite (10KM) Starters: 218, DNF: 0, Finishers: 218 – 139 women 64%.

1,184 racers finished the six different distances of the MUT races, 518 were women, or 44%. So, I had heard that only two women finished the 100 Miler, and while, in that race doesn’t lead to a great percentage, the overall participation rate for all six events combined is the best we’ve seen so far. Yes, a bit skewed toward the shorter distances, but overall, pretty impressive participation by women, amazing.

As a side note:
With only two women finishers in the 100 Mile race all you had to do was cross the finish line in 48hrs (the race did have 25K of vert!) and you would’ve booked your ticket to Chamonix for this or next year. There were two women who DNFed (so 50% of the women’s field). So I am not suggesting that it was a cake walk, but, I am saying… if you’re an elite, and you want a ticket to race UTMB, this might be interesting to put on your calendar for 2024.