After an evening and day of racing in what can solely be described as initially dire climate situations that finally cleared to a good looking day, Paul Cornut-Chauvinc (France) and Katie Schide (U.S.) emerged because the winners of the 2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path 115k (MIUT) with occasions of 12:54:52 and 14:20:56, respectively. They earned their victories in vastly totally different fashions, Schide opening a niche from the beginning and by no means trying again, whereas the lads’s race amongst the highest 5 remained heated till the ultimate kilometers on a rerouted course.
Following a extreme hearth on the Portuguese island of Madeira final August that burned about 14% of the small Portuguese island over 10 days earlier than lastly being introduced underneath management, it wasn’t even sure if the occasion might go on. However, as a substitute of canceling the race, organizers selected to reroute 60% of it, making a route that measured 118 kilometers with 6,640 meters of elevation achieve, intently mimicking the statistics of the unique route. This allowed 434 runners to go away the village of Porto Moniz on the island’s northwest coast at midnight on April 26 to observe a considerably totally different route from the traditional course that used to cross the small island on the backbone of its mountains.
The beginning of the 2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path 115k. All photographs: World Path Majors
Organizers did their finest to keep up the unique character of the race — steep, rugged, and scenic — however have been pressured to reroute off most of the excessive peaks. Nonetheless, runners needed to ascend the 1,600-meter Estanquinhos within the first third of the race and attain about 1,750 meters on the ascent of Pico Ruivo earlier than bypassing the summit. A remaining massive climb as much as almost 1,400 meters to Ribeiro Frio and Chão das Feiteiras rounds out many of the elevation achieve earlier than the ultimate descent to the end on the metropolis of Machico on the island’s east coast. And whereas situations have been chilly firstly, they solely deteriorated because the evening wore on and runners spent many of the darkish hours bundled in jackets till dawn introduced calmer and hotter situations.
For the ladies’s race, all eyes have been on Schide, who took a while away from racing after her double victories at Western States 100 and UTMB in 2024. She was joined by Eva Sperger (Germany), winner of the 2024 Tenerife Bluetrail by UTMB 110k. Sadly, Katharina Hartmuth (Germany) was pressured to withdraw simply days earlier than the race as a result of an harm sustained in a motorbike crash.
On the lads’s facet, Jean-Philippe Tschumi (Switzerland) hoped to enhance on his third-place end in 2021, and home-country favourite Miguel Arsénio (Portugal) was again to avenge his 2024 DNF on the race, as was Germain Grangier (France), who failed to complete the occasion in 2019.
The race is the fifth cease of the 2025 World Path Majors sequence.
2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Males’s Race
With no clear favourite within the males’s race, and climate situations and dust that needed to be managed, it was anybody’s race to win, and up till the very finish, it was additionally anybody’s guess as to who would attain the end line in Machico first. Whereas runners left the beginning line at Porto Moniz with out precipitation, situations shortly took a flip for the more severe as they headed into the mountains with rain and chilly temperatures forcing most into jackets and hats for the early hours of the race.
Heading up the primary climb, straight from the beginning line, Hugh Chatfield (U.Okay.) and Raul Butaci (Romania) have been quickest to the primary checkpoint at Fanal after 12.5 kilometers of racing. They have been adopted 20 seconds again by a chase group containing Jonathan Moncany (France), Jean-Philippe Tschumi (Switzerland), Miguel Arsénio (Portugal), Germain Grangier (France), Paul Cornut-Chauvinc (France), and Luís Fernandes (Portugal).
Portugal’s Miguel Arsénio racing the 2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path 115k in damp and muddy situations.
Chatfield pulled away on the later pitches of the climb to the 1,600-meter excessive level of Estanquinhos, opening a 2:25 hole after 26k raced over the chase group of Tschumi, Butaci, Arsénio, Cornut-Chauvinc, and Grangier.
That hole was shortly erased on the lengthy, darkish, and chilly descent, and Chatfield, Butaci, and Cornut-Chauvinc all got here into the sea-level São Vicente checkpoint at 41k inside 30 seconds of one another. Tschumi, Arsénio, and Grangier saved the stress on in fourth and fifth, staying inside two minutes of the leaders earlier than going through the climb-heavy second half of the race.
Chatfield began to pay for his quick begin as evening turned to day and the leaders made their means over the following smaller climb and began the ascent towards Pico Ruivo, the summit of which the race bypassed. Within the foothills of the climb, on the Ilha checkpoint, 65k in, Butaci held a slim 22-second lead on Tschumi, and Graniger had moved into third, 1:27 again. Arsénio and Cornut-Chauvinc rounded out the highest 5, all lower than three minutes in arrears of the chief, with greater gaps forming behind them.
By Achada do Teixeira, on the way in which down from Pico Ruivo, Tschumi and Grangier had taken over the lead simply 15 seconds forward of Arsénio, whereas Butaci slipped to fourth, two minutes again.
However once more, all of it got here again collectively because the descent wore on, with just one:15 separating the highest 5 males on the Pico das Pedras checkpoint, 78k in and midway down the hill. Down into the valley and up the ultimate main climb to Chão das Feiteiras at 93k, the highest three, now consisting of Arsénio, Cornut-Chauvinc, and Tschumi, have been nonetheless primarily operating collectively, a mere 24 seconds aside. Butaci and Grangier weren’t giving up both, retaining their gaps to the chief at 1:36 and a couple of:04, respectively.
Excessive and many of the means down the ultimate descent, it might have been arduous to guess on the order of the highest three, not to mention the winner, and the highest 5 males rolled by means of the Portela checkpoint after 101k lined nonetheless shut collectively. Cornut-Chauvinc led Arsénio by 59 seconds, and Butaci sat 2:22 again. Tschumi held on simply 3:45 behind the chief, whereas Grangier began to fade, now 8:02 again. By Larano, 5k later, it appeared like it might be a two-man race to the end between Cornut-Chauvinc and Arsénio, who have been nonetheless only a minute aside.
In the long run, it was Paul Cornut-Chauvinc who put his descending expertise to good use to drag away for the victory with a time of 12:54:52. He regarded positively ecstatic to cross the end line.
Miguel Arsénio completed second in 13:00:30, and in addition appeared happy together with his effort. Raul Butaci completed third in 13:03:48. Jean-Philippe Tschumi and Germain Grangier rounded out the highest 5 in 13:17:11 and 13:19:41.
Paul Cornut-Chauvinc, the 2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path 115k males’s winner.
2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Males’s Outcomes
- Paul Cornut-Chauvinc (France) – 12:54:52
- Miguel Arsénio (Portugal) – 13:00:30
- Raul Butaci (Romania) – 13:03:48
- Jean-Philippe Tschumi (Switzerland) – 13:17:11
- Germain Grangier (France) – 13:19:41
- Delbi Villa Gongora (France) – 14:17:06
- Jonathan Moncany (France) – 15:01:48
- Filipe Ferreira (Portugal) – 15:07:25
- Bruno Sousa (Portugal) – 15:23:17
- Emilio Carvalho (Portugal) – 15:37:35
2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Girls’s Race
If the dangerous climate affected Katie Schide (U.S.) throughout her traverse of Madeira, she didn’t let it present as she placed on a masterclass in calm and environment friendly racing. It was Schide’s second time racing the 115-kilometer occasion, returning after 2019 when she completed second to Courtney Dauwalter after having, in her phrases, “a number of issues go improper.” This yr, seemingly nothing went improper as she managed the chilly temperatures, rain, and muddy trails with obvious ease and confidence.
By Fanal, 12.5k in and many of the means up the primary climb, she already had greater than a 10-minute hole on Martina Klančnik Potrč (Slovenia), who in flip had a virtually 15-minute hole on a big chase group that included Eva Sperger (Germany), Dominique Van Mechgelen (Belgium), Inês Jordão (Portugal), Manon Campano (France), Mathilde Dujon (France), and Marta Muixi (Spain). By the summit of Estanquinhos at 26k, Schide’s hole was greater than 35 minutes on Klančnik Potrč, with Sperger a further 10 minutes behind.
By São Vicente again at sea degree, 41k in, Schide’s hole was simply shy of an hour, however the race for the remainder of the highest 5 remained shut with solely 13 minutes separating Klančnik Potrč, Sperger, Van Mechgelen, and Dujon as they confronted down three extra huge climbs on the again half of the route.
Dawn, the ascent on Pico Ruivo, and the next descent towards the Achada do Teixeira checkpoint noticed the gaps lengthen even additional. Schide, who was now operating eighth general, held a 1 hour, 45 minute hole over Klančnik Potrč who in flip held a 1 hour, 12 minute lead over Sperger. Dujon and Van Mechgelen rounded out the highest 5, with Muixi not far behind.
Down the facet of the mountain and up the ultimate climb of Chão das Feiteiras, 93k in, Schide had labored herself into seventh general and regarded calm and relaxed because the in a single day dangerous climate eased and the ocean and mountain views that the race is so well-known for gifted themselves. Her hole to Klančnik Potrč now sat over two hours, and the race for third place was beginning to warmth up. Dujon had overtaken a fading Sperger to maneuver into third, the 2 girls operating lower than a minute aside. In the meantime, Van Mechgelen moved steadily up the climb, solely 12 minutes down on Sperger and looking out robust. Then, on the descent into Portela with solely 16k left to race, Van Mechgelen made up distance, passing Sperger and catching as much as Dujon. Muixi additionally used the descent to maneuver herself up within the area, additionally passing Sperger, and was now in a three-woman race for third place as third by means of fifth arrived on the checkpoint inside 90 seconds of one another.
After being within the combine all race, Eva Sperger dropped on the remaining checkpoint. Then, within the subsequent 5k, Dujon would claw out a two-minute hole on the opposite two heading into the ultimate checkpoint at Larano.
In the meantime, Katie Schide continued to look robust over the ultimate kilometers of the race to achieve the end line at Machico in 14:20:56.
Katie Schide, the 2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path 115k girls’s winner.
Martina Klančnik Potrč completed second in 16:58:32, and Mathilde Dujon was in a position to put in a late-race surge to complete third in 18:26:29.
Marta Muixi adopted in 18:29:00 for fourth, and Dominique Van Mechgelen accomplished the highest 5 in 18:39:17.
2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path Girls’s Outcomes
- Katie Schide (U.S.) – 14:20:56
- Martina Klančnik Potrč (Slovenia) – 16:58:32
- Mathilde Dujon (France) – 18:26:29
- Marta Muixi (Spain) – 18:29:00
- Dominique Van Mechgelen (Belgium) – 18:39:17
- Manon Campano (France) – 18:56:52
- Wen-Fei Xie (China) – 19:37:24
- Inês Jordão (Portugal) – 19:48:05
- Olga Sapach (Belarus) – 19:59:44
- Estela Martinho (Portugal) – 20:16:13
Martina Klančnik Potrč took second on the 2025 Madeira Island Extremely-Path 115k.