M35-39 at UTMB: Daniel Jones Storms Through the Men's Field to Claim the Title

• Daniel Jones wins in 11:04:19 (9:54/mi), posting the 3rd-fastest men's split on the Les Tseppes→Vallorcine Entrée stretch and climbing from 47th among men at the first checkpoint all the way to 6th by the finish.
• 32-minute gap to 2nd: Marcin Rzeszótko crossed in 11:36:24, running the 2nd-fastest men's split on Vallorcine Entrée→Vallorcine Sortie to surge from 25th among men to 17th — a strong late charge, but Jones was already gone.
• Tight battle for 3rd and 4th: Dakota Jones finished 3rd in 11:54:15, with Pello Berrizbeitia 4th in 12:11:26 — a 17-minute gap between them, but both made significant moves through the back half of this 108-kilometer course.
• 236 finishers completed the point-to-point journey from Courmayeur to Chamonix within the 28-hour limit, with the top 20 alone spanning over three and a half hours of racing.

Daniel Jones ran one of the most compelling races in the M35-39 field. He entered the first checkpoint 47th among men — well back in the pack — and simply refused to stop climbing the standings. By Les Tseppes he was 24th, by Vallorcine Entrée he was 22nd, and from there the acceleration became relentless: 19th, then 9th, then 7th, then 6th among all men at the finish line. His 9:54/mi average across more than 11 hours on a course that gains over 6,200 meters of elevation — with the thin air above 8,000 feet compounding the load — is the number that defines this race in M35-39.

Rzeszótko told a different story: steady through the middle, then explosive at the end. He held between 20th and 25th among men through most of the race before his blistering Vallorcine Entrée→Vallorcine Sortie split — 2nd-fastest among all men on that segment — launched him to 17th overall among men and 2nd in M35-39 in 11:36:24. He couldn't close the 32-minute gap to Jones, but that late surge was a genuine statement.

Dakota Jones (3rd, 11:54:15) was the steadiest mover of the podium trio, tracking forward from 46th among men at the first checkpoint to 23rd by the finish, including the 18th-fastest men's split on the Arnouvaz→Grand Col Ferret climb. Berrizbeitia (4th, 12:11:26) made his move even later, arriving 76th among men early on before working his way to 33rd — the 24th-fastest men's split on Trient→Les Tseppes powering that climb through the standings.

Further back, Patricio Gonzalez (5th, 12:24:41) and Fernando Rojas Ibaceta (6th, 12:27:23) were separated by under three minutes after more than 12 hours of racing. Minchul Ko, at 39 the oldest finisher in the top seven, came home 7th in 12:47:35, while the top 20 extended all the way to Klever Villacres in 14:46:30 — a field whose depth across 236 finishers reflects just how seriously this cohort took the Mont-Blanc challenge.