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Rachel Entrekin | 2026 UTMB Post-Race Interview
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Rachel Entrekin joins us in the studio fresh off her 2nd place finish at the 2026 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB). We reflect on her race execution, what this means for her career, and her next steps.
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Single tracks coverage of the 2026 UTMB World Series Finals is brought to you by Norda, Precision, Fuel, and Hydration and RAID Research. The single best way you can support our coverage in these next two weeks is by supporting our partners. You can use our discount codes linked in the show notes of these episodes. You can mention us in post-purchase surveys and a lot more, all that good stuff. It helps a ton. A few notes here. Obviously, Norda recently released the 055 shoe model. This is a fantastic trail super shoe, especially, I think, in the multi-day category and in these hundred-mile mountain races. Go check it out. They've also got a new partnership being announced, I believe, on August 26th. So stay tuned on socials for that. Precision Feel and Hydration, our official nutrition partner of this coverage, they're going to be set up all week in Chamonix as well. They have a ton of athletes racing, including Caleb Olsen, Rachel Entrikken, Rachel Drake, Tyler Green, to name just a few. And then finally, Raid. They have a showroom here in Chamini from August 24th through the 29th at St. Glard Sports. Uh that will include a range of 2027 prototypes that can be demoed to get your feedback on. They're also selling their LF5L vest, running belts, and current apparel line. So yeah, thank you to Raid, Norda, and Precision Fill and Hydration for making these entire two weeks possible. Well, listen, it's Rachel, it's it's we really appreciate you being in studio this soon after the race. And I think I mean the first thing I'd love to have you comment on, and you talked about this briefly in the post in the finish line interview, why you Timby is the hardest face you've ever done.
SPEAKER_01Um it's certainly not the longest race I've ever done, but um, I do think that you know, going into it, there's such an elite level of competition that you can't ever not be racing. Like there is never a single point in which you're not kind of concerned with I guess like what is going on around you. Because in Cokedona, you can just kind of like it's so long. I mean, and it's it's starting to maybe not be that way. Like I suspect probably within like five years, Kokodona will probably also be like, you can't ever phone it in. Um, but yeah, I mean, just I I knew going into this race that if I wanted to do well, um, and I wanted to really like test myself, then it was going to have to be like, you try hard every second. And that's not something that I'm necessarily, I don't think I've really ever done that before. Maybe. Because even Cocodona this year, like at that low point that I had around Sedona, I was I was kind of phoning it in and just like, whatever, I'm just gonna make it to the aid station and like I'm just gonna, you know, I'm gonna try my best, but like 98% of my best and not a hundred. And like this race, it was a hundred percent of what you got at all times. And that is a lot to manage.
SPEAKER_00Is there a moment from this race that you think is like perfectly representative of how difficult the entirety of it is?
SPEAKER_01It's funny because I was chatting with Courtney going up the first like little tiny, you know, 300 meter climb, um, kind of around Lazouche, like that reroute that they did. And she was like, Oh, you did the hardest part. Like the hardest part's just getting out of the start corral without getting stabbed or trampled. And I just remember telling her, like, I'm extremely like concerned that you think that's the hardest part. Cause like for me, the hardest part of this race was um the last 30 miles, um, going into Champagne Loch, and then Will and Austin, my like ancillary crew, my hype crew, um, they were like, Yeah, you better get the move on because like Blondine just got 40 minutes on you. Cause I had a really tough time with the really long descent. She was like, Blondine just got 40 minutes on you. You have two women within 10 minutes of you. And I was like, Great. Now I'm gonna have to like try even harder when I'm dead tired on the last 30 miles. And just it was, it was really looking back, it was really awesome because I have never been pushed in that capacity. Like doing that last climb and descent. I hate that last climb and descent. I hate it. It's so technical and it's stupid and steep and like unnecessary because there's a nice river path that we could just be taking. But no, we're gonna do this insane climb. Um, and doing that as fast as I was able to do, like never letting off the gas. I was I was joking with the camera people that were following me because they were all just like walking and I was like, cool, I'm working as hard as I can, and y'all are just like walking beside me. This is great. Um, but yeah, I mean, having that added pressure of like, if you want to keep where you're at, then you have you cannot phone it. You can't even think about phoning it in. Like you have to, you can't rest, you can't like do any, like you have to keep going. And that was just really a challenge.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if you've seen this after the fact, but uh in that same section, Blandine in the lead, face planted twice. I know. I had a couple false. You fell too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I almost died coming down final descent. But I don't think it was on camera because Blondine had finished by then, and it was it was obviously like the screens were on her finish, but I fell twice.
SPEAKER_00I got the sense, and I again I could be wrong, but I got the sense in our pre-race interview that you were gonna sort of run your own race and let the cards fall where they may. And I'm curious in retrospect, if you were to analyze yourself, do you feel like you held true to that, or did you get sucked into the the heat of the moment stuff?
SPEAKER_01I think at the beginning I definitely got sucked in, which I was afraid I would do, and I did, but I remember thinking very specifically, like, you are not letting this be another Spartahlon. Like you are going to have to like know when this is over. And I figured at Saint Gervais, because I've my favorite sections, sections of the course is um Lacantamine all the way to Champagne Bloc. Like I love all of those parts. And so I was like, all right, well, I know how to run those sections of the course at a pace that is competitive, but within my own like abilities. Um, it was just, I mean, the first 18 miles of that race are so fast. I was, I did a 613 first mile, and I haven't run that. I was telling Lucy Bartholomew, I haven't run that fast in like a year, probably.
SPEAKER_00You don't do workouts.
SPEAKER_01No, I don't do jack. So I mean, it was just like, I hope this isn't like a terrible idea. But I remember, I mean, the start is so overwhelming. Um, I'd been warned, but I just you don't know, you don't know what it really is like. Um, but yeah, the start was just really overwhelming. And I just remember like immediately I just locked into the back of Lucy Bartholomew's head and I was like, Lucy is going to run this race, like in a way that I can at least like potentially predict. Like Lucy's going to get top 10 because Lucy has only ever gotten top 10. So like if I want to get top 10, like we are hanging out with Lucy. Um, and then I just kind of adjusted that we are hanging out with this person now according to like how I was feeling and what I felt like I was capable of. So I held I hung on to Courtney for a little bit. I hung on to Blondine almost all night. Um and but again, I mean, I was kind of running within what I felt like was a challenge, but still doable. Like I wasn't ever trying to blow myself up.
SPEAKER_00Our mutual friend Simon commented this, and I totally agree. I think one of the downsides of the current live stream, because of where it falls during the race, uh, Cold de Bonome to Cormayer is a bummer. And it's what all the carnage happens, or so much of it. Do you have any insights from just like how the race played out in there? I mean, so many on the men's side dropped there. I think did Courtney end up dropping?
SPEAKER_01I think she dropped it the 60k mark. I'm I am not. I was honestly, I have I can tell you how my day and night was. Yeah, but I don't know what was happening to anybody else.
SPEAKER_00You looked kind of rough in Cormaill.
SPEAKER_01Bro, I looked rough at the start. Like it was, well, it just, it just is such a different type of race experience. And I did find the entire process to be really, really overwhelming. And so, I mean, I I've been joking that like I just fully dissociated at the start line and then just like really didn't allow myself to like be completely present until my my buddy Justin Walker was at the finish line. He was like in the finish line shoot, and it was just like, oh my God, a face I recognize. And he was just pumped and he was filming on his phone and he was like giving me a high five, and he was like, You did it. And that was when I was like, oh my God, like I did it. And all these people are here to celebrate that. And like that was cool, but the everything else was just really, it was just it was just a lot. Um, and so yeah, I I I know there were a lot of comments on how like serious and how tired and like all these things that I looked, but like, and that's and that's all accurate, but like I just did not have the extra energy to like smile, you know? And like I don't think anybody's talking about like, well, the men did smile. Like, why are we talking about how I looked different?
SPEAKER_00Sure. I mean, I I I think if we were having anyone as CD, I would be like, judge. I mean, I well, we'll have Caleb Olsen in after this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I have some comments there too. You know, like I think I'm actually I'm I'm not I'm not critiquing you.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm critiquing other people.
SPEAKER_00Well, and um for me, more so it is the ability to for any athlete to look in somewhat dire straits in that moment and still not only keep it together, but stay in the fight and I mean land on the podium, especially given that it's your debut here. And you know, you had told us post or sorry, pre-race that like if you had come here the week of, you might be DNF in Cormayer. Yeah. And like it was those six or three weeks out here that were instrumental.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. And I mean, I was in Cormayer and I was thinking I was by that point, I was really happy to be there because I'd made it to the place where like I didn't I think Courtney has talked about this before, but like she DNF Coca-Dona and like everything after 120 12 100, I guess, was like, ooh, exciting. We haven't like done this before. And I remember a very I obviously haven't raced it before, but I remember a similar feeling of like, cool, because of the work that I did, I now get to like I genuinely enjoyed the nighttime. And it was so much fun hanging with Blondine. And like I would, since I guess there was no real live stream, like I would it was it was so predictable. I would pass her on the ascents and then she would destroy me on the descents. Um, because I really think that this is a if you're good at descending, like you are going to excel at this race. And descending is my worst subject. Um, and so I think the fact that I got second, having zero descending skills, is pretty I was super proud of that.
SPEAKER_00And it's really tough in this race too, because I mean there's cameras anywhere, everywhere. So you're totally you are exposed from except in like the real like the middle of the night, you're pretty exposed. And I've always wondered like what value is there in like coming into these aid stations and faking it, even if you need to, if you need to, just to like not let crews behind you know, like yeah, give them any material. But I mean, you are even in between aid, you are on there's cameras everywhere.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the only climb I remembered not having a camera person on was the Bovan climb in the daytime. Yeah, yeah, was Bovan. And I was like, oh thank god, I like get a second of myself. Because it is, I mean, in I guess in the in one difference, all of my energy is going towards racing in this race. But in Kokadona, it's like 60% of my energy is going towards racing in Cocodona, and like 20% can be like talking to the camera guy and like talking to my pacer, and you know, like putting not it, and it's not putting on a front. It's just like I am enjoying myself and I'm able to like show that a little bit easier. But like again, a hundred percent of my capacity was was running as fast as I could. Like I did not have an ability to like I'm I'm so impressed with like Courtney in the um Notre Dame de la Gorge climb. Like, how are you smiling? I was like, I was just staring at the ground, like, don't look at anybody, like, don't look at anybody. Um, because yeah, it is just like super overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00Given how demanding the race was in retrospect, are you glad that you cleared the deck for this race after Coca-Dona? Was that a good decision to not really race?
SPEAKER_01You know, I actually questioned that um because I I did feel really out of um practice with the begin. I mean, and again, I think it's the beginning of the race. Like I was really out of practice with like this start. Um, and I forgot like that anxiety of stepping up to the start line and being like, how much does the beginning of the race matter? Because I did feel like with this race everything matters, but like maybe it really doesn't. I don't know. So I I I think I did the right thing, you know, but um I wish I had thrown in something, maybe like even if it was just like a 50k, like maybe that would have been smart in hindsight.
SPEAKER_00Are you happy with this result?
SPEAKER_01Oh dog, yeah, I'm stoked. Like I would have been stoked with any any sort of finish. Like I just wanted to get it done. I wanted to like check it off the resume and like get it done. And I remember I didn't even set placement goals, I just set time goals of like a sub which is which is odd because I usually don't set any sort of time goals, but I was like a sub-24 would be sick, a sub 30 would be also sick, and like a finish would be I I would still be proud of just a finish. So yeah, second place is awesome.
SPEAKER_00So you're not like I need to come back next year and sorry for trail. Are you done here?
SPEAKER_01Uh I don't I guess I can't say like definitively yes, but it's this is just I understand why some people would really like uh this type of race environment. Um, but I am not like those people, I don't think. Like it's and it's not that I disliked it necessarily. It was just it was just a lot. It's a lot to manage. Um and then, you know, I don't live here. And I do think that familiarity with the terrain is incredibly important in order to do well. Um and so, you know, that was a big that was a big sacrifice to be away from like my support system for five weeks and just be out here like it really this race, more than any other race I've ever done, felt like a job. It felt like a career move. It didn't feel like the same, I guess, as other events that I've I traditionally will lean towards. Um and I'm glad and I'm I'm very glad for the experience, and I'm very glad that it ended this way. Um, like my race ended this way. But um I don't know. I'll I if I come back, it will definitely need to be like a when I feel ready to come back. And I cannot promise you that it will be anytime soon.
SPEAKER_00You have been massively under the microscope for at least the last year in this sport. And I have to imagine that in some way, shape, or form, 2026 has been transformative for you. Yeah, for sure. Talk about, yeah, make sense of this season, talk about the transformation.
SPEAKER_01Um, I mean, obviously I I now have so much support. And that really has I think it's it's really been kind of like a almost a quid pro quo of like now I have support, so I can dedicate more time to this. And subsequently, like my results have gotten a lot more competitive. Um so it is it is an interesting like thought experiment experiment of like, well, would this have happened sooner if I'd had the support? I don't know. Um but but yeah, I mean it I do think that I don't I don't exactly know why this is, but I do feel like there have just been a lot of people who've like doubted my capabilities. Um so so loudly sometimes that like I begin to doubt my own capabilities. And so I think the thing that I'm the most happy with this year is being able to like shut that out and being like and I I think I was maybe talking to Dylan um Bowman when somebody said to me once, like, you're not doing it to prove your haters wrong, you're doing it to prove your supporters correctly. Um, and I think that has been a mindset that it's like, well, I'm I'm doing this because I think that I can do this. I'm not doing this so that I can prove anything else. Um, and I think that's been a big 2026 lesson is like, you know, a lot of people thought that I would not wind up in the positions that I wound up in. Um, but I always believed that I, you know, I could. I think if if things had gone differently, like perhaps I could have even won UTMB. But I'm totally stoked a second, don't get me wrong. And like blonde, and it was it was just so fun to race against Blondine. Like she's such a pro. And like watching her go on the descents was insane. Because I mean, and we every time she would pass me, I we would just joke. I was like, all right, see you next time. Cause like again, for the you know, first 50 miles, we would just like I'd pass her on the climb, she would pass me on the descents. And like I remember the first climb that I didn't pass her back was um the climb out of Cormair. And that was the moment when I was like, all right, Blondine, unless Blondine gets injured, she wins. Because like I did not catch her on this, and I and according to how things have gone, like I should have. I didn't even know she left the aid station in front of me. I thought I was in first going up the climb. So I was like, ha ha. And then somebody was like, Oh, the DZM Them. And I was like, shit, I think Blondine's in front of me. And then yeah, I got to the top and I didn't catch her, and I was like, she's got it in the bag.
SPEAKER_00As a fan, that reminds me of Coconut earlier the ship between you and leaving uh was it Munns Park?
SPEAKER_01Um beyond Sedona.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and there was like a little bit of again on the on the logic.
SPEAKER_01I didn't mean to pull a fast one. Um but blonde uh but Blondine, I was like, oh, she pulled a fast one. Like I thought that because that aid station stop for me was really effective, but I was also like again, I was so locked into my own race. Um, that I I mean a dancing monkey could have like come in the aid station and I would have been like, I didn't even notice. So um, but yeah, I was that I think that was the moment when I'd like made peace with like, all right, you're at least second.
SPEAKER_00That is interesting to me though, that despite the ride you've been on uh going back to even Keonti earlier this year, the Coca-Dona victory, which I think should score like a 1,000 UT and B index score.
SPEAKER_01I wish they'd score it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know I know.
SPEAKER_01That'd be great.
SPEAKER_00Right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that would have been nice.
SPEAKER_00But that that even I don't know when I don't know if you still entertain them, but the fact that you were still entertaining doubts from the masses, that would be thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean I and I don't I don't think I understand. So I wish that would stop. And maybe it will, but I doubt it. Because I feel like there are probably still even going to be people who are like, well, she didn't get first. And it's just like, why would you do that to somebody? Like, why would you downplay someone else's accomplishments? And like for what purpose? Um, so yeah, I don't know. We'll see. I mean, time will tell, we'll see. And again, I'm I'm over the last year I've really learned to like those people don't know me. And like they haven't talked to me, and they don't really want to probably know me. They just want to critique something. And so I'm I'm so much more interested in um not even entertaining is not the right word, but like listening to the people who know me, who care about me, and who support me. Like that is that's so I can't do anything about people who like for whatever reason don't like me or don't want me to succeed. I don't need to listen to those people. I need to listen to the people who are in my corner and who I trust.
SPEAKER_00I think there are a lot of people in the audience that uh get a lot of inspiration from your backstory and just like the career you've had in the sport over the last 13, 14 years. Um I mean, yeah, maybe the last question here is just reminisce on your arc in this sport. Like getting like again, I I want to come back to just like even setting aside this year, but like getting into ultra running, did you ever think that you'd be here?
SPEAKER_01Hell no. I did not expect to be on the podium at UTMB. Like that was reserved for professionals. And I still I mean, arguably, I mean, I have a professional contract and I've now, you know, podiumed at UTMB. Like I am obviously a professional, but I still really feel like I have not changed at all since signing up for my first 50k. Like I'm still just this kind of bumbling idiot who's just like out there baffled and just like trying my best. Um and you know, I'm I I was just watching, I guess it might have been Trailrunner magazine or something, but they posted um they were interviewing me at the finish line, which if you ever want completely honest answers from somebody, you interview them after the finish line of UTMB. And the question was, how did you train for this race? And I was like, I just ran loops of the course. I didn't do a single speed workout or any sort of workout, except for one time I did a workout and I hated it. So I never did it again. But like, that's not a very professional answer. But like, I think I think there's just there's more than one way to reach the top. And I think that's the message that I hope I can send to people is like, you know, obviously everybody needs to do their own thing if they want to succeed, but you but I don't think there's one cookie cutter way of like getting finding success. I think I think if you're I think if you're doing what makes you happy, which for me is is running. Like I love running in the mountains with my friends. I love trying hard things, and I love getting out of my comfort zone. Um, and that's how I trained for this race. I mean, I didn't, I did I was never I never did one run that felt inauthentic to how I've trained in the past. Um, and that is something to be very proud of, I think. Like I didn't change who I was to try to get this result, I just did what I loved and it got me here.
SPEAKER_00That is interesting that as the sport gets increasingly professional and increasingly data driven, uh, some people would would even argue that it takes a lot of the character out of the sport. You are an example that it's still intact.
SPEAKER_01I think so. I mean, I hope so. Um, and I I do really think that like, you know, I started I did my first Ultra in 2010. So I mean I've I've seen the progression firsthand and I I've just never felt like that was something that I needed to do in order to be happy. And I, you know, it it may not have gotten me a professional contract, but that was something that I was willing to accept because I was never interested in changing who I was in order to get something that I wanted. Um, I just figured if I if I stayed true to my values, then if it was meant to be, then it would happen.
SPEAKER_00Is this the end of your season? No.
SPEAKER_01Um, I have uh the snowman track in Bhutan.
unknownThat's right.
SPEAKER_01Which I'm gonna have to somehow train for now. I'm so dead.
SPEAKER_00That's is that five weeks from now?
SPEAKER_01Uh it's October like 14th. So I've got a little bit of time.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01But like, oh my god, I'm gonna have to like find an altitude chamber and just because it goes up to 19.5, I think. Um, and I'm yeah, I don't think I'll be running for a little bit of time because my quads are pretty dead.
SPEAKER_00Because you go back to Salida for a few weeks and then you go to Bhutan.
SPEAKER_01Um, I think I think I need to book a ticket for like the 12th of October. Okay. So yeah, I've got like I'll probably wind up with a month of training. Training. That's in air quotes for the listeners. Um so yeah, we'll see. But I mean, honestly, I'm I'm really I'm more excited about that experience of getting into a country that is so foreign. And like I'm really curious about the altitude stuff because I love high altitude, but my high altitude is 14.5, and that is 5,000 feet taller. So that's I'm I'm curious how that is gonna go.
SPEAKER_00Um and then they really uh like you get to meet the king, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, dog. So I gotta go. I mean, I'll I'll figure out a way to not embarrass myself at that event, but it's gonna be I think I think that probably next two weeks I just need to like really tune in to how I'm feeling and not try to start training too early because that's a race that I want to just like just like this one. Like that's a that's an event that I don't want to show up to unprepared. And I don't want to like flippantly like play it off. Like 19.5 and 20 miles every day for five days, like that's gonna be a tall order. Um, so I I really need to be smart.
SPEAKER_00It'd be really it would be really interesting if that ends up being the hardest thing you do all year and you just ratchet up from Coca-Dona. Yeah. Like everything. UTMB was then this. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean it's oh, UTMB was so hard. But I think I think I think UT and B was difficult because it was both physically demanding and also mentally quite demanding. Um, whereas I think the snowman race potentially is just going to be like very physically difficult. Um, because I know that there's quite a lot of climbing and descending, but it's also at such high altitudes. Um but I think mentally I'm just really looking forward to like that experience and getting to be in this like incredible country. Um yeah, so we'll but yeah, I know it's not the end of my season. I've got at least one more thing on the dock. It's and it is a very tall order, but um, but after that, I'm probably just I mean, I might jump into like a 50k or 50 mile or something, but it won't be like the one in New Hampshire or whatever that race is. It's not gonna be anything, it won't be a competitive race. It'll just be like, eh, I feel like I could do this.
SPEAKER_00Well, we really appreciate the time. Thanks for putting on a show out there.
SPEAKER_01Oh, thanks.
SPEAKER_00And uh, I guess, yeah. F final thoughts for the listeners before we go. Anything else you want to say about UTMB?
SPEAKER_01We should all be paying attention to Emily Schmidt's, I think. Because that was insane. I mean, when she finished, I like hugged her and thanked her because I was like, I found another gear because you were breathing down my neck. Um, so yeah, that was that was an incredible performance on her second hundred ever.
SPEAKER_00It's amazing how theatrical both two, three finishes were.
SPEAKER_01I know because I thought Caleb and um Baptiste were a minute apart.
SPEAKER_00Ended up being 40 seconds.
SPEAKER_01That's wild. Yeah, in a hundred miler. That was what I that was what I kept thinking to myself is like, how is it freaking possible that in over the course of a hundred miles we're still within minutes of each other? Like, that's crazy. Um, and like the CCC women's finish was baffling. So yeah, it's it's really fun as a spectator. It's not fun as a participant because you're just like, oh my god. Um, but it's really fun as a spectator to watch those events get so compelling, especially even up towards the end.
SPEAKER_00Um that's crazy because it looked like on the live stream that you were unfazed by Emily's fast approach. Like you kind of you again, just outwardly on the stream, you looked in control and not like you were influenced by it.
SPEAKER_01I was dissociated, that's why. Um, no, I well, again, I mean, I and I told you this in the beginning, like in our previous interview, is I'm only at any point during that race going to do the best I can. So whether she was three minutes behind me or whether she passed me, it's like I am doing the best I can and there is nothing more I can do. And so that was that is the only thing I can do. Like I cannot, I can't magically whip out a fourth gear when I'm already in fourth gear. Um, so yeah, I mean, I guess I was unphazed, but it, but it was just because I was already, I was already doing what I could. So there's no need to worry about like whether she if if she passed me, I was gonna be freaking stoked. Cause like, hell yeah, what a race, you know. Um, but but yeah, I I thought her performance was really incredible. I don't know where she was the entire race, but I thought she whipped it out of nowhere.
