Elite ultra runner reveals how on-trail mugging left him in pieces, but now he's back and determined to win the UTMB

Tom Evans is leaving 'No Stone Left Unturned' in his ambition to win next week’s Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) . And he’s had a lot of stones to turn.

It’s fair to say 2023 was not a good year for Evans. Having come third in 2022’s UTMB, then winning the Western States Endurance Run in June 2023, Evans was looking good to win UTMB 2023. In fact, he was hungry for it.

Then, as he puts it himself, “the wheels massively, massively came off”. He was forced to withdraw after suffering from full body cramps and (as he reveals in this new video) being told he could have had a heart attack. But the wasn’t the end of woes.

Because having recovered, he went to South Africa to compete in the RMB Ultra-trail Cape Town in November, but was mugged at knifepoint by two men during a training run . The incident – in which the muggers stole his wedding ring among other things – left him severely traumatized and put him off trail running.

But now he’s back, and in his new frank and open video, 'No Stone Left Unturned', he chronicles his road to recovery.

2024 has been all about Tom rebuilding confidence and rediscovering his love for trail running. Having an aim to focus on has been a major part piecing himself back together, and in Tom’s case that’s winning UTMB 2024.

And this time he’ll make sure he’s not just “running scared” (to use his own description of his training regime for last year’s UTMB) and actually have a strategy in place.

Intriguingly, the video is called 'No Stone Left Unturned Episode One' so presumably there’ll be an episode two after this year’s UTMB, either celebrating the victory or simply celebrating the fact the Evans took part. Either are a great achievement.

Good luck, mate.

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