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Who to look out for at KMR 2025

16 March 2026

Guest writers (and Salomon runners) Simone Brick and Claire O’Brien-Smith, give us a taste of who to look out for across #kMR2025 weekend!

Vertical Downhill

Starting off the weekend of racing will be the all-new Vertical Downhill, which has the fun concept of the winner being the person who runs closest to their predicted time, with no watches allowed on course. That makes picking the actual winner impossible, but some names of note that you can guarantee fast times from, include local men Dave Bailey and Clinton Garrett, last year's winner of UTK100 Quinton Gill, and trail running superstar Steph Auston, who has years of wins and podiums all around the world behind her.

Golden Trail National Series - Mountain Run 25km

Maggie with her fellow Golden Ticket winners

Then it is onto the big show that is the Golden Trail National Series event, the Mountain Run 25km. It will once again be the second stop of the GTNS, and therefore has attracted some of the best trail runners around the country. Supported by Salomon, the GTNS has some serious prize money up for grabs, and the overall female and male leaders, when the Series concludes in Brisbane in June, will win a fully-funded trip to the Golden Trail World Final in Europe!

Simone at Warby

The women’s Mountain Run field sees Steph Auston backing up from the downhill dash the day before, but will that be a great primer for Steph, who is used to the much longer distances, or will it hinder her chance when coming up against the fresh legs of Katinka Von Elsner Wellsteed? Katinka will no doubt be out for redemption on this course after an unfortunate DNF last year, and will be coming in fresh, ready to stamp her mark on the Series after placing a very close second overall in the GTNS last year. Also coming in looking for redemption and to prove her prowess on the technical trails of Kunanyi, will be Salomon runner Simone Brick, who missed this race last year due to injury and recently placed third at the first stop of the GTNS, the Donna Double in Warburton, Victoria.

Two other names to look out for in the women’s field are Rebecca Wilkinson and Georgina Beech. Rebecca recently ran a 5km PB of 18:00, which added to her previous podiums at the Buffalo Stampede 20km and experience running cross-country will no doubt be near the pointy end of the field. Georgina has previous podiums at the likes of Transcend Ultra in WA and Blackall100 21km and in 2022 placed 4th in the always hotly contested UTA50.

In the women's Under 23 category, which has its own GTNS overall winner prize money to fight for, there are 6 contenders, with last year’s overall winner Indianna Zammit being a notable return. Indiana will be up against Anousheh Moonen who ran brilliantly to place 7th overall at Donna Double, and Ahnika Lennie who, with a 15th place at UTK50 in December last year, has shown she has a lot of strength!

Dave Bailey

On the men’s side, the Mountain Run sees last year’s overall Series winner, Leo Peterson, starting up his GTNS season. With last year’s third place in a rapid time of 2:13:47, plus some rapid times on the road recently, including a sub 30min 10k and sub 15min 5k (within an hour of each other), Leo is fit and has to go in as favourite. It will in no way be easy though, with the likes of Toby Lang, Courtney Atkinson, David Bailey, Thomas Banks, and Ethan Penck lining up alongside him. Toby is leading the U23 on the men’s side after his overall 3rd place at Donna Double, where he took 10 minutes off his time from the previous year. Last year Toby placed 6th at KMR in a time of 2:21:15, so if his recent form is anything to go off, and he can take 10 minutes off his time here, then we are in for an epic battle where Leo also has to lift to stay ahead.

Courtney Atkinson is another top contender. He’s a two-time Triathlon Olympian (2008 and 2012) and has the most race experience of anyone in the field. Courtney proves time and time again that although he is twice the age of some of the field, he can still battle it out at the front, something he did in last year’s GTNS Coastal Ascent where he placed 6th, ahead of both Toby and Ethan.

Dave Bailey is a Tassie local, who although is backing up from the downhill dash the day before, will no doubt be fighting it out for the top positions. Dave came 5th at Donna Double only 3 minutes behind Toby. Ethan Penck is another U23 athlete who placed 10th last year in the Mountain Run, and will no doubt improve on his time this year, as he gains strength and experience. And finally, adding to the field's strength is Thomas Banks, who comes in with a 4th at UTA50km in 2024 and win at UTK 27km in 2023; if recent improvement curve in results is anything to go by, Thomas will be right in the thick of the fast paced racing.

In the men's U23 Toby and Ethan are standout contenders in both the overall and U23 categories, but with 13 total contenders in the Men's U23, there could be any number of up and comers who join the battle at the front!

Piotr Babis

Alpine Marathon 46km

In the Alpine Marathon 46km, both of the previous winners of the Ultra Solo 66km will be stepping down in distance, but up in speed. Patricia McKibbon holds the 66km course record that she secured in 2024, but is no stranger to the shorter distances, recently placing second at Kosci 27km. Piotr Babis, a Tassie/Polish local, also holds the 66km course record from last year, but has shown he can race at the top of a variety of distances, with a recent 70km win in Poland and a 2nd place at BTU 34km.

Ultra Solo 66km

Claire O’Brien-Smith

In the Ultra Solo 66km, the women’s course will be competitive and the course record may be in jeopardy. Nicole Paton is a strong mountain runner, coming off the back of a recent win at Hut2Hut 100km, and she is joined by Australian teammate and Salomon athlete Claire O’Brien-Smith, who took out 2nd place in the 66km at KMR last year. Alice McGushin will be rivalling for the podium, with multiple wins in the UK/Europe over the last few years, as well as Katilyn Howlett, who has two GPT50k podiums over the last 2 years and a strong Hounslow Classic result, showing she is fast over technical terrain.

The men’s field in the Ultra Solo 66km is also looking strong, with a few contenders to look out for, as they race for the win. 2023 winner and Tassie local Andrew Gaskell will be looking to better his 3rd place from last year, but will have to beat Ben Burgess and Jonno Healey to get that top spot. Ben was set to take second place in the GPT100 miler before the race was cancelled, so he’ll be hungry for a podium finish. Up and comer Jonno Healey is stepping down in distance from multiple 100-miler runs, with a recent podium at BTU miler. But keep your eyes on Marc Iseli as well, the Tasmanian local, who placed 3rd in last year’s Mountain Run, and is stepping up in distance to the Ultra this year.

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