Hoka Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB confirmed the elite seedings for its UTA100 and UTA50 fields on Friday ahead of its 14 to 17 May edition in Katoomba, with the event's debut as a UTMB World Series Major now less than two weeks away. The Blue Mountains race becomes the second-largest event on the UTMB World Series circuit and the only Major in the Asia-Pacific region for 2026, with race director Tom Landon-Smith calling the elite roster the deepest in the event's 18-year history during a pre-race media call on Friday.
Australian triathlete-turned-trail-runner Beth McKenzie returns to defend her UTA100 women's title and faces a particularly stacked entry list. Two-time UTA100 champion Lucy Bartholomew is back on the start line, alongside former winner Emily Gilmour-Walsh, three-time UTA podium finisher Naomi Brand, 2023 Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko by UTMB 100 km third-placed Sophie Broome and Julia Grant. The 100 km route's Furber Steps and the long Kedumba climb late in the race traditionally separate the field; McKenzie won 2024 outright with a 12:15 effort that took 17 minutes off the women's course record set in 2019.
The men's UTA100 is headlined by China's Jiasheng Shen, the top seed and a podium finisher across multiple UTMB World Series events in Asia in 2025. Shen will make his Australian racing debut on a course that demands familiarity with the technical descents off Narrow Neck Plateau and the late-race punch up Furber. He is joined on the seedings by 2023 winner Ondrej Fejfar, returning Brit Toby Spencer and a strong Australian contingent led by 2024 third-placer Hugh Gibbs and rising trail prospect Hayden Foley. The course record of 8:57:42 set by Spaniard Pau Capell in 2019 is widely regarded as soft on a course that has since been re-routed by 2.4 km, with race organisers expecting it to fall to a sub-8:50 effort if conditions hold dry.
UTA's other distances also fill out the World Series weekend. The 161 km UTAMiler features defending men's champion Andy DuBois alongside Norwegian Karoline Olsen, who is making the step up from 100 km as part of her preparation for UTMB Mont-Blanc in late August. The UTA50 has its largest elite field on record, including New Zealand mountain runner Daniel Jones, fresh off a fourth straight Tarawera by UTMB 102 km win in February, and Australian sub-3 marathoner Lauren McMaster making her UTMB debut at the distance. The UTA22 and UTA11 mass-participation distances are sold out at 4,800 entrants combined.
UTMB World Series Major status carries direct qualification for the UTMB World Series Finals at Chamonix in late August: the top 10 men and women in the 50K, 100K and 100M races, plus age-group winners, all earn auto-entry. Forecasts on Friday afternoon point to dry conditions through the weekend with overnight lows in Katoomba dropping toward 4 degrees Celsius, the kind of cool but stable autumn pattern that has historically produced fast UTA times. The full elite preview, course profiles and live tracking links go up on the UTMB World Series feed at uta.utmb.world from Wednesday 13 May.