The Skyrunner World Series ended with a Spanish double at the Marató dels Dements Skymasters in the Serra d’Espadà Natural Park, where Manuel Merillas and Sara Alonso won both the final race and the overall titles. The 42km course, which features nine major climbs and descents, had to be rerouted this year after summer wildfires, but the rearranged route still produced decisive margins at the front.
Merillas won the men’s race in 4:20, more than 12 minutes clear of France’s Lucien Mermillon in 4:32, with Marcos Villamuera third in 4:38. The win secured the overall series and its €12,000 first prize. France’s Frédéric Tranchand, expected to be among the main challengers, fell and was injured early in the race but continued to finish seventh. Alonso’s season was even more emphatic: her 5:30 victory, ten minutes ahead of North Macedonia’s Elena Karanfiloska, made her five from five in series races. Greta García completed the podium in 5:45.
On the other side of the world, the Grampians Peak Trail in Halls Gap, Australia, produced the standout ultra performance of the weekend. American Chris Myers won the 100-mile race in 19:43, a course record and the first finish under 20 hours in the event’s four-year history. His margin was more than an hour, with Poland’s Kamil Leśniak second in 21:09 and Nepal’s Man Kumar third in 21:31. Antonina Iushina, competing as a neutral athlete, won the women’s 100 miles in 23:08, almost two hours clear and sixth overall.
The Grampians shorter race also had a familiar winner. Lucy Bartholomew won the women’s 50km in 5:15, well ahead of Slovakia’s Ivana Líšková in 5:33, while Japan’s Koken Ogasawara edged Australia’s Billy Curtis by two minutes to take the men’s race in 4:19. In the United States, Colin Cooper and Grace Robertson won the Moab Trail Marathon, Camren Todd and Carmen Graves took the USATF trail half-marathon titles on the same weekend, and Olympic cross-country skier Jessie Diggins won the women’s 50 miles at Stone Cat in Massachusetts in 9:14.
The trail calendar now narrows towards its final major fixture of the year. Ultra-Trail Cape Town on 21 November is the last World Trail Majors event of 2026, and after a season in which Javelina, Templiers and the 100km world championships have all been decided by small margins, the South African race offers one more chance for runners to close their year on a high.