Race week for HOKA Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB officially opened in Katoomba on Tuesday 12 May, with the first wave of international runners arriving for an 18th edition that will run across four days from 14-17 May in the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains. Organisers have confirmed a record entry across the six race formats — 161km, 101km, 51km, 22km, 11km and a 1km children's race — and over 8,000 runners are due on the start lines through the long weekend.
New Zealand's Daniel Jones is back to defend the 161km title that he won in a course record in 2025. The 35-year-old, who arrives with a UTMB Performance Index of 942, will start the 161km on Friday 16 May at 4:00 AEST and is the clear favourite to retain his title. Jones used the off-season to log a six-week block in Chamonix with Hannes Namberger and has publicly indicated he intends to race conservatively through the early descent into the Jamison Valley before pushing the climbs out of Ironpot Ridge.
The 161km women's field is the deepest UTA has assembled. Australian Hayley Teale, who finished second in 2025, is joined by Spain's Núria Gil and Hong Kong-based New Zealander Ruth Croft on a roster that pencils in at least three of the world's top 15 ranked 100-mile athletes. The 101km, traditionally the most internationally competitive race at UTA, features China's Lin Chen (UTMB Index 783, 100M Kodiak winner 2025) and a strong New Zealand contingent including women's defending champion Caitlin Fielder.
Almost 800 international runners are registered, predominantly from New Zealand, Hong Kong, France, Singapore and South Korea. Female participation reaches 43% of the overall entry list — one of the highest figures in the UTMB World Series and a number that organisers attribute to the event's mid-distance ladder. The UTAmiler 100-mile, a community-led pacing project that walks 100-mile debutants through the course on the same start, returns on Friday 15 May.
Course conditions look workable. The Blue Mountains has experienced a relatively dry autumn, leaving the technical descent on Furber Steps grippy but firm; overnight lows of 5°C and daytime highs of 19°C are forecast across the four-day window. UTA's race director has reiterated that the 161km cut-off remains 28 hours and that the event will operate under the same staged-start system introduced in 2024 to manage congestion at the first major climb out of the Federal Pass.