Tom Evans and Elsey Davis impress in the Arc of Attrition

Evans and Davis run 50-mile course records as Lewis Ryan and Noor van der Veen capture the 100-mile crowns and Kris Jones and Sara Alonso are 25-mile winners

“Tom Evans and Elsey Davis deliver outstanding performances in the Arc of Attrition, showcasing endurance, skill, and determination in this grueling ultramarathon.”

From humble beginnings a decade ago, the Arc of Attrition has steadily grown into one of the world’s biggest – and certainly most grueling – ultra races.

The flagship 100-mile distance around the rugged Cornish coastline in the middle of winter appeals to the masochist side of endurance runners. The event is now part of the UTMB series and the latest event on January 24-25 featured well-known athletes such as Tom Evans and Elsey Davis, both of whom smashed the course records to win the 50-mile races.

Evans hasn’t competed since suffering a DNF at UTMB in August, despite winning the prestigious Western States race in the USA in 2023.

Evans set off from the Minack Theatre on Saturday and finished in Porthtowan 6:54:40 later as Hugh Chatfield and Keith Wigley finished second and third. Just days earlier the 32-year-old, won the Western States 100 in 2023.

In the beginning, he was happy to run with the front group, but by what was practically the halfway mark in St Ives, he had slipped into a slim lead over fellow Brit Hugh Chatfield, with Keith Wigley trailing him by a few minutes in third place.

And so it continued until the 62-kilometer Godrevy checkpoint, where Evans began to slowly gain ground on the other two as they ran side by side.

The former British Army Captain crossed the line with his well-known salute celebration, breaking Mark Darbyshire’s previous best of 7:39:31 from two years ago which meant Chatfield and Wigley were both under the old record in what proved to be greasy conditions underfoot but not as brutal as many feared due to Storm Eowyn passing over the West Country before the races began. And becoming the first person to finish the Arc 50 in less than seven hours with a time of 6:54:40. By this point, Chatfield had pulled ahead of Wigley to finish in second place in 7:04:13, while Wigley finished in third place in 7:13:35, both speeds much below Darbyshire’s mark and ahead of the others.

And ran for Britain in the World Cross last year, had announced a new deal with Asics, and put his new shoes and kit to good use here to run out a clear winner.

Afterward, on his Instagram account, Evans posted: “Such a fun day out on the trails with @arcofattritionbyutmb opening up my account for the season with @asicsrunning – thanks for the support this week, looking forward to everything to come 🚀

“Great to share miles with @hughs_there and @wildwigley making the first half tough! Big year for you both!”

Davis clocked 7:55:48 to finish sixth overall, beating the old record of 8:18:46 held by Fiona Pascall.

Poppy Collingwood finished runner-up with Amanda Basham of the United States third.

Britain’s Lewis Ryan won the 50-mile race last year, he moved up to win the 100-miler this year in 19:22:35 as Noor van der Veen of the Netherlands won the women’s race in 22:30:44.

David Ryan of Ireland was runner-up in the men’s 100-miler with Sarah Page runner-up in the women’s category.

There were some well-known runners in the shorter 25-mile race option, too. Kris Jones beat Andy Heyes and Miguel Benitez in the men’s race, while Sara Alonso of Spain beat Gemma Hiller-Moses and Holly Wootten in the women’s category.

More joy for Davis