They made it. Mountain Ultra 2023, our first foray into the dramatic Tian Shan Mountain Range, has come to an end. For many of those who started it, has ended with them receiving a medal that was likely the hardest-earned they’ve ever had, and for all the runners it has been an adventure they will never forget. Despite the extremely challenging nature of racing in this area, the feeling we’re getting from our team out in Kyrgyzstan is that they and the runners are now in love with the place.

The last trio of Keri Morgan, Carlos Coelho and Dalia Shekhawat made it to the finish line around 01:00 am after racing for 20 hours on one of the toughest stages Beyond the Ultimate has ever created. The crew and all runners greeted them at the line like the heroes they are and then celebrated at Base Camp for as long as they were able to stay awake. 

Today everyone has travelled back to the local town of Karakol to rest, recuperate and no doubt do as much more celebrating as they have the energy for. 

Below you’ll find the final standings. We have now received all of the timing data from our team in Kyrgyzstan. They contain the final standings and the results from every stage. These results are official and confirm what we all already knew in our hearts which is that Jon Shield has won yet another BTU race, that Michael McLean has come 2nd, and that Kristina Madsen and Karl Alvarez have come joint 3rd meaning that Kristina has now been a winner in all four of our Global Race Series events. An absolutely outstanding result. 

Russell Jackson came 7th and also joins the very very narrow ranks of those athletes who have made it through every step of the GRS. 

We’ll have more images and stories from the race for you in the coming days. We knew this would be an adventure akin to our earliest events. A new country and a new team working with very limited communication options and seriously tough expedition-style logistics. It speaks to the experience we’ve gained over the years that our team were able to meet each challenge.

Adventures like this require all the runners and the team to take care of each other and push each other along to the finish line and we’ve seen each and every one of them do that. Our thanks to all of our local team, our medics, to all of the runners, and to those of you at home who patiently and anxiously watched on just as we did.

Below you’ll find a table showing the overall results, including finish times for each stage of the race: