Manon Bohard – Resilience, success and 2025 challenges for the ultra-trail runner
Dans cet épisode du podcast La Sportive Outdoor, j'ai reçu Manon Bohard, ultra-traileuse française au palmarès impressionnant, qui a remporté la Diagonale des Fous 2024.
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Episode summary
French ultra-trail runner Manon Bohard has established herself as one of the world’s leading trail runners. Winner of the TDS, the MIUT, the Diagonale des Fous in La Réunion, as well as world team champion and vice-champion of France, she shares in this interview her journey, what she’s learned and her ambitious plans for 2025 – with one watchword: finding the right balance between passion, performance and health.
A late but dazzling start
Originally from the Haut-Doubs region, Manon grew up in a mountain environment. The daughter of innkeepers, she has always been immersed in nature and movement. After studying dietetics in Lyon and Strasbourg, she moved back to the Besançon area, where she discovered trail running almost by chance:
“I started running with a group of friends on Tuesday evenings. The bib came a little later, when I saw that I had a little potential.”
In 2019, she took her first decisive step by hiring a coach. Progress quickly followed, and podiums followed. In 2021, she joined the French team and won the UTMB TDS, an unexpected victory that changed the course of her career.
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Three pivotal seasons
For Manon, three periods mark her evolution:
- 2019, the year of structuring: she starts training seriously and discovers the importance of coaching.
- 2021, the year things clicked: selection for the French team and victory in the TDS, despite the “imposter syndrome”.
- 2023, the year of maturity: with the help of a mental trainer, she learns to cope better with pressure and rediscovers the pleasure of racing. A rich season, sometimes too rich: “I was on fire. I had one race after another and maybe a few too many race numbers.
Support from the Hoka team
Since the end of 2021, Manon has been racing under the Team Hoka colors. A partnership she describes as benevolent and pressure-free:
“They don’t ask for specific results. I put the pressure on myself.”
She appreciates the closeness of the team, the exchanges about equipment and the gatherings before major races, even if she often remains isolated to train in the Jura.
Balancing two lives: dietician and top-level athlete
Manon isn’t just an athlete: she’s also a dietician-nutritionist in Besançon, and coordinator of a childhood obesity prevention network.
A demanding double life : “I switch from sneakers to computer. Some weeks are undrinkable.”
To keep up, she gradually reduced her working hours and organized herself around a flexible schedule, adjusted each day by her trainer according to her fatigue. But despite this rigor, she recognizes the difficulty of reconciling everything:
“Sometimes there’s no room left for family life, social life and recuperation.”
That’s why she decided to take a leave of absence from April to find a healthier balance.
Preparation, training and mindset
Her training varies according to the season: running, cross-country skiing, road cycling, weight training and strengthening to prevent injury. In winter, she favours volume without trauma, thanks to skiing.
On the mental side, Manon has been working with a sports psychologist for several years:
“I tended to take everything too seriously, both at work and in training. I’ve learned to have fun again and to accept that everything is changing – my body, my life, my priorities.”
A year marked by the Diagonale des Fous in 2024
After a difficult start to the year, marked by an injury at the UTMB and a state of overwork, Manon lined up for the Diagonale des Fous in La Réunion. Despite fatigue and pain, she came out on top, demonstrating exceptional determination:
“It’s not the victory I’m remembering, but the resilience. I raced to enjoy myself, not to win.”
She describes the race as a unique human and natural experience:
“Reunion Island is a breath of fresh air. The people are incredible, the course is rough, demanding, but so beautiful.”
Rethinking the suite: health and longevity first and foremost
This victory symbolizes a turning point. Manon now wants to put health at the heart of her practice:
“I don’t want to give the image of someone who rushes headlong into things. The objective is balance, to last.”
2025: heading for Hardrock 100
The year 2025 is shaping up to be a great one. Manon will be taking part in the Hardrock 100, a legendary 160 km race in Colorado.
“It’s a race I’ve been dreaming of doing for a long time. My father was already talking about it when I was a kid.”
This adventure will also have a personal dimension: his father will be his pacer for part of the route.
“It’s a fair return: he passed on this passion to me.
Prior to this race, she will take part in the Transvulcania, an 80 km race in Andorra, and then end her season on theUTAT 100 in the Moroccan Atlas. A year she hopes will be more “intimate”, focused on the mountains and freedom.
A message for women
Manon concludes with a simple and powerful message:
“Dare to practice for yourself. Put on your sneakers, even if you don’t know where you’re going. You’ll move your limits, both mental and physical, and get to know yourself better. The most important thing is to get moving, alone or with others.”
Follow Manon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhdmanon/