UTMB winner Ben Dhiman advertises for a running coach
Published 8 October 2026 | Written by Andy Hood
Record-breaker Ben Dhiman advertises for a coach
Ben Dhiman is looking for a running coach. The guy who just ran UTMB in under 19 hours, the fastest time the race has ever seen and by some margin, has put out a highly unusual social media post advertising for a coach and encouraging applications.
It's certainly an interesting way to find one, and it got me thinking about what it says about Dhiman.
You'd think his brand sponsor, Asics, would have coaches lining up to work with the phenom. So why did he feel the need to create a job advert, and an AI-generated one at that, going by the Instagram flag on the post?
Ben Dhiman Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ben_dhiman/
I was in Chamonix in August, following the full UTMB week, and witnessed Ben's performance first hand. The start was delayed by around two hours because of the weather in the valley. We had intense storms around the original start time and for a few hours after, which would have left the runners exposed as they made the first climbs off the valley floor. Less than perfect conditions make Dhiman's run even more impressive.
Listen to the elites talk before a race and you'll hear a common thread: they've trained well and they're ready to run. Rarely will you hear anyone put it on the line the way Dhiman did. I'm here to win, he said.
Some may have heard arrogance. I heard confidence, from someone who had tried three times before: two DNFs and a second place behind Tom Evans in 2025.
I'm relentlessly positive, even more so since I came back to running after cancer, and I put it all out there too. It's my way of reassuring myself that I'm prepared, that I'm ready for whatever the run throws at me, that I'm mentally strong and won't let doubt creep in. I did the same when I chose to run for 24 hours on a treadmill. Asked if I could complete the full 24, I always gave the same answer: I will. It was my way of building a wall around my mind. I find Dhiman's approach somewhat refreshing.
So what of his unconventional search for a coach? Let's look at the possibilities, and at where his mind was when he posted it.
This is a guy who, going by what's publicly available, didn't train for UTMB in the conventional way. His background explains a lot. He's a long-distance hiker: the Appalachian Trail at 20, the Continental Divide Trail at 24, plus a 42-day crossing of the Himalayas. No surprise, then, that he describes his UTMB training as "chill harder", cutting back the threshold and speed work in favour of long days climbing.
So does Dhiman advertise for a coach because he knows there's more in there? Because he can come back to Chamonix, command the race and do again what he told the finish-line crowd he'd done this year: "Today I showed the course no respect."
Or is the advert smarter than that? Is this a guy who knows how to unsettle the other elites chasing the win? A cool-headed, unconventional runner quietly getting under their skin, sowing the seed of doubt that their training, their methods and their coaches aren't going to cut it?
Is Dhiman already laying out the message: I'll be back, and I'll be back to win?
I like to think so.
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