David Ayala

About

David Ayala is an American ultrarunner and mathematics professor at Montana State University in Bozeman, where his research in higher category theory and topology — work with applications to quantum physics — earned him a prestigious NSF CAREER Award. Raised in Rockville, Utah, on the doorstep of Zion National Park as the son of medical providers working in the park, he has channeled that mountain upbringing into an accomplished ultrarunning and FKT career alongside his academic one. He has twice won Bozeman's iconic Bridger Ridge Run, set fastest known times on the Wind River High Route and across Utah's and Montana's high peaks, and in 2013 completed a 93-mile self-supported traverse of Death Valley that was featured in Trail Runner magazine. At the Hardrock 100 — the notoriously difficult 100-mile loop through Colorado's San Juan Mountains — he has become a fixture near the front of the men's race, finishing 4th overall (and first American) in 2025 in 24:22:24, then improving to 3rd overall in 2026 in 24:28:17. Ayala has said he runs not to solve equations in his head but to quiet them: 'I run so I can't think of anything else.'

Notable Wins

• — Hardrock 100 2026 3rd (24:28:17)
• — Hardrock 100 2025 4th (24:22:24
• — 1st American)
• — Bridger Ridge Run 2x winner
• — Death Valley 93-mile traverse (2013)

Race History

Recent Coverage