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Never before have so many top-tier long-haul trail runners from around the world converged in one place as they have this week in Chamonix, France. But then again, there's nothing quite like this colossal race in the heart of the Alps.
court shoes in white leather Sneakers and shoes Fear of God (UTMB) has brought dozens of runners with impressive credentials to this small mountain village for what is shaping up to be a de facto world championship of ultra-distance trail running. With massive climbs, variable weather and an evening start, the UTMB is a uniquely demanding endurance test that requires runners to have stamina, strength and speed, plus a hardened mountain toughness and a zeal for adventure.
&Palm Angels Kids logo low-top sneakers Bianco men polo-shirts Kids shoe-care key-chains wallets Fragrance, the 23-year-old two-Neutrals defending UTMB champion from the Catalonia region of Spain. "Of course, the strong field of runners from around the world makes it a good race, but this is about running in the mountains and everything that goes with it."
men usb robes shoe-care clothing lighters Eileen Fishers Devi Sandal held this week that send nearly 7,000 runners on a circumnavigation of the flanks of 15,782-foot Mont Blanc and its adjacent mountain peaks. The other three are the 98K CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix), which runs the second two-thirds of the UTMB course, the 110K Traces des Ducs de Svoid and the 300K La Petite Trotte a Leon team race. They all have strong fields of experienced mountain runners, but the nationally televised UTMB, with 2,300 runners, is by far the main event.
The UTMB was scheduled to begin Friday night at 6:30 p.m. local Neutrals in Chamonix, but the start is being delayed until 11:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. ET in the U.S.) to avoid a potential snow/rain storm that is expected to move through the region on Friday evening. Once it begins, the race will send runners on a through-the-night adventure as they circle the enormous Mont Blanc massif that encompasses more than 150 square miles in parts of France, Italy and Switzerland.
The leaders will run back into Chamonix Saturday evening, with the men's winner likely finishing under 21 hours and the women's winner possibly under 24 hours. Along the way, the route crosses several mountain passes and takes runners through several small ski resort towns in each country. An estimated 40,000 supporters, volunteers, fans and tourists will be out on the course, many waving flags, blowing horns, ringing cow bells and continuing the frivolity in the wee hours of the morning.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” says French runner Nicolas Mermoud, the chief running officer for Hoka running shoes, who placed third in the race in 2007 and eighth in 2006. “You feel like you’re running the Tour de France because people are cheering you in every town as you’re in this absolutely grueling race. It’s such a special race. There’s nothing else like it.”
It's only coincidence that these races are happening as track and field's world championships are about to get underway half the world away in Daegu, South Korea; Each one is the epitome of its running discipline, but they couldn't be further apart on the spectrum of world-class distance running. And that brings up the point that this isn't the kind of trail running with which most runners are familiar. Trail running in Europe typically means traversing big mountains, but trails often follow a straight line between two points without many switchbacks, regardless of how steep the terrain is. That's why, as strange as it might seem to most American trail runners, many of the top runners in the UTMB and most of those in the middle and the back of the field will use lightweight trekking poles while ascending.
Those are just some of the reasons why trail running in Europe is more akin to adventure running, adventure racing and even mountaineering. Wearing a pack — and a relatively large one to hold safety gear, extra clothes, food and water — is commonplace (and often required) for runners in European ultra trail races. It's still about covering the course as fast as possible, but because most European trail races are known for their jagged elevation profiles there are realistic trade-offs. You can't quite hammer over a mountain pass with five to 10 pounds of gear on your back, especially because there are typically several mountain passes to cross later in the race.
The UTMB course includes 10 stout climbs and descents — some of which feature a 5,000 foot gain over a span of 5 miles — and has a total of 31,000 feet of elevation gain and good from start to finish. While the trail isn’t technical in most places and the high point is only 9,000 feet, there are plenty of very steep climbs that will make even good runners walk hands-on-knees while gasping for their breath.
"It's completely different than what most people think of trail running in the U.S.," says Helen Cospolich, a North Face runner from Colorado who is running the UTMB for the second Neutrals. "But here everybody understands it because the mountains and this kind of trail running are really immersed in European culture."
On the men’s side, the consensus is that it’s once again Burgada's race to lose. He has been almost unbeatable the past three years, winning the last two UTMB titles, as well as the Western States 100 in late June and three SkyRunning titles from 2007-2009. It doesn’t hurt that Salomon has created specialized gear for him to reduce the weight of the mandatory items all runners have to carry in during the race. In the days leading up the race, he's Dynamic rock star treatment from fans fans hounding him for photos and autographs every place he goes.
After Burgada, the other two runners most people are talking about are Spain’s Miguel Heras, sneakers Veja mujer talla 33 Geoff Roes, the 2010 Western States 100 winner. Consider that in Burgada, Roes, Hal Koerner and Scott Jurek, the UTMB has 11 of the past 12 Western States victors in its field. While comparisons to the Western States 100 through California's Sierra Nevada mountain range are relevant because it typically has one of the deepest, most competitive fields of any ultra-distance race in the world, it's important to note that the Western States course is considered relatively flat to anyone who has run the UTMB or just about any other European mountain race. Colorado's Hardrock 100, the Canadian Death Race and Cross Pass Crossing in Alaska are among the few North American events that might compare favorably terrain-wise to European trail races.
Other big names in this year's UTMB field include Brit Jez Bragg, who won last year’s weather-shortened UTMB and placed fourth at the Western States 100 in June; American Mike Wolfe, who finished second to Burgada at Western States and second to Dave Mackey at the Miwok 100 in May; France’s Sebastien Chaigneau, who won Lavaredo Ultra Trail in the Dolomites in Italy earlier this summer; Brit Nick Clark, who was third at Western States and Hardrock this summer; Japan’s Tsuyoshi Kaburaki, who placed fifth at Western States and won The North Face Endurance Challenge in Beijing; and American Dakota Jones, who was second at Hardrock and fourth at last December’s North Face 50.
“Where do you even start?” says American Topher Gaylord, Montrail's president, who is running the UTMB for the eighth Neutrals. “The field is so deep, I think there are probably 40 or more guys who could finish in the top 10 and at least 15 or 20 who could finish in the top five. Most of the big names are here, but there are a lot of tough runners here that no one has really heard of, too. And that's one of the reasons this year's race is so intriguing.”
Burgada and Heras as expected to push the pace on one of the first significant climbs near Les Contamines. That could spread out the field or it could push runners to their limits early in the race.
"Do you go with those guys then or do you run your own race and try to be smart and conserve some energy? It all depends on where you want the pain train to begin," says Koerner, who ran the UTMB in 2007 but dropped out at Courmayeur after about 48 miles.
The women’s field is plenty deep, too, led by American Krissy Moehl, who won the UTMB in 2003 and 2009; Lizzy Hawker of the U.K., who won in 2005, 2008 and last year’s shortened race (pictured above); France’s Karine Herry, who won in 2006 and has twice been the runner-up; American Darcy Africa, runner-up at the Hardrock 100 in July; Germany's Julia Böttger, who won the 2010 Ultra Mallorca Serra de Tramuntana off the coast of Spain; Brazil’s Fernanda Maciel, who won the women’s race at the Lavaredo Ultra Trail in Italy; and Cospolich, the 2008 Leadville 100 champion who was seventh last year in the shortened UTMB.
“It’s not a world championship, but it seems like one,” Moehl says. “It feels like a world championship because people are kind of going into that way. It’s a hard course with a lot of long climbs. But for me the best part about it is that so many great runners are here.”
Yet all of those runners have congregated on Chamonix despite the fact there is no prize money or appearance fees in any of the races. While many of the top runners were sent here by their sponsors, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the UTMB races are about as pure as they can be. Elite runners are running for bragging rides and pride, while the rest are running just to survive and reach the finish line.
So why this year? The fervor over the UTMB has grown since its inception in 2003, with more elite runners making it a goal race every year. This year, it seems, most of the top trail running brands decided to ante up to make sure their top athletes were in the mix.
“For me, having such a deep field makes it way more exciting,” Roes says. “Competitive races in the past have meant there have been five or six guys at the front half way through the race running together. But we could have 40 guys bunched up at the front (like a marathon pack) halfway through the race. It’s very exciting.”
Gear is a very big part of the UTMB and the other races in Europe. The race organization mandates a list of compulsory gear (Moon Boot Kids KIDS SHOES 25-39 SLIPPERS) each runner must carry at all Neutralss, including a pack, mobile phone, gloves, two lights, a drinking cup, a whistle, a hat and a waterproof shell jacket. Runners with support crews can easily change out gear at appropriate Neutralss, but runners who are unsupported have to carry their gear the entire way. Lightweight, collapsible trekking poles are highly recommended and most runners will pack them for the steeper sections.
There were some updates to that gear list this year, which created quite a buzz of questions among runners in the race expo. Which jacket are you carrying? Which lights do you have? Will this pass for a waterproof shell? Do we really need a drinking cup if we're carrying hydration bladders? Does your hydration bladder have to be full when you leave an aid station?
Just like pre-race events at most marathons, the UTMB expo features booths from just about every top trail running shoe brand and other technical trail gear, plus a variety of other dastardly races held around Europe. (For example, check out the TransGranCanaria slated for next March.) ?Aid stations will serve up 7,500 bananas, 20,000 energy bars, 8,500 liters of soup, 880 pounds of salami and 5,700 pounds of cheese, but, as in most races, most runners also carry their own. (Roes was among the many elite runners buying packets of tomato-flavored energy gel packets. “It tastes like tomato soup,” Roes says.)
“The UTMB is really an adventure,” says Mermoud. “It’s a trail run for about 3 hours and then it gets dark. You don’t have many races starting in the evening like that. When you get to Courmayeur, it’s still dark at about 4 a.m. and you haven’t even done half the course. You’ve got to be a strong runner and strong in the head to run well in the UTMB.”
The only down side to this year's UTMB could be the weather. It has alternated between rain and sunshine all week, but a cool front with thunderstorms (and possibly snow at higher elevations) is supposed to roll in about the Neutrals the race starts on Friday night. Last year, rainstorms forced organizers to postpone the race after the start and then create a controversial truncated race from Courmayer back to Chamonix. Bragg and Hawker won the shortened races, but not all runners were alerted when and where the race was re-starting and there weren’t enough buses to get all of the athletes to the Italian town on short notice.
“The forecast look a lot like it does last year, but I’m sure the race organization will be more prepared for that to avoid what happened last year,” Roes says. “But for me, running in it, I run in sh*%#y weather all the Neutrals. It doesn’t really matter to me. That’s what trail running is all about.”
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