Let me describe to you this AWESOME race. The UTMB (as it is lovingly nick named) is a 166km (104 mile) race starting and finishing in Chamonix. It covers 3 Countries, France, Italy and Switzerland, there is more than 9,400m of positive ascent, all of which has to be completed in 46hrs! On the website the race is described as “ a great epic in a magical environment, Seven valleys, 71 glaciers, 400 summits… The Mont Blanc range is fascinating.” Who wouldn’t be tempted?!!
The UTMB is one of the classics of the Ultra world, it is the ultimate Mountain race. This year approximately 2,300 competitors have entered the event., ready to face the challenge of their life-time, of which only 7.3% are women. Runners will battle against fatigue, altitude, blisters, weather, sleep deprivation and hallucinations, but this is all part of the challenge, testing ourselves to the limits.
I flew out to Geneva on the 25th August to give myself time to sort kit and get my bearings. On arrival in Geneva the company who had booked our transport to Chamonix had made a mistake which meant hanging around at the airport for a further 3 hours drinking coffee! Finally however we arrived safely and found our accommodation. This is the view from the very small balcony!
On Thursday morning, Guy and I went through the check list of compulsory kit required for the race, then double checked before heading off for Registration in the sports hall.
I was map reading and of course talking at the same time, something that I can usually do with no problems at all, however this time I managed to get us lost so we ended up having to ask for directions! Once at the sports hall we had to queue, first we were given a piece of paper which we had to sign to say we had all the compulsory kit, well I think that’s what it said as I didn’t read it! then show our ID and 20 Euro which they promptly took (I did discover later that this was the deposit for the timing chip) then onto various other tables where I received my chip, race number etc, then out and a visit to the expo to have a look around and of course find Estienne (race Director of the Kalahari Extreme Marathon) and Edward who had a stand there – couldn’t miss them, South African flags everywhere!
Once back at the apartment it was time to sort out the kit that was going into the drop bags, this was already sort of organised, but as I get very cold I couldn’t decide what warm clothing was going in my pack and what in the drop bag. As the drop bags couldn’t be “dropped” until 4.30 on Friday afternoon I had a lot of time to make my decisions. There did come a point when I had to stop checking inside my pack to check I had everything! NOT THAT I WAS PANICING!
Friday morning arrived, the day of the race. My main worry at this stage was that I wouldn’t make the cut offs, but I had been assured by everyone that it shouldn’t be a problem, I couldn’t take things easy but getting to the Check Points in the allocated time was within my capabilities.
The weather today was simply awful, it had rained constantly during the night and I don’t mean just a bit of rain, it was tipping it down. All the competitors received an SMS from the race organisers to say that the weather conditions for the race were going to be rain, wind and cold so we had to be prepared for these conditions – in went an extra long sleeved top into my pack!
At 4.10pm Guy and I left the apartment and headed towards the sports hall to drop off our “drop bags” – now I really was beginning to get nervous. Thankfully though the weather had cleared up and it was warm again, although the sky was still looking quite dark!
I had been told by various people that it was important to get a good position on the start line – especially with 2,300 competitors so myself, Guy and Mark Woolley all got a good spot ready for the start of the UTMB at 6.30pm
The atmosphere was electric, it was the most fantastic feeling to be sitting on the start line of this amazing race, I did have to pinch myself a few times to make sure it was real! There were volunteers going in and out of the competitors doing spot checks on packs – guess who was checked? yes me, it always seems to happen to me, perhaps they look at me and think I shouldn’t be there or it could just be that I have one of those very dodgy faces (looking at the picture above I think that could be the reason!) Thankfully I was OK and got a lovely yellow cross on my race number to show that I had passed with flying colours!
Time was getting closer, the weather was trying hard to rain and the clouds coming in were looking extremely dark and thundery. At about 6.20pm everyone stood up and started moving closer to the start line, runners who had been further back squashed themselves in and I found myself with a Frenchman on one side, Guy on the other and Mark in front, my finger was on the button of my stopwatch (much to the amusement of the French guy next to me!) then at 6.30pm
1….2…..3…U…T…M…B… we were off, the race had finally started – 166km of hard running and adventure ahead.
I had been warned to be aware of the poles and not to get tripped up – it seemed to take ages to get going, I would start running then have to go back into a walk, this was rather annoying but soon relaxed and enjoyed the moment.
The run out of Chamonix towards Les Houches was very runnable which for me was essential as it gave time for my chest to relax, I got to Les Houches in a good time. I was however feeling extremely relaxed as the only pressure for me on this race was the time and the pressure I put on myself, this was one race I just wanted to finish – it was a great feeling.
The first climb up to Delevret wasn’t too bad – there would be FAR worse to come, I got my poles out which were fantastic. I did feel rather pathetic at about 12 km when my legs felt very heavy and if I tried to run it was a real effort, this did concern me just a touch as I still had a long way to go! However, my legs sorted themselves out and on I went to the top. The run down to the second timed Check point at Saint Gervais was very steep and slippery in places. I’m not the best runner on such steep slopes so I took it nice and steady and tried very hard to pay no attention to everyone else running past me at top speed! I did make a note to self that I must train myself to be able to run downhill like a mountain goat! Again though, I was in a good rhythm, relaxed and enjoying myself.
Coming into the town of Saint Gervais was the most wonderful feeling, the locals had lined the streets, kids holding out their hands for runners to touch them as we went past, such a fantastic atmosphere, it really was amazing. As this CP was only at 21km I would refill my bottles and be on my way – I couldn’t understand why there were so many people hanging around – is this what the French always do at CP’s, surely it was far too early to be relaxing, having coffee and soup??
I paid no attention to anyone else and went straight for the water table, got out my perpetuem and tried to explain to the lady (who didn’t speak any English) that I would like my bottle filled up PLEASE – she kept on waving her hands about and saying something that I didn’t understand. WELL, as you can imagine I wasn’t feeling too happy about this situation, surely at a CP you get water, I didn’t understand what was happening. Eventually she filled my bottle up but wouldn’t do the same to my second one, (she was still waving her arms around at this stage!) I decided that the second bottle was full enough, so grabbed a piece of cake and started heading towards the end of the CP, still not understanding why no-one was moving. THEN I heard a voice shouting my name, turned round to find Guy standing there. This was now getting silly, he was a good 20 minutes ahead of me, why was he still here? He told me the devastating news that the race had been cancelled due to the bad weather, high winds and a mud slide which had blocked the trail further along the course – I don’t remember this but apparently I got a bout of tourettes, then cried.
Trying to explain what it was like at that check point is going to be really hard. No one knew what was going on, everyone was on their phones, the organisers were giving out information about the race being cancelled but it was all in French so we didn’t understand a word. Guy earlier on had heard one announcement in English saying that the race had been cancelled but for me nothing.
Estienne (Race Director of the Kalahari Extreme Marathon) and Edward were there and rescued us – Leo the other South African had gone past just before the race was cancelled so he was on his way to the next CP. Neither Guy or myself wanted to leave the CP until we knew categorically that the race was cancelled. Once we had this confirmed we were taken back to Estienne’s flat to get into dry kit – both of us feeling completely FLAT and in total disbelief that this had happened.
Edward very kindly drove us back to Chamonix, we couldn’t believe the amount of runners walking/running down the road to the town, a very windy dangerous road. We heard later that there had been people running along the train tracks trying to get onto trains, it was unbelievable. Back at the apartment we just couldn’t take in what had happened however many times we went over it.
The following morning I woke up well after 6 to find an SMS had arrived at 5.02am saying that there was to be a restart from Courmeyeur but the buses would leave the sports hall by 6.30am – we of course missed this so wouldn’t have been able to make the re-start anyway. The message also said that it was only open to 1,000 runners, with the TDS being cancelled as well there were 4,000 runners who were eligible to take part in the re-start, not 1,000 and many people didn’t even receive the SMS message. I came to race the UTMB, that’s what I had trained so hard for.
The UTMB is a fantastic event and the organisers did the right thing in stopping the race from a safety point of view, to have put 2,300 runners in danger was a complete no-no. There was a lot of confusion, no one knew what was going on, we were told one thing then another. To be quite honest it was chaos and I hope that the people who took part this year get first refusal for a place next year. It’s not just the race, its the time and effort people put into their training, planning their races, time away from family and of course the money aspect, even coming from the UK it’s expensive.
I would like to say a HUGE MARVELLOUS CONGRATULATIONS to Jez Bragg and Lizzie Hawker on their fantastic results for the UTMB restart – go the Brits!
This is on tough but fantastic race and one that if I’m lucky enough I will be back next year to finish off what I started on the 27th August 2010.
