The greatest race on earth

[Bierzo Baggie]

Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc.
166 km and almost 10000m elevation gain. No prize money.

Next weekend the very best ultra, trail and mountain runners will assemble once again in Chamonix for what must surely be the unofficial world championship for this non-Olympic sport.

Here are some of the candidates:

Kilian Jornet: Catalan. 22 years old. Winner of the last 2 editions. 3 times Skyrunning world champion. Born and brought up in a Pyrenean ski station. Undisputed king of the mountains... is he unbeatable?

Marco Olmo: Italian 60-something and winner of the 2006 and 2007 races. Sounds impossible. It isn’t! He’ll probably never win it again but he might still just beat Scott Jurek.

Scott Jurek: American golden boy and star of “Born to Run” book. Won the Spartathlon 3 times but still hasn’t cracked the UTMB. Could 2010 be his year?

Dawa Sherpa: Nepal. 1st in 2003. 2nd in 2008. Born in the shadow of Mount Everest and spent his formative years in a Buddhist monastery.

Miguel Heras: Spain. Brother of Roberto Heras, the Tour de France cyclist. Was well positioned last year for a top 3 finish but got lost.

Sebastien Chaigneau: France. 2nd last year.

Cristophere Jaquerod: Switzerland. 2005 winner.

Tsuyoshi Kaburaki: Japan. 3rd last year and 4th in 2008.

Karl Meltzer, Topher Gaylord, Max King, Geoff Roes: all form part of the American contingent.

Jez Bragg is probably the best positioned Brit.

http://www.ultratrailmb.com/

(Probably) the greatest race on earth.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Two of the race favourites record their final thoughts;
http://akrunning.blogspot.com/
http://jezbragg.blogspot.com/2010/08/utm...to-go.html

Meanwhile Kilan Jornet gets a bit of last minute training in ...running down Mont Blanc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l17bfkiWPY

[Bierzo Baggie]

Another of the big favourites gives his opinion. The Americans sure want revenge on Kilian.

http://karlmeltzer.com/

The weird 3D headings made me dizzy... how did he do that?

[El Gordo]

I looked again recently at the Jungfrau Marathon website. Was it Glaconman who first mentioned this race? I've had a tiny, and rather embarrassing, hankering after it ever since. I'm sure it's beyond me -- barring some unexpected big improvement -- but it's one of those 'fantasy races' I occasionally think about. Along with Big Sur, I suppose.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Just about the only one who hasn't got a blog is 62-year old Marco Olmo. He'll be there....


This is not over-enthusiastic Bierzo Baggie hype Andy, I promise you, this is the greatest race on earth.

[El Gordo]

I hear you, BB. I know about this race. You might recall that Phil, the sports therapist/masseur I saw a few times, was aiming for this race. I don't see him in the list of entrants though.

As for Jungfrau etc, I suppose I was just musing on those races that are at the cusp of my capability -- in a very very good year. The Mont Blanc 100 miler belongs to another universe.

[Bierzo Baggie]

As for Jungfrau etc, I suppose I was just musing on those races that are at the cusp of my capability -- in a very very good year. The Mont Blanc 100 miler belongs to another universe.

Hey, the Jungfrau marathon is accessible. You'd be walking a lot of the time and many of those running won't be going much faster. A good walking technique would be as important as anything. And I'd say that the scenery would do the rest....

Last weekend I was talking to a guy who finished the 2009 UTMB (the small, wiry guy from La Bañeza) and you're right, it's a different universe, or at least it seems that way to 99% of us.

I forgot to mention British runner Lizzy Hawker is running too. She was first woman in 2005 and 2008... when she was 14th overall and finishing strong. It was probably too short for her!

Her website is excellent. http://www.lizzyhawker.com/index.html

[Bierzo Baggie]

Scott Jurek’s website is a glossy one. He goes into the UTMB having broken the US 24-hour record last May, covering 266 km around a 0.7k circuit. Not as hilly as Mont Blanc though.
http://www.scottjurek.com/#/home/

Compare this to the DVD they did of Marco Olmo (like Jurek, a vegetarian). Few bought it. Those who did complained that it was too low key. Depressing even. What did they expect?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayvGM6r3pIk

[El Gordo]

Scott Jurek’s website is a glossy one. He goes into the UTMB having broken the US 24-hour record last May, covering 266 km around a 0.7k circuit. Not as hilly as Mont Blanc though.
http://www.scottjurek.com/#/home/

Compare this to the DVD they did of Marco Olmo (like Jurek, a vegetarian). Few bought it. Those who did complained that it was too low key. Depressing even. What did they expect?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayvGM6r3pIk

Have you read "Born to Run"? Jurek figures quite prominently

[Bierzo Baggie]

Have you read "Born to Run"? Jurek figures quite prominently
[/quote]

Yeah, I read it. Very entertaining. Disappointed that the writer couldn't see any further than his own backyard. The best ultra, trail and mountain runners in the world are not necessarily from the USA and he'd probably have found Tarahumara indians in numerous places all over the world (El Bierzo included). Still enjoyed the book though.

McDougall seemed blissfully unaware of the undisputed mountain running champion of the world, Kilian Jornet. He's beatable on the flat (Geoff Roes beat him in the western states 100 miles this year) but as far as I know he's never been beaten in the mountains.

Here's the inevitable website, complete with running philosophy and dodgy google translations to english.
http://www.kilianjornet.com/Sitio_web/index.html

[glaconman]

Thanks for posting all of this stuff BB. I'm just about getting around to reading some of the blogs and may have a look at some of the tracking sites over the weekend. Naturally I'll be routing for the Brits but will be very happy if Marco pulls it off. It's good news for all of us when somebody his age can still win such races. And there's something about his low-key honesty when talking about running that I respect.

I did mention the Jungfrau ages ago. To be honest, as much as I like running up hills, thinking about it, the reality might just be joining a queue of people walking quickly up a big mountain. And that may not be such a great experience.

I think Sweder is made of the right stuff for UTMB. But don't tell him; he might try and enter on-the-day.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Thanks for posting all of this stuff BB. I'm just about getting around to reading some of the blogs and may have a look at some of the tracking sites over the weekend. Naturally I'll be routing for the Brits but will be very happy if Marco pulls it off. It's good news for all of us when somebody his age can still win such races. And there's something about his low-key honesty when talking about running that I respect.

I think Sweder is made of the right stuff for UTMB. But don't tell him; he might try and enter on-the-day.

The above mentioned athletes are the “unofficial” legends of sport.

They’re not as rich and as famous as those in more media-friendly events but they’re probably not doped up to eyeballs as a result. This is sport in its original, unadultarated form. I know (Olmo apart) they’ve all got fancy websites and some have sponsors but most have day-jobs as well.

These guys are more accessible too. Weren’t you rubbing shoulder with Ian Holmes at one of your local races the other day Glaconman?

And yes, I reckon Sweder should have a crack at this. They won’t let him enter on the day though!

The main race starts at 6:30.

You can check up on the progress in real time here: http://utmb.livetrail.net/

[glaconman]

I totally agree with you BB. The more time goes by the more I appreciate sports where people excel as amateurs and remain grounded. It seems unrealistic to hanker after the days when footballers caught the same bus as the fans. But in fell running (and most running outside a track) that's exactly the situation. You can train with some of the greatest athletes, line-up against them on the start-line and then have a pint with them afterwards. People will be respected for their achievements, but the notion of celebrity doesn't come into it as much. I'm sure the running scene in your part of the world is similar to that in-and-around this part of the South Pennines. Amazing runners and great characters all sharing the start-line with the rest of us.

You can argue that money and celebrity is necessary in sport because it's a form of theatre that needs 'stars' in order to deliver an engaging spectacle. But I don't buy that anymore.

There's enough drama going on in the back-end of a small village race. You just need to get to know the people involved and understand what's driving them and how running positively effects their lives.

[El Gordo]

Nicely put, GM.

Without wanting to hijack the subject, I'm struck by the thought that something very similar happens in the world of folk music, and is one of the reasons I like it so much. There are hundreds of great musicians on the circuit, and among them, a dozen or so 'stars' who can play both the Royal Albert Hall and the Grove pub in Leeds on the same tour (e.g. Martin Carthy, Norman Waterson, Kate Rusby, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn etc). In the folk clubs, you can lean on the bar with them and have a natter over a pint. And if you're brave enough, you can stand up and play a tune yourself while they listen to you.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Nicely put, GM.

Without wanting to hijack the subject, I'm struck by the thought that something very similar happens in the world of folk music, and is one of the reasons I like it so much. There are hundreds of great musicians on the circuit, and among them, a dozen or so 'stars' who can play both the Royal Albert Hall and the Grove pub in Leeds on the same tour (e.g. Martin Carthy, Norman Waterson, Kate Rusby, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn etc). In the folk clubs, you can lean on the bar with them and have a natter over a pint. And if you're brave enough, you can stand up and play a tune yourself while they listen to you.

Jazz too perhaps.

Well, they've just passed the 2nd control point. Kilian and Pascal Giguet are sharing the lead.

7 minutes behind are Scott Jurek, Karl Meltzer and Lizzy Hawker.

Lizzy Hawker is one of the running legends we are talking about. She'll probably be the first Brit runner home (again) ...way ahead of the men!

Second Brit is Jez Bragg who's already 10 minutes down although that means nothing as it's early days yet.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Looks like some sort of landslide has led to the race being suspended. It was raining heavily and the updates stopped coming after the 2nd checkpoint. There are some photos being posted on this site.
http://ser13gio.blogspot.com/
Hope nobody's hurt.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Torrential rain, falling temperatures, mist and danger of mudslides (some have even mentioned avalanches) led to the organizers suspending the race before things got out of hand. It's the first time this has happened but given the nature of the event and the number of people out there (more than 2000) it had to happen one day.

A lot of disappointed people and some of them are angry but part of signing up for a race of these characteristics is to accept the premise that safety (of everyone involved) must come first. What a nightmare for the organizers...

[glaconman]

Cheers for the updates BB. Looks like the UTMB has been cancelled but runners can join the CCC today as an option. Shame but, like you say, safety is key and it's difficult to imagine what the pressure of organising such an event must feel like.

The comparison with folk is a good one Andy.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Cheers for the updates BB. Looks like the UTMB has been cancelled but runners can join the CCC today as an option.

Thanks for that Glaconman. I’d switched off the computer and gone to bed assuming that was the end of the story.

Wrong.

Buses shipped people back to Chamonix. The mountain running elite rapidly made their own plans. Some went out for a beer, others crashed out and dried out.

There were varying opinions of the decision to cancel the race.

Melzer calls it “a smart decision”. Geoff Roes mentions “chaos and uncertainty” but goes on to give 10 good reasons why the UTMB is still the greatest race in the world http://akrunning.blogspot.com/ Jurek makes plans to run the Spartathlon instead and spends the night eating vegan Thai curry.

Young Kilian Jornet is the most outspoken. From what I could make out from his blog page in French he says that the race should have gone ahead and that they were mountaineers not Heidi, perhaps forgetting that there were 2000 non-elite athletes out there as well.

Anyway, a diluted 90km version was held the next day modelled on the shorter CCC race which Glaconman mentions. Dawa Sherpa and the Greek, Alexis Gounko, led for much of the course but eventually Jez Bragg won it in 10 hours 47 minutes. Lizzy Hawker was first lady so it was a clean sweep for the Brits. Jez Bragg incidentally is a past winner of the Connemarathon ultra.

There’s a good write up of all this here. http://www.irunfar.com/2010/08/utmb-2010...eport.html

Kilian and Heras decided not to compete. Incredibly they headed off in a car to the other side of the Alps to Val Masino in northern Italy. Here they were accepted as last minute entrants to Sunday morning’s Ultra Skyrunning world championship, 50km, 4000m ascent and several highly “technical” sections with ropes. Jornet broke the course record, Heras finished second. Remember, they'd already run 30 km of the UTMB on Friday night!

So, having spent the last weekend as a passive observer of the 2010 UTMB two things have caught my attention.

1. Despite the disaster of the race being cancelled and criticism of the organizers for how they handled things, everybody seems to agree on one thing. This is the most extraordinary race of its kind in the world today. There is quite simply nothing else like it. Even the Americans are blown away by the scale of it all (see Geoff Roes’ comments).

2. Where was Marco Olmo? Amongst all the chaos and confusion of the weekend’s events nobody seems to have noticed that despite being registered he didn’t even start the race. Had the wily old fox sensed what was going to happen? He was probably at home, biding his time and whispering to himself something along the lines of ...”well, next year I’ll still only be 62, maybe there’s one last UTMB in those old legs of mine....”

[El Gordo]

Thanks for the updates, BB. Must confess I'd heard of none of these guys apart from Jurek, but they sound like an extraordinary bunch of characters. I'll try to check out some of the blogs to get their side of the story. All we need now is for Sweder to rise to the challenge...