UTMB

Start Area

Saturday 6.30 pm was the start of the ultra tour of Mont Blanc this is a trail race covering 100 miles in a single stage the weather in the days leading up to the race could only be described as changeable .The hours before the start saw torrential rain clearing just in time for the start many shops visited to purchase more cold weather clothing and gloves .

The accent to Bovine

The start was very crowded with a fairly flat section to Les Houches then the first Major accent to Delevert 1776 meters were the rain started again with sleet mixed in then a decent in St Gervais were upon arriving at the first checkpoint we were told the race had been abandoned everybody was very disappointed with lots of emotion .The reason was landslides in the next part of the course and only last year three competitors died from exposure .We were told that we would be bused back to the start town during the evening we arrived back at 3.00 am when we arrived we received a text from organisers telling us the race would restart at 10 from Courmayeur with buses leaving at 6am after an hour and a half sleep i put my wet clothes back on and headed out in the rain to catch the bus.

Race restarted at 10.15 with new 100 k distance over the last part of UTMB course the terrain was difficult with challenging conditions on the climb to Col Ferret rain and cold with very slippery technical decent , the rest of the day saw some pleasant running in ok conditions .

Evening checkpoint

During the evening the temperatures dropped and the muddy conditions made progress slow I was pleased to finish at 6.30 am a little weary but happy and felt ok after an hours sleep spent the rest of the day with friends a very nice weekend away in good company.

Done in at finish