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Sep
12
2008
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A Summer of Ultra Running Races |
For the last couple of months I have followed quite some ultra running and trail races happening in several countries (mostly the US and Europe). It seems this type of endurance sport in the outdoors is getting more exposure in the media (and therefore more popularity). Some technologies like blogs, twitter, GPS and map geopositioning, and several other mobile technologies make it easier for the organizers to “broadcast” the events nearly in real time and for us, devoted fans, to follow these competitions in a way 3 years ago we could just wish for.
So using all these new ways of net broadcasting is how I have followed some of the most interesting ultra competitions in this year’s calendar. Namely:
UTMB: The North Face Ultra Trail Mont Blanc is the most difficult European mountain ultramarathon, covering a distance of 166km across France, Italy and Switzerland and following for the most part the Alps’ GR TMB. The course starts and ends at Chamonix and will challenge the runners with a total elevation gain of more than 9400 meters to be done in one leg. This year 2500 runners lined up but only less than 50% could cross the finish line. Among them, a young ultra running star Kilian Jornet took the victory – with some baseless protests- in nearly 21 hours, followed by the always great Dawa Sherpa. Two other UTMB competitions also took place on the same week end: the CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix), a 98km course to be finished within 26 hours (how did that go Eoin?), and the new La Petite Trotte a Leon, a team competition which stretched for 220km. Runners could be followed through an SMS sytem put in place by the organization.
Badwater Ultramarathon: California’s most famous ultra marathon was held in July under the hottest conditions Death Valley can offer. The athletes (21 women and 62 men, varying in age from 27 to 66 years old) run to complete the 215Km of the course, starting below sea level and finishing at 2548 m . Jorge Pacheco won the race with a time of 23:20 - the second fastest in race history- while Jamie Donaldson broke the women’s course record, winning in 26:51. Race organizers AdventureCORPS offered live updates and webcam to follow the runners along the competition
Transrockies Run: This year was be the second edition of the GORE-TEX Transrockies Run, a stage running 6 day race featuring 125 miles of trail running in Colorado, USA. Teams of two ate, slept, and competed together as they crossed some of the most spectacular terrain in North America, while being fully supported from a dedicated event team who will looked after their food, accommodations, and on-course support. Teams run mostly on dirt and gravel roads and single/double track forest roads at elevations between 2250 and 3800 feet meters. The Part of the $20000 prize purse was for team Nike/Rogue Valley Runners (Max King and Erik Skaggs) with a final time of 13:57. The event was daily blogged on the official website.
Transalpine Run: Transrockies’ big brother, the Gore-Tex Transalpine Run, entered in its 4th edition. The race, just finished last week, took 228 teams across Germany, Austria and Italy’s Alps to complete 300Km and more than 15000 vertical meters. From these, only 167 teams and 68 solo-runners could fross the finish line, with team Triahlon Trentino A (Ettore Girardi and Silvano Fedel) being the fastest runners over the eight stage with a final time of 28:28. Although not as “real time” as other races, the organization posted daily results and videos on youtube.
Leadville 100: One more year - since 1983 when Kenneth Chlouber came up with the “crazy idea” - Leadville, US, will attracted some of the best ultra runners in the country to obtain one of the gold belt buckles. Leadville Trail 100 is a 100-miler on forest trails, with 50 miles out and back in the midst of the Colorado Rockies with a lowest point of 2800 m and 3800 m the highest. LT100 has seen a growing popularity over the years and other running and biking races have been included into the Leadville 100 umbrella, creating a new title, Leadman and Leadwoman, for all those who complete – on top of the ultramarathon – the Trail 100 Mountainbike, the Marathon, the Silver Rush, and the 10k run. The race was won by Duncan Callahan in a time of 18:02 and Helen Cospolich took the women’s race in 23:21. This race wasn’t easy to follow, as there was no blogging or any kind of other “life” broadcasting from the organization.
There have obviously been many other competitions this summer (any Irish ultra race that I should have followed?) but these have provided a great dose of fun for all the running endurance junkies out there.
Ed -
More about these competitions at trailrunningsoul.com
- Image credit: akunamatata
Latest Comments (11):
The GORE-TEX TransRockies Run is an awesome experience. I may run it again next year or may hop across the pond to give TransAlpine a shot.
BTW, I’m pretty sure that Erik and Max didn’t get $20k. That was the total purse that was to be divided among the winners in multiple categories. See item 6 here: http://transrockies.com/transrockiesrun/transrockies/race_conditions.htm.
And the elevation of the TransRockies Run was between 7,000 and 12,600 feet. I think you have a case of the right numbers and the wrong units… perhaps you should work for NASA. ;-)
Hey Bryon, always on top! I just made the updates. Thx!
And I swear I didn’t work for NASA by the time they blow up a few million dollars on the same mistake…. :)
Ed,
I’m always happy to help. I’m glad that you survived your blogging crisis of earlier this year and that it led to you providing Team Geared Up with such great content.
Hey Ed
I only heard briefly of the protests about the winner of the UTMB and frankly it is not within the spirit of the event to do what he appears to have done i.e not carry all of the compulsory items. I’ve done this event, it took me over 43 hours so I was out there a whole day longer than the winners who carried what they needed and I carried what I needed and what the organisers told me I had to carry.
I’d feel very strongly about that and so would anyone who spent two nights out in the Alps following the rules set down by the oganisers. I heard he got a 15 minute penalty or something.
Again I only know what I’ve heard from other UTMB finishers who said he appeared to be running with a very small pack that wouldn’t look big enough to have all of the compulsory items. I haven’t read up on the whole story too much so I’m open to correction.
:-)
Check out the evidence and decide for yourself who carried the full pack of Manditory Equipment
Movie of Kilian Jornet who came 1st in UTMB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UptMcwSo-3Y&feature=related
Movie of Dachhini Serpa who came 2nd in UTMB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnN8EkVaiEM
From the UTMB website
EQUIPMENT
Obligatory equipment (Imperative control for obtaining your race number and on the course) :
• stock of water minimum 1 litre,
• two torches in good working condition with replacement batteries,
• survival blanket,
• whistle,
• adhesive elastic band enable making a bandage or strapping (mini 80cm x 3 cm),
• food reserve,
• protective raincoat for bad mountain weather,
• tight-fitting pants (au minimum pedal pushers covering the knees),
• cap or bandana.
Obligatory on the course : a personal cup (it will be supplied with your race number)
Required by the frontier police forces: identity papers
Very strongly recommended
- mobile phone with option enabling its use in the three countries
(put in one’s repertoire the security numbers of the organisation, do not hide one’s number and do not
forget to set off with recharged batteries)
- gloves, warm clothes indispensable in the case of cold weather forecasts.
Advised (list not definitive):
telescopic sticks, change of clothing, compass, knife, string, sun cream, Vaseline or anti-overheating cream, needle and thread,…
If you decide to use sticks, you must keep them throughout the whole of the race…No stick will be admitted into the runner’s sacks
If one is committed to going light and tight in a race like this, it’s pretty easy. I just ran the TransRockies Run and carried the mandatory pants, jacket, hat (actually the hood on the jacket), and gloves (surgical gloves) in the Nathan Elite 10k waist pack (http://nathansports.com/our_products/paks_music_carriers/10k_elite.html) with room for various pills. Could have easily stuck a torch in there, as well, and carried a headlamp on my hat. My water was in a hand held bottle.
If one were to observe the whole field at TRR packs got bigger and bigger the further back you went. It’s a battle of convenience and comfort vs speed with safety in these mandatory gear races.
Fair comment Bryon, Iv done this race twice and believe me I wanted to carry the smallest amount of equipment but still had problems to fit it into a 15lt backpack.
From Kilian Jornet movie, where was his 1lt of water, his running leggings and his protective raincoat for bad mountain weather ?
Rules are rules, if Iv to carry them well I expect everybody else to play the game …..
Forgot to mention, during the 2006 UTMB it rained very heavy for the 2nd half of the race and got very cold at 2600mt. Us paddys had very, very light jackets that weren’t worth a fu*k and we all had a dreadful experience with many pulling out close to hypothermia.
My point is, beating the Mandatory kit list with a featherlight jacket and ’surgical gloves’ isn’t worth a course when the weather gets bad and in the Alps this can be very unpredictable.
The last thing the organisers want is 2200 runners taking on a 163k 40hr race without the proper equipment taking unnecessary safety risks and putting themselves and rescue crews in jeopardy.
Tony I was watching a video of him last week and I thought the rules must have changed for this year.
http://www.chamonix.com/page.php?page=126&r=north_face_ultra_trail_2008&ling=en
He doesnt seem to be carrying very much. I guess he was lucky with the weather and he probably had a support crew to meet him along the way. Dunno if thats allowed or not.
Byron was the transrockies a team event or could you do it on your own?
Kilian detailed the equipment he used on his website. Here’s my translation (apologies for any mistakes on my side):
“First, on top on the t-shirt I carried a Salomon Trail Belt with a pocket where I put a windbreak (crazy idea 65gr), windreaker pants (Ele 60gr), two headlamps Petzl e-lite, batteries, tape, taping, survival blanket and the whistle. I also took advantage of the “portable paper bin” [I guess this is where runners stored identity papers] that they gave us to store some gels.
Separately I carried a 1.3L camelback with lid, half empty just in case the man with the club [???] surprised me and that I used to cool off in Switzerland. And to drink I carried bottles of 500cl that I renewed at the stations (St Gervais, Chapieux, Lac Combal, Courmayeur, Arnouvaz, la Foully, Champex, Vallorcine y la Flégére) that I either was holding or carrying inside the Camelback, on my back under the t-shirt.
At night I used the 2 headlamps. One from S. Gervais to Chapieux (Tikka plus) and the other up to la Foully (Myo) and I run in long sleeve from Chapieux to Lac Combal. We were lucky it was hot and you could run on braces all night.
In Switzerland, due to the heat, I grabbed sunglasses and a cap that I wore all the time, besides some downhills when I put them on my back.”
That seems to match to the official list, at least the mandatory equipment that Tony posted. I have no first hand info from UTMB runners but if the organization found no irregularity why shouldn’t we trust that decision? Do you guys think there may have been any reason why his victory was “preferred” over any other runner?
TonyK,
I agree that one shouldn’t push the minimal requirements thing too far, but one can gauge the weather pretty well most of the time. For TransRockies, I had a Rab Drillium waterproof (eVent system) jacket, full gloves, knit hat, etc in my main gear and would have carried what was appropriate depending how conditions were likely to deteriorate. The choices were easy even with the unpredictable late-Summer Rockies weather. Every day we started early (8 am), under fair skies, and with less than 4 hours of running, which meant we were quite unlikely to be surprised by weather.
I’m not familiar with the details of UTMB, but if crewing is allowed… which it seems to be from Killian’s description, then as long as you are prepared until your next crew check point you are ok. I certainly don’t carry much, if any extra clothing when I run mountain 100s, but that’s cause I’ve got a crew to hock me up if the weather changes or might change.
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