I’ve always been fascinated by the trail running communities around the world and Hong Kong has been heralded as the trail running capital of Asia. I was keen on exploring this region and was on the look out for a 100-mile race there. UTHK 170 was on a convenient date at the start of the year and it had around 8500m+ of elevation gain, this sounded like my type of race with lots of climbing and descending. The highest point in Hong Kong is only around 900m so this meant that we would likely go up plenty of hills to get our elevation gain. Unlike the technical Euro trails, the trail system mostly consisted of concrete steps and a vast majority of the route was on tarmac or concrete which made things interesting.

Training wise, I was mostly in low mileage off-season mode and the floods in December meant that I didn’t train for a whole month and only had January to prepare to get into some sort of shape. I went into it in the belief that it’ll be a good experience and I’ll gain some fitness to kick start my season. I wanted to combine this trip with a holiday so I spent a couple of weeks touring around Hong Kong and Macau with friends. I loved the food, culture and vibe of the city although the cost of living seemed expensive. Most of my pre-race runs involved short runs around the coastline near TST and I did manage one run in the hills with Vlad Ixel’s training group. I also went out for dinner with Karen, Simon and Jenny who were so warm and welcoming! I met a few more local runners who were also running one of the distances and gained some insights from them about the terrain and course. It was certainly different and I was intrigued by it, the weather was also something that I was concerned with. Only a few weeks earlier, the Vibram Hong Kong 100 was cancelled due to ice and snow on the top of Tai mo Shan, the first time it’s snowed in Hong Kong in over 60 years. The cold wave was still present and it was quite cold during the nights. Having just moved to India from England, I was at home in cold and rainy conditions so I wasn’t too concerned about the weather apart from the race being cancelled! After two lovely weeks of holidaying with some wonderful people I was ready to explore the trails, I felt going early helped me understand the culture and the respect that people had for nature here. Despite doing some research, I was still not sure of how to make my way to the start point.

Jenny offered to take me to the bus stop that would take me to the new territories where the race start’s, she gave me specific instructions and I am so thankful to her for getting me to the start point! After taking a nap on route I finally got off at the right stop and met up with other runners, it was a relatively small field but I was excited to get going. The weather did not look good as it was predicted to rain for the first night and it was already wet and windy. We started in the afternoon so had time to eat something. I was mostly calm and looking forward to the challenge.

Start to A4 (47km)

After some prerace instructions by the organizers and a group photo, we set off at 1 pm. The course started with a climb on tarmac and we were all wide eyed and bushy tailed to go on a beautiful adventure! It started to drizzle as we made our way up the trail. The first 13k had about 850 meters of elevation gain as we made a traverse along some hills starting with a short steep climb up a slightly bigger hill. Almost all the climbing was on concrete or wooden steps as the entire trail network mostly consisted of steps. Vlad gave me some invaluable tips on how to descend down steps and also how to climb steps as it requires a slightly different technique to traditional trail running. I got my poles out and was looking forward to the views, it was very windy and there was heavy rain as the top of the hill was quite exposed. The short descent connecting us to the next hill was a little slippery so I was trying to be careful not to take a fall so early in the race. I was still in contact with a few runners, mostly content with following them. We went up and down a few hills while taking in the views. The climbs were short and steep but due to the lack of any sustained climbing it felt a little like hill reps! We crossed the first checkpoint in good spirits; I filled up my bottles before heading out. The next checkpoint was almost 10 miles away and it’s the longest gap between a CP at this race but this section was mostly runnable and flat. It was along a canal path and it kept going forever, I was running at a steady clip while passing people and felt great, the weather was also ideal. It drizzled intermittently so I had a windbreaker on. The course marking wasn’t great as they were few and far between so had to double check at junctions to make sure I wasn’t going off course, some of the markers flew away due to the bad weather which made things interesting.

I was mostly running along with an English runner who’s been living in Hong Kong for almost 2 decades. Funnily enough he’s originally from the town I lived in, Mansfield! What a small world eh? We shared a lot of quirky details about the town we love and our love for the trails, especially the trails around Sherwood Forest, I still miss living in Mansfield and having access to a plethora of trails on my doorstep. It was nice to have some company in this section as we passed lots of monkeys who seemed a little aggressive. He warned me about not showing them food as they’ll try to grab it, it was quite useful to have trekking poles here incase they attacked! The rain was going from bad to worse so I stopped at a shelter to switch from my WAA windproof vest to the Ultra rain jacket. He was stronger on the climbs while I was free flowing on the descents so we complemented each other. We eventually reached the 30k checkpoint and it was starting to get darker due to the weather. We both stopped here to refuel and they had some decent options like pot noodles and rice porridge. I’m not a big fan of rice porridge so opted for the pot noodles and coke. It was dark and gloomy as we crossed a dam and we could see the hills covered in mist. I filled my bottles and thanked the volunteers before leaving the CP. The volunteers did tell me there was a shortage of staff so told me to carry extra food incase one of the aid stations is not active so I packed some cookies and cake 😉

The next CP was only 7k away with a 600m climb along some hills, these were quite steep and I was starting to hate the steps! There was a cameraman near the summit of one of the climbs and I stopped to have a brief chat about the potential storm we were going to run into through the night. He did reassure me that “There WILL be bad weather tonight!”. I was fully equipped to deal with it as I carried most of my bad weather gear on me and had some change of clothes in my drop bag so wasn’t too fussed about it but some other guys seemed ill equipped to deal with it as they were soaking wet in their ponchos. After the climb I ran with some runners from the Philippines and we joked about the hot and humid conditions that we were used to and this was not what they signed up for! I was rubbing it in by reminding them that I also live near a beach with an eternal summer 😛

The weather got even worse and we were all soaking wet running downhill on tarmac, we reached the next CP and had a quick stop here before heading to the next one. Mentally it was a little hard to focus with bad weather from the start and going into the night the mist got even worse.

A4 (47 km) to A7 (78km) – Half way CP

It was getting dark and cold, on the climb up I put my headlamp on and could barely see more than a 10 meters due to the thick fog in the hills. It was hard to spot markers and I was extra careful not to get lost. My headlamp with its reactive lighting wasn’t working properly due to the fog so it was quite annoying initially but I knew the visibility would get better once I descend down. The next CP was almost 13k away so we had a bit of running before getting there, I was running with a couple of runners as we made our way up the hills and the descents were slippery both on steps and on the trails. I tried to stay upright and be careful not to slip on wet steps and keep an eye out for trail markers. The weather didn’t let up and with high winds near the summits it wasn’t easy going but I knew we still had a long way and the weather will likely get better soon.

I was running with a few more runners in the night as we got lost, there was a section in the trail along a dam which wasn’t well marked at junctions so we kept stopping and double checking before heading in what we thought was the right direction. I presume some of the course markings flew away due to the bad weather. Some of the local runners guided us until the 67k checkpoint and we took a slightly different route before rejoining the course again. We were bunched up together and had a good atmosphere while some of the runners were thinking about dropping at the half way CP due to the bad weather and getting lost didn’t help the morale. We finally got to the 67k CP only for it to be unmanned so we opened up the boxes to help ourselves to crisps and coke. The main CP was another 11 kilometers away so I was looking forward to taking a nap as the bad weather and getting lost took a toll on me. There weren’t any high points until then, only a continual low due to the shite weather. After making our way on tarmac to the checkpoint I got in and stripped off my kit to dry it out near a heater while getting some calories down. I had access to my only drop bag here so had a full change of gear, socks and shoes before taking a 15-minute nap. I met Ahmad Fathi here, a runner from Brunei and we both thought it was a good idea to nap while it would offer a mental break from the storm outside. They put us up in a slightly warmer room and the lovely volunteer woke me up promptly in 15 minutes while I was asking her if there was an option to snooze? I felt pretty groggy and not refreshed from the nap but decided to get moving.

A7 (78km) to A13 (126 km)

 

I left the checkpoint and the volunteers there didn’t have a clue about which way to go so they sent me down the hill in the wrong direction. After about 3k of descending I realized I didn’t see any markers and got to a road junction so decided to trek back up to the CP where they told me to go back up the hill which was super annoying in the middle of the night and I was a little frustrated there not helped by the fact that a quarter of the field had dropped by then due to the weather and other factors.

Finally after doing an extra 6k I got on the right trail and kept checking at junctions. I anticipated my feet to swell so switched into shoes a size bigger than what I usually wear but due to no swelling my feet kept moving and my shin started hurting in the descents because of this. The next checkpoint which wasn’t far was also unmanned so I ran through it in the night and started feeling a little paranoid and lonely so put some music on to keep my mind occupied. We went through a few more hills in this section along a dam and the weather was slowly starting to lift. Though the whole course despite being on trails or in the hills we always had a view of the Hong Kong skyline, which was a little reassuring incase I wanted to drop or felt a little lost! I ran through to the 91 km CP and started to feel super sleep deprived and this was the major low point in the race. While climbing up a hill on a windy ridge I was so out of it that I decided to crawl up on the side of the trail and take a nap while using my soft flasks as a pillow! I took a short nap and mentally felt that my race was over there and had made my mind up to walk it to the next CP and drop there. After a short nap I woke up and felt that it will be highly unlikely that I would come back to do this race again so felt some sort of obligation to get it done and mentally I was slowly getting my focus back as the sun started rising. It made my wake up as I went uphill and on the descent I met a hiker who gave way and cheered me on, this perked me up and I ran up the next steep section until she was out of sight before settling into a decent rhythm.

After the rolling steep hills, we hit a canal path and I was falling asleep again. Since it was not as windy and exposed here I decided to take another nap while being passed by a few more runners. After a 10-minute nap I shuffled along to the 91 km checkpoint where I was greeted by a chirpy volunteer who offered me hot noodles and coffee. I gave him a massive hug and told him how much this race sucked until now and the weather didn’t help either! He told me about the organizers facing issues with last minute drop out of volunteers due to the weather. After getting some calories down I started the climb up and this was a long climb up the highest point in HK, Tai mo shan. The initial climb was up a small hill with a view of the river and the valley, with the sun rising I felt a little better and believed that things can only get better from here. The trails here were nice with very little tarmac so I was starting to enjoy running the flats and uphill’s here while the descents were quite painful due to the loose shoe.

 

I got to the 101km CP and was feeling good to get into triple figures with only 70 odd kilometers left. Had my usual routine of coffee and pot noodles and moved on quickly. This section was mostly uphill and I climbed steadily as I caught up to some of the runners and also passed lots of hikers here. The climb along the forest was beautiful and steep, I was looking forward to getting to the summit soon and ran what I could. Slowly I made my way up to the 110 km checkpoint at a picnic spot with lots of people sitting in the lawn cheering us on. This was the car park for the popular hiking route up tai mo shan (the biggest hill in HK), it was crowded as it was the weekend with lots of hikers and tourists. I sat down and ate while chatting to some of the runner’s crew about how horrible last night was with the crazy weather, it was amazing to see some sunshine finally after terrible weather for almost 15 hours since the start of the race.

One of the runners I passed earlier decided to drop here due to a hamstring injury and I felt sorry for him as he had come a long way to get here and he was in tears. After consoling him I set off for the final piece of the climb up tai mo shan. It was on steep steps and I could see the summit in the distance. While snaking up the trail, I bumped into some hikers who took notice of my Bib with the Indian flag and spoke to me in Hindi. Since my knowledge of Hindi is non-existent all I could say back was “Namaste”. After having a short chat with them I kept going up while being passed by a few runners, it was quite warm now and I was wearing a full sleeve base layer, which made things worse. The track went from trail to tarmac as we hit the final climb up tai mo shan and I could see the observatory near the summit. After following the long tarmac switchbacks we finally hit the summit and started the steep descent. It was all on tarmac and I caught up to a few runners in the distance, it was good to tick off the biggest hill, as we got lower into tree cover away from the baking sun.

 

A13 (126 km) to Finish

Almost at the base we got to a checkpoint where I had pot noodles and coke before heading up the next climb. We had to run along a pavement on the highway before the route went uphill. I bumped into a runner who was walking back to the checkpoint as he had twisted his ankle and it looked bad. After a short chat with him I made my way up to the summit and the heat was getting to me so kept taking breaks up the steep parts of the climb before we started the traverse in an exposed section of the trail. This was one of the best parts of the course as we had railings and chains along the exposed bits of the trail. It was fun to traverse here before going up and down several hills along the trail before descending down and we hit the concrete steps again. By now my quads were feeling sore from the tarmac and wearing a slightly bigger shoe meant my ankle was hurting from the impact on the downhill’s too!

I was being passed by the 50k runners who had just started and were flying downhill, it was good motivation for me to chase some of them and I tried to give way as much as the trail allowed me to. I met a few friends who were running the 50k as they offered encouragement but I wasn’t really enjoying it almost 70 miles in but knew I can easily get it done with plenty of time to spare so kept plugging along.

At the end of the descent, I was passed by people who were running a more reasonable pace so kept chatting to them while we made our way to the next checkpoint. This was the only section of the course that seemed to cross into the town along cycling footpaths and bridges but the course marking was sufficient to keep us from getting lost. At the next CP at 134k I got to chat with the 50k folks. There seemed to be a nice relaxed atmosphere and from there we started hiking up a wee hill with a gentle incline. After the climb we ran through trails along a park while passing through a few car parks along the way before a short steep climb up a hill and then we started the descent into the next CP. I caught up with a few runners who were lost and had gone the wrong way so we decided to run together as it was getting darker. Ahmad and I started chatting about the UTMB on the next climb as he was kitted out fully in Compressport UTMB gear. The other local runner we were running with also had signed up for the race so we had a lively chat while taking turns to lead on the climbs. The kilometers seemed to pass by as it headed into the second night. The lack of sleep was having an effect of all of us and I was starting to see hallucinations along the trail. Some of the creepy ones were ghosts and some of the more common ones were bunnies and cats along the side of the trail. It was mostly trail along this section before the descent into the checkpoint. We sat down here to get some calories in before putting on our jackets, as it was windy and cold. After chatting to the lovely volunteers we made our way up the infamous “Pat sin ling” range which were several mountains linked together in one continuous push. One of the local runners warned me to save some energy, as that bit can be hard mentally and physically.

He wasn’t wrong as it took awhile before we hit the first summit and it was so steep! We could see the next hill ahead of us and it looked bigger, this was mentally draining in the night but the views were spectacular as it was clear night. We could see the Chinese city of Shenzhen in the background as we hit the third summit. My headlamp was starting to blink so I switched my batteries while the other two had a sit down admiring the beautiful view. The descents were super technical along rocky steps so we had to take extra care here and it was hard to concentrate due to the sleep deprivation. The constant climbing and descending was having an effect on our morale but we kept each other going and finally got through the entire piece linking several hills which I can only assume would look even better in day light! We ran through a section of wet and muddy trails after the last summit and descended into a forest with waterfalls and wet rock. I was starting to see faces on these rocks and knew I had to get this done soon so I can get some sleep but didn’t want to take a nap at the checkpoint so we marched along this section. We got to the final checkpoint A16 and I took a break while Ahmad also sat down. We got some food down and relaxed for abit before heading up the final climb, think it was needle hill. The climb up was super steep and it was along a ridgeline with STEPS! It was getting a little annoying by now with all these steps but we kept negotiating it before hitting the final summit. The view of Hong Kong along the entire hill was spectacular with the city lights. We had a drizzle here but it went away quickly. Ahmed and I were enjoying each other’s company and were relieved to be on the final descent, he had issues descending so I’d go down and wait for him. We eventually descended all the way down into the outskirts of the city but couldn’t find our way. Thankfully we had a few 100k runners pass us and show us the way to the finish. After crossing a few roads and walking along the pavement, we finally made it to the finish in 39 hours and 32 minutes. It was great to finally get it done! We headed in to change into warm gear and chatted for a bit before he left. I took a shower and slept for 7 hours before greeting my friends Simon and Yvonne who were finishing the 100k. They told me I looked quite fresh for someone who just ran a 100 miles but since it was slow going my body felt okay as I chatted to them before getting a ride back to the city.

Overall the race could have been better organized especially in terms of course marking but the bad weather made things particularly hard. It was still a good experience to run a good portion of the new territories while experiencing the trails here. I kept telling myself that I don’t need to do stairs or lunges for awhile! Would recommend racing in Hong Kong, just not this race. The community and support was great throughout! I felt this race set me up physically well for the rest of the season as it was a massive boost to my fitness aswell as a great test of mental strength especially to run the first half of the race in bad weather.

I first heard about Malnad ultra from Amit Mehta when we met at Bangalore for the TCS 10k back in May. We bumped into the race director and he explained his race which included running through coffee estates and then the badra wildlife reserve and he warned us about snakes and other “wildlife”, it sounded like an interesting one so I signed up for it after I got back home. My idea was not to race it but to just enjoy it as a post-season fun run as I roped in quite a few of my friends into running it (read the whole CTC gang and a few others from Chennai). Only four weeks earlier I had run one of my “A” races for the season, the mythical UTMB that left me mentally and physically exhausted for weeks. I did zero running back in Germany while spending some time visiting friends before I did a full training week with a long weekend of running in the hills before the race, so physically I wasn’t sure where I was yet and I knew there was still deep muscle fatigue after the race and hence it made sense to just go out and have fun rather than have a go chasing the people at the pointy end. I knew I had the endurance to grind out a result; my legs lacked any speed as I felt flat and maintaining an easy pace in training was a struggle. But this would be the shortest race of my season and I would be done before dinner so that made me look forward to it!

Due to family reasons one of my friends couldn’t make it so I travelled with Neville to Kemmangundi, the overnight train journey was tiring, as we both didn’t get much sleep. The following day we had an early connection from Bangalore to Birur and that train was full of runners. I tried to get some sleep before socializing with Kieron and Amit, we eventually reached Birur in a few hours. I took a fall at the train station and hurt my knee, there was sharp pain as I couldn’t bend my knee and this made me contemplate whether to start or just volunteer as I didn’t want to make things worse. We had to take another bus ride to kemmangundi from there; I was mostly wincing in pain on the bus journey, as the pain seemed to not go away! Once we reached the place things went smoothly and we got our bibs straight away before taking a kip after an exhausting day of travelling. The accommodation was probably one of the worst I’ve ever stayed in with leaky toilets and the food gave me the “runs”, not ideal but meh, I can’t tolerate spicy food L I wish the organizers would let us camp instead. We took another nap and chatted with Kieren catching up on both our seasons this year, last year we had a lot of fun at Chamonix as he ran the CCC and I ran the UTMB. Later in the evening we had a pre-race dinner at the coffee estate which was awesome, the organizer laid out his vision and I was intrigued but just had one lingering doubt about the 4000m of ascent and whether my wonky knee would hold out all of that descending as I was struggling to walk down stairs that day let alone RUN! The dinner organized by the race organizers was brilliant and it wasn’t spicy which was perfect! I loved the bon fire and meeting runners from all over India, this was unique, as I haven’t raced much in India in the last few years so it was nice to be acquainted to the current running community. I got to catch up with friends before heading for an early night. I wanted to see how the knee felt in the morning before taking a call, there was some inflammation the day before the race and it wasn’t ideal. (Just getting all my excuses out early before the race-started haha!)

 

I slept well before waking up at half past four to get ready for the 6 am start. My knee seemed better but there was pain whenever I had to bend the knee. After getting a little delayed we left the room a few minutes before the start but we knew we could start the race within a 30 minute widow after the official start so it didn’t bother me too much. After all my season was already over and this seemed inconsequential, my plan was to run the first 10k and see how the knee behaved before making a decision. I know its not ideal to have an inflamed knee before the start of a 110k race but c’est la vie, common sense would suggest that I shouldn’t start but I didn’t have anything to lose by dropping out early if things turned south. We can’t always choose the music that life plays for us, but we can choose how to dance to it 😉

Start to 30k:

 

After getting to the start line a few seconds after the race started, I got running and quickly caught up with the rest of the field. I was wishing all the CTC guys good luck before trotting down, kept the pace super easy as it was all down hill and my knee was still hurting. I used KT tape to help support it so the pain was a little more manageable on race day compared to the previous day. I met Amit and we got chatting, I remember telling him to take it easy as it was his first 50 miler. We had more company for the first 50 miles as both the 80k and the 110k starts at the same time. We kept the pace super easy while rolling downhill, we passed a couple of aid stations where I got to fill my soft flasks as I was in a hurry to get to the start so started with empty soft flasks at least I didn’t forget to carry my nutrition 😀 We were mostly talking about our future races, how he felt and how beautiful the sunrise was as we descended down on tarmac.

The harder surface was causing some discomfort so I was waiting for the trail section, after about 7k we took a left to start the steep descent on trail, I inadvertently started running alone on the winding jeep tracks as I lost sight of the others. I started chasing an ambulance downhill before they gave way by literally stopping in the middle of the jeep track. I had one guy ahead of me and the weather was starting to warm up so I was taking it easy. We shortly passed the venue where we had dinner last night before going through a village. It was mostly undulating with a small incline so it was great for running; we passed a few more checkpoints before entering another private estate. The trail went uphill so I got into an easy rhythm of running the easier bits and hiking the steeper sections. There was nothing-crazy steep here so it was mostly runnable. A couple of runners passed me here as I was waiting for someone to run with, the climb kept going for a little while and there were more switchbacks. I liked this section, as there was more climbing until we got higher, the views were great and we eventually crested the hill before starting the descent.

I met Manoj again as we chatted about our training and I told him to go on as I didn’t quite fancy running uphill so early. We had done the first 20k in a reasonable time and kept smoothly descending without trashing my quads. The descent seemed long and it was nice to have the coffee estate workers at every turn and at literally every switchback just to make sure we didn’t get lost. I waved and thanked them and they thanked me back??!! Hmm anyway I was strolling along trying not to get lost and the track kept going downhill for a while until we left the estate to rejoin the road. After this section it was all road so my knee was causing problems so I was taking it easy but still running whatever I could or running on the side of the road on trail where it hurt less, I knew going into the race the pain would be there but it was manageable most of the time and it never got worse which was reassuring.

While meandering my way on the side of the road I spotted Peter and he caught up to me, we started running together and got chatting about the race. It was nice to finally run with someone and we both didn’t have any particular goals while Peter was running the 80k. This would be his longest run despite the fact he’s done several back-to-back 50k’s. Chatting and running made me forget about the pain and we were making good progress. The route kept going slightly uphill for most of the time until we reached a gated area where we started descending slowly. The descent lasted a few kilometers before we reached the 30k checkpoint, which was a “main” checkpoint with hot food options. We both were excited to have breakfast here only to be disappointed by the options or lack of so I quickly ate some fruits before going on our way. It was nice to have some volunteers and others cheering us on.

 

30k to 61k Manager’s residence CP:

We rejoined the road as it went downhill with several switch back’s. We both were joking about half the race being on tarmac so far, hopefully as promised this section would have more trails and it was supposed to be the most beautiful section of the race. The route kept going downhill and we kept chatting away. I was starting to warm up and enjoy the race but legs were feeling very flat so any acceleration felt way too exaggerated. I was breathing hard on the uphill’s so took short breaks before running again, the route started to climb and it was a nice trail. The weather was also surprisingly good considering we both are used to the heat and humidity of Chennai so it was a welcome break to run in the hills.

After about half an hour we caught the last 50k runners and with Peter being a major celebrity, everyone knew him and wanted to take pictures. After a few pictures we started running uphill again, I liked the terrain, as it was rocky and not too technical. I remember joking about spotting any snakes and to make sure to take a photo if it bites! The route was mostly going uphill so we got into a good rhythm of running while taking small walk breaks. We were slowly catching people while we were discussing a variety of things and mostly enjoying each other’s company. The course had plenty of aid stations so it was an overkill for me to carry 1 liter of liquid’s on me but I’m so used to running with a rucksack, I would feel a little naked starting an ultra without a headlamp and 2 sets of clothes and a rucksack haha! The aid station’s did have the essential’s like water, RRUNN during, coco vanilla flavored RRUNN post and biscuits. Some aid stations had fruits which was great and I like biscuits but Peter didn’t quite fancy them so we shared my stock of shot bloks as I was prepared to be autonomous since this was the first time the event was being held and I’m always a little skeptical 😉

Around the 40k point we crossed through a small house where lots of the local’s sat and watched us gorge into oranges and run off into the hills! There was also a news reporter who was interviewing Peter on the go asking him about his nationality, we had a few more of them and the novelty was lost as they asked the same questions and it got a little tedious. The track would start going uphill until 48k including the highest point so the route kept going up, we ran most of it and were feeling good, the conditions were perfect with the sun peeping out now and again. I remember exclaiming to Peter about how the people in this region are blessed with awesome weather compared to our usual weekend outings in the Southern hills where we both get burnt on a regular basis as the sunscreen keeps washing away due to the heat and humidity! We got to a checkpoint called manager’s residence and they had fresh lime juice, which was amazing! We drank until both our bellies were sloshing before heading out; the route was now undulating as we kept going up and down. There were people who were passing us in the opposite direction as it was supposed to be an out and back which was cool as we were giving out high five’s. The climb wasn’t too strenuous and we eventually go to the short single-track section, this was fun as it was quite narrow and the views were amazing.

The view from here reminded me of the Conic hill climb on the West highland way in Scotland as the view was very similar. We passed several 50k runners here and caught up to Vipul who was taking a break here. We ran together as we started the descent after taking lots of pictures. I remember Peter bouncing ideas off me stating that he could totally put on an ironman here with a swim in that lake, cycling around the hills and then a run on the trails. However there was a minor problem of wild animals. We hadn’t spotted any yet so we were quite disappointed but kept trotting along; the descent was gentle and fun. My knee pain was manageable so I was dancing downhill while Peter was stronger on the uphill’s so we complemented each other well. I was however cramping up due to a lack of salt intake but I had salt caps at the 60k drop bag so that checkpoint couldn’t come soon enough. Vipul was moving a little gingerly but still managed to keep pace with us while we enjoyed good banter. We were playing a game on keeping score on the amount of times we tripped but didn’t fall, Peter was leading by 2 games to love by that point and we said winner has to really take a fall haha. We bumped into Charles from England, he ran with us for a while before passing us. The descent involved a small loop before going downhill all the way to another manager’s residence at 60k.

 

60k manager’s residence to 80k CP:

 

This was another “hot food” option point and it was around lunch time so we were looking forward to having food but were left a little disappointed with the bisibella bath (spicy dhal and rice) and curd rice (yoghurt and rice), we both didn’t fancy the hot food options so opted for fruits while Vipul was taking a nap and a massage. We met some of the CTC guys who were running the 50k and offered encouragement, I had put my headlamps in my drop bag here but we got here way too early as the course didn’t have as much climbing as the course profile suggested. We took a short break and Peter got rid of his rucksack as I was carrying enough ration and water that could feed a small village. We had a rather hilarious incident where a 50k runner came in to the checkpoint being furious and was having a go at the volunteers. It went something like “What kind of course is this, it’s either going up or down there are no flat runnable sections and very little road!” We both chuckled stating the obvious that he clearly didn’t check the website for what he was signing up for!

 

We headed out to rejoin the portion of the trail where we left to walk into the checkpoint and it gradually went downhill all the way to a lake. Initially this section was undulating and we were running along chatting away and joking about not having spotted ANY “wildlife” apart from maybe a squirrel! Somewhere along the route we both agreed that 80k was clearly too short a distance for Peter to finish and it would still be daylight by then so he agreed to run the rest of the 30k with me to finish the 110k and I told him we’d be done and in bed before the rest of the folk get home as the cut off for the 80k was 10 pm (16 hours). There was a section where we got to a small lake and the course rose sharply, Vipul slowed down and Peter kept hiking strong so I kept pace with him. We kept passing 50k runners at regular intervals while offering encouragement. I was feeling strong and I never went through any low points or high points, I just felt comfortably numb mentally and just enjoyed Peter’s company as we both get along really well. Somehow this felt like bread and butter for both of us and hence it seemed very comfortable. We eventually hit the 70k point where the course descends slowly to the lowest point to a lake; it was very humid with no breeze here. After a quick pit stop at the checkpoint we trotted along, as this section was dotted with photographers encouraging us to run. Once we passed the lake, we started climbing uphill and it was rather steep. I was sweating buckets and struggled a little to keep up with Peter but managed to crawl behind him. We caught a couple more runners and I started feeling better as we got higher and we got some breeze. After that short and steep climb and once we hit the road, it was mostly runnable all the way to the 80k checkpoint. We were still ahead of schedule and felt very comfortable chatting away, we caught a 50k runner just before the checkpoint and he was walking like a broken man but after offering encouragement we jogged it in. I quickly went to fetch my drop bag as Peter was given a medal and was taking pictures at the finish with other CTC folks.

80k to 110k finish at Kemmangundi:

 

I put my visor and shades into the drop bag as the sun was never out for the whole day and I knew I’d be wearing a headlamp pretty soon. We were chatting away with the rest of the 50k folks, I caught up with Monica who ran her first 50k and finished as the 2^nd female, that was awesome. I told her that Amit was doing well and he should finish soon as he looked smooth in the first 8k J We also met Aakriti who I ran a short while with at the start of the Javadhu 50k where she and her coach Sampath were the only ones running at a sustainable pace while everyone ran out like a bat out of hell! After joking to Peter about the food and how we could use a German beer and bratwurst right about now, we were eating the sweet potatoes before I got my bottles refilled. We took a longer break here while I cleaned my shoes out before heading out for the last 30k. We both felt comfortable and there was a nice small runnable climb and hiked certain bits until we reached the top before running most of the descent. My memory is generally very good so I knew exactly what we had left while Peter didn’t remember most of it as the last 30k is the same way as the first 30k so half of it was on tarmac. He was surprised that I could remember every little detail but he then remembered I was a lawyer and joked that my mind is perhaps trained to remember lots of details! We felt good as the temperature was dropping and chatted away looking forward to running some of this section in the night. We were also debating ideas of how we could improve our own events among other things. I think most of our talk revolved around food! Mostly involving Bavarian delicacies like schweinhaxe, schnitzel and different types of currywurst’s as it was the end of the Oktoberfest at that time.

 

My knee pain had settled into something that I could manage so wasn’t too bothered about it. I felt good otherwise and was looking forward to getting to the bottom of the descent before starting the next climb. We had two more climbs to tick off before the finish and I joked that the last climb would mostly be a recovery hike. We kept things ticking over and I watched our calorie and salt intake to make sure we stay away from cramps. This was a fun and enjoyable section where we ran most of it and we were making time; slowly we passed several checkpoints before starting the ascent into the private estate. It was starting to get dark under tree cover so we put our headlamps on. Don’t think we used it until we got closer to the summit. We ran the runnable bits and hiked the rest until it got steeper. We hit the checkpoint near the summit to refuel before cresting the hill and starting the descent. It was fun to let go and glide downhill, Peter remarked on how much fun it was to run during the night as you start to spot the little things and focus a little more. It feels like a completely different route, we had estate workers light up bon fire a few kilometers apart to warm themselves and also to keep the snakes away from the trail I guess? The descent went well and we could slowly spot that we were descending into civilization as we could see lights in the distance.

The descent was fun as we crossed through a couple of checkpoints before getting to one just before the village. Met Jayesh from Mumbai here, he seemed a little phased out so told him that the 102km checkpoint has a bed where he can take a short nap but it was still around 4k away. We sat and refueled before running the rest of this descent; we passed the village and got chased by dogs. We slowly made our way to the 102 k checkpoint at the spot where we had the pre-race dinner. The volunteers were lovely and told us we had only a few kilometers to go. It was all uphill from here so we took it easy, the initial section on trail was super steep as Peter powered through before we hit the road bit and then started the slow slog up to Kemmangundi. The last 6k on tarmac was tedious and mind numbingly boring, it pretty much sucked out all the fun from the other 102km of racing as I would have rather preferred going uphill on technical terrain rather than a concrete path. We kept chatting and talking about what we’d have for dinner, as we’d be on time for dinner and a shower before the lads got home from the 80k finishing point. It was getting a little chilly as it was windy and neither of us carried a jacket or windbreaker. After what felt like an eternity, we eventually made it to the finish by which point both of us didn’t really care as that last climb was just pointless and annoying. Peter joked about doing one of his “infamous” 5k loops to finish a 100 miles but after that last climb I preferred to pass! Photographers and Kieren greeted us as we finished in 16 hours and 11 minutes, in the end the race had only 2850 meters of climbing rather than 4000m; we quickly headed to the restaurant to get some calories down. In hindsight it would have been so much better if they finished the race at 102k descending all the way and finishing on a high rather than take us up a tarmac uphill which left a bad taste in the mouth.

 

Despite some flaws, the organization was great for a first time trail race in India and there was a lot of attention to detail but aid station’s could have been fewer but well stocked with more food rather than several but with just the basics. There are only so many salt biscuits one can eat. Things I am sure the organizers will improve upon in the next edition but the accommodation and food organized by the holiday company was alarmingly bad, hope they can fix the toilets next time as lots of others complained about the accommodation not being up to scratch. Huge props to the race organizers though for putting a race in the middle of nowhere I’m sure they’ll build on it and make the infrastructure better to keep a sustainable event. It was great value for money and would totally recommend the experience as it’s well organised and picturesque than all the other Indian ultra’s I’ve done so far.  Thanks to Cafe Coffee day for allowing us to run through their beautiful estates, can we please book some wildlife for next year pls? 😉

Special thanks to my sponsors WAA ultra and Unived sports for supporting me all season to help me realize my dreams, hopefully next season will be bigger and wilder!

Distance : 119km

Ascent: 5850m

Start/Finish: Cortina D’Ampezzo, Dolomites, Italy

Date: June 24, 2016

When I first heard about this race a few years ago, the distinct beauty of the Dolomites and just the alpine nature of the event fascinated me. It captured my imagination and I was instantly sold on doing this race but that year the lottery for the race had already closed so I had to wait until the next year to apply as I know lots of Italians told me just how beautiful the Dolomites are and the jagged peaks are a visual treat to compensate for the brutal nature of the climbs!

I just felt I had to return this year after dropping from the race last year as my stomach stopped working and I couldn’t drink or eat anything. I decided to spend a couple of days in Venice this time to do some sightseeing before heading to Cortina. Staying in a cool hostel and hanging out with a couple of Aussie girls were the highlights apart from the scorching hot weather in Venice which offered no respite as it was quite warm and humid even during the night.

The weather looked likely to be a hot one with thunderstorms in the second night so I was prepared gear wise to tackle the worst conditions but I tend to overheat even in the coldest of conditions but from past experience I thought it’d be wise to be prepared for the worst!

Got my kit checked and met up with Mike and Louna at their apartment before chatting about all their adventures this year as they were just back from an epic stage race in Peru. Also got to meet Seb Cote who’s the RD of Ultra-trail Harricana, which was the second biggest ultra in Canada, we’ve been tracking each other in Strava for a few years now and it was cool to meet him finally! We headed out to the start of the skyrace in the town center and it was great to see familiar faces like Robbie Britton charging out, we relaxed under the hot sun with Mike’s friends. Caught up with Stephanie and then later with Kirsten before heading out for an early night.

Had a good night’s rest, packed all my kit before heading out to meet Ian Campbell who was doing the iRunfar coverage of the race again this year. The best thing about racing in Europe is the chance to meet all my friends from near and far.

 

Race Start from Cortina to Ospitale (17 km):

Had a quick nap and woke up to a thunderstorm, it was coming down heavy before the start of the race but it helped as it cooled things down after a hot day! The race starts quite late in the evening at 11 pm so there was a sense of nervous excitement waiting all day long for the start which meant getting any sleep was neigh on impossible. They played an epic song called “Ecstasy of Gold” which set the mood. I intended to take it easy to practice my UTMB strategy of being steady and not accelerate until the end. After getting a huge cheer out of town from all the supporters, we had a few kilometres of tarmac before hitting the trail. The first climb came and all of us got our poles out to start “click-clacking!”, just the steepness of the climb reminded me I was back racing in Europe haha! The first climb was uneventful as I steadily passed people without exerting too much, I was feeling the altitude though as I didn’t have enough time in Cortina to acclimatize. This year they had cameramen all over the course, it was so cool to be clicked in the middle of the night in an enchanted forest. We quickly started passing streams and I was reminded just how beautiful this course really is! Ticked off the first climb and was tip-toeing my way through the descent so as to not trash my quads as it was VERY easy to do so while racing in Europe with everyone starting at an unsustainable pace. I decided to empty out the rocks in my shoes and ate quite well from the beginning. I had a checklist of things I’d do when I come into every CP and followed it to the tee.

Ospitale (17 km) to Refugio Auronzo (48 km):

The next section also had another climb up to Forc. Son Forca and a long-ish descent which went smoothly, I was mostly tagging behind runners and running at a very conservative pace to keep myself fresh. The climb was gradual at the start with lots of long switchbacks along fire roads before we went through a small section of snow as we climbed higher. We eventually hit alpine single track and it got steeper and steeper, I could hear the sound of the glacial stream in the distance as we crisscrossed across the mountain before hitting a steep grassy hill and we hit the summit where a mountain rescue personnel pointed us towards the descent. The descent started with being rocky and with lots of steps, it eventually ended in a long steep trail which mostly went downhill and I was running with two Spanish ladies who were running at a more reasonable pace compared to the others who were flying down like a bat out of hell! The descent was quite slippery in parts and we eventually came into a meadow as the day was breaking. Just in time for a checkpoint to pop up and I remember throwing up at this checkpoint last year and one of the highlights was I asked the aid station captain where the toilet was and he pointed out onto the horizon and said “everywhere is toilet, you can go anywhere you like” I was like “do you happen to have toilet paper?” and he said “we are eco-friendly so we don’t provide paper!” after a heavy sigh I chugged on last year but this year felt great here with zero stomach issues. I was chomping down on fruits, biscuits and my favorite nutella spread on rusk! The volunteers were lovely and I didn’t forget to thank all of them for giving up their weekends for watching us run across their stunning mountain range. I fuelled up quite well knowing that it was all uphill until the next checkpoint at Refugio Auronzo which was close to the summit near Tre Cime and also because checkpoints in this race are few and far between at every 10 miles and probably after a summit or two. I broke down the climb into two parts as it climbs up to lake misurina and then the big climb to tre cime, due to the incessant rain that section was super muddy and became very difficult to traverse as it was basically just a mud fest. I was chuckling inside, as it felt more like a tough mudder than an ultra-trail after several slips and getting myself muddy. Once we hit lake misurina, I got myself cleaned up by the medic team who were super nice and I washed out my poles in the pristine lake, which was stunning to look at. It was literally all-uphill from here as we started weaving through road and trail until we hit a proper trail which went all the way to Refugio Auronzo. It got more technical and alpine as we got higher but the views were spectacular as the sun was shimmering on the surrounding peaks. This place was like paradise as it was so beautiful with a pink hue over the mountains just before sunrise. People were starting to tire as they took breaks during the climb, which at this stage is a wise thing to do, as it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and power up the climbs only to bonk towards the end. It got steeper towards the end as we were inching our way to the refugio, after finally making it here we had to que up at the entrance as the refugio can only accommodate so many people which was super annoying while racing as we waited for around 20+ minutes but c’est la vie we were in Italy after all 😉 , it was a stunning place to hang out as the views were spectacular but it was very windy as it was one of the highest points in the course and the giro d’italia has passed through here during one of the mountain stages. I remember sitting down next to a bunch of German’s who ordered bier (As you can still buy stuff from the café apart from aid station food and all the Brits got their cameras out to take pictures, I really like how chilled out they were in the middle of this savage race. I laughed and uttered a few German phrases before heading out to fill my bottles and start the small climb to the mountain pass.

Refugio Auronzo (48km) to Cimabanche (66 km)

I know a lot has been said about the Tre Cime but as we came around the bend before hitting the pass which gave us a proper view of the north face of the mythical tre cime which translates to three peaks, the jewel of the Dolomites and the most striking mountain in the entire course. I’ve raced across the globe and I’ve never seen anything as beautiful or as imposing, after some gazing around and picking my jaw off the floor I started the long and brutal descent into the next valley. Met up with another Italian who was around my age and we shared the same passion for these mountains as we chatted a lot about the Vallé d’Aosta talking about the TDG as it was the dream race for both us. As we descended we caught a glimpse of this massive waterfall, it was quite spectacular and it was so high that I couldn’t see where it ended. The descent was technical so it demanded focus but it was good to look around now and again.

The descent seemed to be go on forever so I was pacing myself by taking breaks and the sun was out in full force in the valley so the temperature kept rising as we descended. There were however a few stream crossings to wet our caps and buffs to keep us cool. I bumped into two Irish guys Paul Daley and Stephen Brennan, one of them had finished it last year and it was good to chat to them. We kept passing each other as we had a similar pace. Once we hit the valley it kept undulating and even the somewhat “flat” sections on the course profile were definitely hilly! After some running/power hiking, the trail kept going on forever, we were meeting lots of tourists in this section as it was in the valley and we were passed by cyclists too who were making the most of the great weather. It would have been around 35 degrees here so the heat was getting to me. I tried to take it easy here so as to not push myself too much as I wanted to save something for the big climbs towards the end of the race. We eventually hit the half way checkpoint called Cimabanche at around 67km and we had access to the only drop bag in the race. It was a big checkpoint where crew’s were allowed so it had a great atmosphere. I was chatting away with the volunteers at the checkpoint who were fascinated by my nationality as I was the first Indian to run Lavaredo last year and I would eventually finish it this year to become the first finisher and they mistook it for Indonesia which was rather funny 😀 After some faffing around, I changed my tee and socks as they got wet to avoid blisters. They also had a toilet here so took a loo break and got some food down afterwards. It was good to pick up my sunglasses here to avoid the glare of the hot sun!

Cimabanche (67 km) to Refugio Col. Gallina (94 km)

After refreshing myself, I got out of there and started the ascent up the next climb, Forc Lerosa which was a relatively smaller mountain compared to where we just descended from. Met a few people who I was running with earlier and we were all suffering in the stifling heat and humidity so I couldn’t wait to start the descent. My legs felt a little dead on this climb so it was rather slow and painful but I kept persevering,I knew this was an easier ascent than the next one, which happens to be the biggest climb in the race. I was taking breaks on the ascent to cool my core temperature before marching along; the mountains we were surrounded by were spectacular so it was good to take my mind off things. After awhile we got nearer the summit as we passed the tree line into the alpine to be fully exposed to the sun. I couldn’t wait to start descending after all that power hiking, as the descent was very long but the trail was quite nice to run on but a little too steep. We kept going through switchbacks to eventually hit the valley and could see crowds near the checkpoint at Malga Ra Stua and also the big inflated chute they had at the entrance to welcome us. The checkpoint was brimming with people and most of them were sitting in the shade to cool off. I met Paul and Steve here again, Steve was talking about dropping but I told him to get through this phase, as the night will be cooler. He’s from Ireland and the heat was getting to him, I sat with them and ate a bunch of nutella rusks and some other fruits. I knew I had to get more calories in so as to last the big climb, as we would enter a very remote valley after this checkpoint.

After passing Malga ra stua CP (76km), we started descending in the heat and lots people joined me as we all headed off together. The descent was mostly runnable and there were lots of streams so I cooled off at every opportunity but this meant my sunscreen washed off and I was getting proper burnt! (The worst sunburn I’ve ever gotten was at Transvulcania but this was a close second but there was no skin peeling here). I was feeling a little tired here as running around in the heat all day at altitude was getting to me, felt like crawling up on the side of the trail and taking a nap but resisted temptation and kept putting one foot in front of the other. I just had to look up and take in this breathtaking view to remind myself why I do this to myself on a regular basis, running in the mountains is definitely a humbling experience. Sometimes you might feel weak, sometimes you might feel it’s not possible to make forward progress but the mountains always give you good energy.

After hitting the valley floor we started the ascent up to Forc. Col des bois, initially up a steep forest with lots of tree cover as we slowly made our way up. After some steep climbing to hit the top of the forest with lots of tall trees we had to cross a bridge and there were lots of runners standing there. I thought it must be an impromptu aid station but I can see why they all stopped as we could see a massive canyon below with water streams moving like jet streams to join the river. It was spectacular to watch and one of many moments that took my breath away in this race. Later while climbing through the single track we hit a glacial stream crossing and we had to walk through two ropes to cross the river just like Hardrock! I wondering how cold it would be and I would live to regret that question later on!

The dark clouds were starting to roll in and it appeared that there was a storm brewing, we were in for an interesting night in the mountains! I put my jacket on as it started to drizzle. We entered a remote valley, which was breathtaking. Passed a couple of waterfalls and there was a waterfall about 500m above us and the water just vaporized which was spectacular. This section reminded me of Patagonia as it felt so pristine and beautiful. We kept climbing on eroded trails which were a little slippery and some technical sections before descending down. We had to pass through several glacial river crossings here and they were as expected ice cold! At one of the major crossings which got us hip deep I saw several people removing their socks and shoes but I didn’t bother as I knew my socks and shoes would dry very quickly as I was wearing soft ground shoes which drains very quickly. It was good for my feet which had taken a lot rock bashing so it was comfortably numb after each crossing 😀 We eventually started the climb up on alpine single track, I was with a couple of Italian runners and we chatted away while climbing up this breathtaking valley. This was hands down the most beautiful section I’ve run in any race till date and I’ve run in some pretty amazing places 😉 The course profile warned us to take caution in this section due to the trail being slippery from the rain, we hit Malga Travananzes (with a board saying WATER POINT! Yea, no shit Sherlock!) Which was a stream crossing slightly higher up where we could fill our bottles before hitting the alpine section.

The trail slowly snaked up to the alpine section, as the weather got worse, it was also quite steep as my tired legs were feeling the effort. I kept it simple and kept plugging along as I met Fabio Giorgini, an Italian runner based slightly north of this region. We kept passing each other earlier and I ran this section mostly with him and his French friend. We were chatting away about gear & trail running legends like Antoine Guillon and Christophe Le Saux while traversing this rocky section. This section was quite technical through rocks before we hit the summit and then started the long winding descent. Lots of people were hammering this descent but I thought it was way too early so just kept a good rhythm, the views from here were amazing as we could see the valley floor below with the brooding clouds in the background.

I felt good and was chatting away with a couple of other runners as we hit another climb, this time we climbed through an abandoned fort. The thing about these trails is that they were never meant for hiking but were designed during the world war as outposts and it carried a dark history, we could still see that in the modern day with a few sighting of bullet shells strewn on the side of the trail. I did spot some in this section before we started a single-track traverse with a steep cliff face. After crossing that short section we started the steep switchbacks, which leads us down to Refugio Col. Gallina. There were a few supporters here cheering us on as we made our way into the checkpoint, the weather got worse as it was bucketing down. Lot’s of runners decided to wait until the weather cleared a little as we had plenty of time before the cut-off and we were also advised by the mountain rescue to wait it out. It was particularly alarming to see lightning hit the summit we were supposed to go up! I met Fabio again and since it was a Refugio he invited me inside for a cup of Italian espresso. It was a warm and cozy inside, I decided to wear all my layers as we were going to do an high alpine traverse before the final descent and it would be too cold to stop and faff around on top of a mountain in bad weather.

Refugio Col Gallina (94 km) to Cortina – Finish (119km)

We had two cup’s of the best espresso I’ve ever had and it really woke me up before nightfall. Fabio gathered a few other runners before we got moving; they both were super fast up the climb. I was getting too warm with all those layers so I decided to stop and remove my rain pants, as I prefer running in short shorts even in biblical weather conditions 😀 I met up with a few runners and we started the steep and narrow climb up Refugio Averau together. We could see the lights snaking up the trail and also some lights in the distance, which I think was the next checkpoint Passo Giau. As we got higher we hit a few treacherous snowfields, it was quite scary to traverse in high winds and bad weather! I took a few rest breaks as the wind made life difficult but I knew the summit was close so kept pushing, we could eventually see the light near the summit. It was a small Refugio called Averau at the summit with just a couple of volunteers giving us water outside, I stopped here to remove a few more layers as I quickly warmed up again (My body is like a little furnace even in the coldest weather, this explains why I hate the heat so much!). I had a little chat with them and joked about getting struck by lightning, which seemed like a very real possibility!

The short descent was on a wide fire road, which was still rocky at this altitude; it was quite steep so I was happy to shuffle along without trashing the quads. I started to push on the previous climb as I wanted to finish early and I still felt fresh, I would start passing people in this section as I got a move on and I didn’t want to hang about in this weather! At the end of the short descent there were a couple of mountain rescue guys camping with a bon fire and pointed us to start the traverse. This was another winding and technical section amidst boulder fields with some sleet/melted snow on the trail, I was careful not to slip off the single track. I was quite frustrated as it was slow going no matter how hard I tried to run the terrain slows you down. What seemed like a few kilometers on the route profile took ages to traverse as we rock hopped and jumped across before the short descent into Passo Giau. This was a bigger checkpoint, I quickly picked the essentials like fruits and nutella biscuits before heading down the trail, there were lots of people here who stopped or dropped and were wrapped in foil blankets to keep them warm. I met a bunch of friends from London who were running together here, I ran this technical section with them as they were chatting away. I remember chuckling at Rebecca’s comment about “I think we are decent runners and how are we moving so slowly in this terrain??”, the mountains always dictate our pace and we can’t force it. There were several technical bits where mountain rescue were stationed to help the runners, they told us to put our poles away in these sections, as we had to use our hands to cross the narrow paths. The path kept undulating; the climbing bits were short but super steep. It was mentally draining as it was up, down, up, down and never downtown anytime soon! The climb up to Forc. Giau was probably one of the steepest pieces in the entire race but mentally I knew we broke the back of the race with the climb up to Col dei bois, now it was just a matter of getting around safely on slippery terrain. We had one small climb left before the long and nasty descent into Cortina. I felt with the time barriers I had plenty of time to descend, the last climb was crazy steep but I slowly made it up to the summit and cleaned out my shoes before starting the long descent.

I passed lots of people on the descent as I was accelerating at will and I knew the last section would slow me down so it was best to make time in any of the runnable sections. I tried to share my light with another runner whose headlamp had gone off and he was waiting until the checkpoint before he could swap the batteries out. The descent was long and very rocky, I could feel the rocks as my feet were tender by this point with all the rock bashing, the whole course was very rocky underfoot and it eventually catches up if you wear a minimalist shoe!

After a long and steep descent we eventually hit the final checkpoint refugio Croda la lago. I quickly sat down and got eating, they had some nice food here like soup with bread among other things. I wanted to leave early but Giorgio was hot on my heels so decided to leave with them instead, it was nice to know we only had a 7 km descent left but this was going to be nasty due to the bad weather as I heard so many horror stories about how muddy and slippery the trail was last year :O
We started our descent as the trail narrowed to a single track, Giorgio let me lead as I had the brightest headlamp and it was causing shadows. I quickly started running as I knew there were some “not so runnable” sections ahead. I eventually was running solo but I thought they’d catch me up so kept moving well. It did get super muddy quickly and I was lucky to be wearing my soft ground shoes here, which helped grip the surface better. It was wet and slippery with the trees and there also some fog which made spotting the trail harder in the night. It was also a little spooky running alone in the middle of forest at like 2 am in the night! Who’d have thought a cheeky descent would be so time consuming and hard to negotiate. I did slip and fall several times while uttering some choice words here, there were points where the whole trail was like knee deep mud and it was hard to wade through it while being upright. I lost count of the number of times I slipped and fell but eventually it got better as we passed through a wider trail which had some rocks on it and that helped with the grip. I passed through a creek and stopped there to wash my hands and poles as everything got muddy. Beyond that section it was mostly runnable and it kept looping around the forest while I could see the clock tower of Cortina in the distance, which is the start and finish of the race. I eventually met a couple of volunteers that were standing at a junction telling me to go further down and they reassured me it’s not far to the finish. This was probably the most frustrating and pointless section of the race as we kept going in circles around this forest and it eventually exited into the street. Finally some tarmac which meant I was close to finishing it, I jogged along this section and came across a table outside a house with various types of alcohol and juices, it said it was for the runners so helped myself to some water before running off. I passed a few people before bumping into Virginie, one of Stephanie’s friends and ran to the finish with her. She looked a little surprised as I was in my shorts and an ultra carrier shirt while they were fully covered in waterproofs. After a quick climb we hit the main streets and jogged it to the finish line in 28 hrs 32 minutes. It seems that no matter where the road is taking you in real life, your dreams can give you an outlet for you to recognise your hopes and fears – ultimately making those challenges you’ve set yourself even sweeter when you cross the finish line.

I have very fond memories of this race and the whole experience as I loved running in the Dolomites! I feel the pictures don’t do justice to the mesmerising beauty of the Dolomites, you have to go there to live that experience! Thanks to everyone who I got the share this experience with and to everyone back home who were watching my tracker. I would love to go back again in the future but not anytime soon 😉
Thanks to my sponsors WAA Ultra for the gear and Unived Sports for the nutrition.

 

“A hundred miles is a life in a day,” said the legendary ultrarunner, Ann Trason. It can feel like this. And a long race certainly mirrors a life. It has its ups, its downs, the times when it feels almost easy, the times when it feels like I am fighting hard just to stand still or stay awake, the times when I am sharing (with fellow competitors, volunteers, supporters present and absent), and the times when I feel entirely alone.

There is no cheating in ultra endurance. We who “do” put in the time and are committed to our long term goals. This is not a sport of gross power but of absolute patience, acceptance, fortitude and stamina. Will I be tough enough to complete my next challenge? Is my body, mind and soul resilient enough to endure?

This is what I wanted to find out when I signed up for the UTMB this year, having been to Chamonix half a dozen times and having lived there for a short period last summer, I’ve been part of this event in some capacity either through volunteering, media or running one of the races for a few years now. It’s had a special place in my heart and it’s one of the reasons I started dreaming of running a 100 miles in the first place. For the uninitiated the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc is a 170 kilometer race around Mont Blanc which is the highest mountain in Western Europe, it’s also one of the oldest and most historic hiking trails in the world linking three countries. Generally people take around a week to 10 days to get the route done at a leisurely pace but during the race we have around 46 and half hours to finish it. The terrain has some technical sections and it’s generally very steep with around 10,000m (33,000 ft) of ascent. There are certainly easier 100 milers out there, ones that are closer to home and one’s that do not require you to traverse alpine terrain but there’s something special about the UTMB. It’s widely regarded as the trail running “Olympics” as runners from all over the world (87 countries this year!) gather for this one week at the trail running capital of the world, Chamonix. Just the beauty of the course, the pageantry, the incredible level of crowd support, organization  & competition make it the biggest trail running race in the world. There is nowhere else in the world where Ultrarunning gets this amount of attention and support.

Start – Chamonix to Saint Gervaix (21Km)

Since I’ve already seen or been part of the start, I decided to stay at the hostel for as long as possible before heading out as it’s generally a very emotional affair. Sebastian, a French runner living in London and I headed out to the start together. We were pretty relaxed and thought it was a good idea to start at the back as that’ll force us to pace ourselves and not go out too fast. After all the drama, they played “conquest of paradise” which is the theme song of the UTMB. You could literally feel the emotions as they sent us out on our own journey’s, our own conquest of paradise. Since I knew lots of my friends were here, I decided to run on the side to wave, high five and take it all in. Bumped into quite a few of my friends as Stephanie took a selfie with me. After stopping and hugging my friends along the way which was very special as John Munro was waving the Indian flag 😀 I think I was the last runner to leave Chamonix so got a heroes send off which was very special especially from my Scottish family ❤

I knew the first 10 km is reasonably flat by UTMB standards so wanted some gap between the main field to be able to run without stopping as there are a few bottles necks. This worked out well as I kept passing people and it mentally gives you a boost, as I was moving very well. I knew the whole course in the back of my hand so I didn’t panic being so far at back of the field. I remember the crowds lining up the streets cheering us on, one of the pubs were even offering us beer, which was very tempting, but I stuck to my RRUNN energy drinks! I was moving well and got to les houches feeling very relaxed, met Carl and Tanya & Alex who I stayed with last summer. It was good to see known faces on the trail, we started up the first climb which was a ski hill called “Le delevret’. Bumped into Paige Morrow, a Canadian runner who I met at the hostel and she’s friends with Stephanie too. We kept chatting about races in Canada and slowly moving up the field, at one of the junctions I bumped into Dave & Tracey Troman. After a quick photo I was on my way but it was so good to see them. This hill is quite steep so I took it easy with the climbing and was just trying to eat and drink, as it was quite warm and humid so I was sweating buckets. The views of Mont Blanc as the sun was setting were beautiful with the alpine glow in the background. Paige and I kept running together until the summit as I stopped to put my headlamp on before the descent and she ran on. I couldn’t find her but kept moving well and my main priority was not to trash my quads on such a steep descent. I managed to wiggle my way across and pass some people without accelerating too much. The long winding downhill to Saint gervais was fun as I was slowly settling into the rhythm of the race and also as nightfall was approaching, I was looking forward to this as I knew it’ll be A LOT cooler to run as opposed to the heat of the day. It’s been a weird last two years as we’ve had record temperatures at UTMB, which is quite unusual at the end of the summer, but we can’t predict the weather so just have to deal with it.

We slowly reached the town with lots of people out cheering which was nice, as soon as I entered the checkpoint they had an MC announcing names of the runners and the country they’re from. He seemed a little surprised looking at my flag haha but it was good fun, I filled up my bottles and ate some food here as I knew it was mostly uphill from here (literally!) until Col du bonhomme.

Saint Gervais (21km) – les Chapieux (50 km)

 

After getting some calories in at this checkpoint I quickly jogged out and kept moving, I knew I was closer than I wanted to be to the cut-offs so early on but since I can always accelerate when needed it didn’t bother me too much. Main priority was not to expend too much energy early on, a race like UTMB which is just pure alpine climbing and descending for a 100 miles is a race of attrition and the last three climbs will make you pay for any excesses in the beginning. This section was mostly just going up and down around the valley, certain sections were very steep so had to take it easy. There were some grassy bits, which were nice to run on, I mostly was with French runners so was quiet and kept moving. This stretch seemed longer than it actually is as it’s slowly going uphill to les Contamines. I knew we were quite close to les contamines once we hit the road sections and had a couple of road crossings. We have to go under a bridge and then climb up to reach the checkpoint as there are crowds waiting there which was really nice. After almost 30k into the race I knew I had to get a move on to avoid being timed out at les Chapieux but I got into the checkpoint grabbed some food and sat down as I saw Chris and Donielle. He wasn’t feeling too well, as his stomach wasn’t playing ball, I tried to encourage him to move, as we didn’t have that long until the cut-off. After chatting to them I started the ascent off the checkpoint, as it’s the biggest climb in the race all the way up to Col du bonhomme. I was a lot slower going through here compared to last year but it didn’t worry me too much as I felt really good and my quads were in good condition.

There were lots of people enjoying a barbeque and out in the restaurants cheering us on at les Contamines, it quickly started going uphill. My focus was to get to notre-dame, which is the base of the climb before we start heading into the high country. Did some running and power hiking here as it was all-uphill, wasn’t feeling too great so kept the effort easy. While my legs felt good my energy levels were off so tried to be a little patient. I noticed a bunch of people with a pen and pad noting down the brand of shoes the runners were wearing, some were working for Adidas and some for Hoka one one, I guess it must be a survey they were conducting. The climb up was okay as we got closer to Notre dame I started noticing familiar things which encouraged me, once we got closer we could hear the music blaring as there is usually a big bon fire party going on at the Gorge before we hit the steep part of the climb. There were still lots of people cheering us on here and I started climbing well, passed a lot of people in this section, as the track is quite wide before it narrows into a single track later on. I was passed on the opposite side by a couple of elite men who dropped out and had to pass us on the way back, spotted Rory Bosio who was in tears as she dropped out of the race and was escorted by a race official which was heart breaking as around the same place last year Nuria Picas dropped. Both were the hot favorites to win but a lot of things can and will go wrong when you run a 100 miles and no one is guaranteed of a finish. I have so much admiration and respect for people putting their bodies on the line to put such impressive performances but you always know there’s a big risk of a DNF when you’re pushing so hard.

As we kept climbing it was beautiful to see all the headlamps snaking up the trail all the way to the summit, which seemed so far away! I kept focusing on getting to the intermediate checkpoint half way up the climb called “La Blame”. After some steep climbing we got to la balme, I had my usual fare of salty noodle broth, cake and some salty crackers. Drank coke to get some caffeine as we were well into the night, lots of people were relaxing at the checkpoint as they knew they had a big climb before them. I moved quickly and rejoined the alpine single track as we went up, it got technical the higher we climbed which demanded more focus to keep pace with the group. I kept passing people at every opportunity. The altitude was starting to affect a few people and also the relentless nature of the climb, which gets very steep near the summit.

We eventually crawled up the summit before they point you to croix du bon homme, which is a traverse and some more climbing until you hit the refugio. It’s another section that takes longer than it looks especially in the night and we got there before starting the long descent into les chapieux. After ticking off a big climb I was being careful on the descent as it was wet and slippery, it’s also very long so can be a strain on the quads. I was looking at the bigger picture and taking breaks where I could. There were a lot of things going on my mind at this point but listening to some songs helped me relax. I eventually got to the bottom to les chapieux as we walked into the checkpoint, it was brimming with people, some were sleeping and some looked super tired. It was quite fascinating and I ate and drank well before moving out of here after a short break. They had the first of many kit checks here to see if we were carrying the mandatory gear. After a quick check I headed out for the next section.

 

Les Chapieux (49 km) to Courmayeur (80 km)

I knew the climb out of here is long and steep, it starts on road before hitting an alpine town and we start snaking up the mountain to Col de la seigne, it’s one of the highest points in the course. I was power hiking well here and kept pace with a Spanish runner, saw lots of people sleeping on the side of the trail, it was so tempting but kept moving on. After a long climb into the town, I sat down on a bench before you hit the trail which goes up the mountain. After a couple of minutes I joined the other runners to start climbing, this was a tough section as it was in the middle of the night and I was falling as sleep. It was hard to stay upright and still keep moving well, there were some streams here which I stopped to splash some glacial water on my face to wake me up. It was super steep and the going was tough but we kept putting one foot in front of the other as I knew once daylight comes my body would slowly wake up.

We eventually hit the summit of the Col de la seigne which is quite featureless and windy but it’s the border between France and Italy, after chatting with mountain rescue who were up there all night we started the short descent before going up col des pyramides which was an off-piste technical climb that was added last year to make the course more technical. Sat down at the small hut where the volunteers were asking us to turn left for the pyramides climb. Bumped into Tim Lambert who was taking a breather. We decided to start together and I wanted to run a little as I was starting to wake up slowly, the climb is super steep and technical with a talus boulder field to traverse and as we got higher there were snow fields which made it super interesting. The whole climb is quite technical hence slow going and frustrating but we hit the summit eventually before going downhill which was an absolute nightmare! It was super frustrating as the rocks kept moving and there was no trail, after finding our route down, the trail smoothened out at certain bits but it was generally very rocky underfoot. The descent is quite steep and has lots of switchbacks but we could spot lac combal in the distance, we had to pass refugio elisabetta, which is where I stayed during a recce last year, and have fond memories of it. We kept going downhill from there all the way to the checkpoint passing through a couple of stream crossings. The checkpoint had all the essentials so it was good to fuel up before the next climb; I filled my bottles and marched out.

The route goes around the lake before starting the super steep climb, we eventually hit the trail head to start the ascent. The climb was fully exposed under the hot sun so it was very draining and did I mention it was STEEP? Took a few rest breaks on route as the climb is quite drawn out as you summit three mountains before hitting arête du mont favre and a helicopter was filming us here which was surreal as it was quite close to the summit! The view of the glacier and Mont Blanc was spectacular on this side, there was a lady giving out water at the summit and we started our traverse across the mountain to reach col checroit. The sun was baking so I took the chance to wet my hat and buff in every stream to cool off. After a period of run/hiking we eventually started the long downhill to col checroit. Got to the CP, sat down and had a plate of pasta with live music playing. There were crowds here and it was cool to be at the CP. I moved out of here soon after I ate my plate of pasta and started the long descent into the capital of the Aosta valley, Courmayeur – dolonne and the heat was getting to me as it was getting warmer as we descended. I’ve only known this descent to be muddy and slippery but this time around the mud was completely dry so it was quite dusty but still very steep. I was passing people and eventually settled into a rhythm with a couple of Portuguese runners as we moved well. The descent is never ending with lots of tight switchbacks, I was quite mindful of not trashing my quads so early on as the race only starts in the second half. The stifling heat and humidity was amplified as we got closer to the valley.

The descent went by without any major incidents apart from a few slips, we eventually exited the trail as we hit the tarmac to enter the cobblestones of courmayeur. I had a funny moment with the photographer who was eating and she stopped midway to take my pic, I almost broke into a laugh feeling sorry for her. She was sweet and I apologized for running in! After a quick pose I ran in to the checkpoint where I met Chris and Nikkis Mills, after a quick chat with them I bumped into Donielle and Vanessa Wolfe who were waiting for Chris. I was glad to hear he was still out there. The heat was getting to me so I swiftly got my drop bag and walked into the checkpoint, it was very busy as crews were allowed here. They had a decent amount of food so queued to get some pasta before taking my shirt off and having a sit down. It was a welcome break away from the oppressing heat. The Italian side was certainly hotter! I changed my tee, shoes and restocked supplies that will hopefully take me all the way to the finish as you’re only allowed one-drop bag at this race and since I was without a crew this was my last chance to pick up stuff. I wanted a toilet break but due to the lines at the toilet I skipped it and went out. We had to walk through the whole building before exiting the sports complex.

Courmayeur (80km) to Champex-lac (124 km)

We walked through the whole town; they had some cool tunes playing in the center with an MC announcing our names to the crowds. Then the climbing started as we headed out into the trail, there were several points to fill up our bottles so I dunked myself into the water tank before heading out in an attempt to keep myself cool. The climb was steep and the stifling heat did not help, I was running with an Aussie runner and we were cracking jokes about the heat. Eventually the climb got steeper and steeper but I knew it was a relatively short climb to Refugio Bertone (85km), which is officially the half way point of the race. On route while taking a break from the relentless climb I bumped into Paige again. We decided to run together as we both felt pretty awful at this point, at least she got to nap at Courmayeur while I was faffing around trying to get some calories down. We were chatting about our experience so far and eventually made it up to the Refugio. We sat under the shade after filling up our bottles as the heat was getting to us. Eventually after some coaxing I got her to run, this section is supposed to be the most beautiful part of the UTMB called the “val ferret” as you can see the glacier and the rocky side of the Mont Blanc massif. Also this bit is probably the only runnable section in the second half of the race before Refugio Bonatti so we jogged and tried to run as much as possible while chatting away.

We made some friends and kept progressing, there were sections where we could see the other side of the trail and people making their way up, just the whole vastness and scale of this mountain makes you feel tiny in comparison. After some patient movement we made our way to Refugio Bonatti. It was at the top of a short but steep climb, after cooling ourselves off and topping the bottles we headed out. There was more undulating terrain before the descent into Arnuva. I was keeping a track of the time and cut-offs and since we wasted a lot of time cooling off at checkpoints we were cutting it a little close to the cut-off so I encouraged Paige to run the descent into the checkpoint so we could spend more time fueling before the big climb ahead. This is where course knowledge is so crucial as it’s easier to plan your strategy and change it on the go when you have a clear idea of what to expect on the next section.

After a quad throbbing descent, we entered the checkpoint at Arnuva and sat down to get some food in as the next checkpoint was 10 miles away. I sorted myself out and waited on Paige before heading out. I knew this was the steepest climb in the entire race and mentally was prepared to grind it out. But boy was it crazy steep and unrelenting, we kept putting one foot in front of the other and there were points were it was so steep that you had to keep moving to balance yourself. As with everything we slowly but surely made our way up the climb to see the summit after what took an eternity. It was quite exposed here and the weather was turning so we put our jackets on before heading down the long descent to La Fouly. The vastness and scale of the mountain was spectacular on this side, we were also going to enter Switzerland soon, which was exciting as we were getting closer to the business stage of the race.

After descending for a few kilometers on narrow single track we hit a small checkpoint where they gave water before encouraging us to put our waterproofs on as they told us there was going to be a storm tonight. I must say I was quite excited about it as rain would add a different dimension to the race and the looming lightning strikes were spectacular to watch but the others around me didn’t quite share my enthusiasm! Paige was a little worried but we quickly headed out and slowly made our way down as this bit had some technical sections. Bumped into a German who was taking a break and encouraged him to move but he wanted to drop, after a quick chat with him we kept moving. I did practice my German on him and found out he was Bavarian!!! 😀

We could hear a familiar voice on the way down and it was Stephanie!!! She was shouting out the exact kilometers in her all too familiar accent. After a quick hug, I asked her about Belinda whom she was crewing before running off. We had about 5k to the checkpoint and we could see the lightning and thunderstorms were getting stronger. The wind and rain got to us; we ran this bit well before we hit La Fouly. The checkpoint was in the middle of the town, we got in and the rain was bucketing down. Decided to spend some time here as we had some time for the cut-offs, got some food and decided to wait. After Paige put all her waterproofs on and I put my jacket on we set off with a few others for the next checkpoint. After some heavy downpour it eventually settled and the weather cleared up, met lots of people in this section as I wouldn’t shut up 😉 We were chatting away and moving well, the lack of sleep going into the second night was affecting Paige as she became silent so I told her she can have a nap at Champex-lac as it’s a bigger checkpoint with beds.

 

She ran this section well leading us and we chatted away about our lives as we both were lawyers and our past adventures. It was cool to run with someone as in such an international race you can get awfully lonely at times when you’re surrounded by people not speaking your language. We enjoyed each others company and kept moving well, I was keeping track of the cut-off times and planning for the next sections while she worried about maintaining a good hiking/running pace. We ran past Praz de fort which was a beautiful town, a lovely family had water and coffee for us which was awesome, more caffeine please!! We moved well after taking a short coffee break.

 

After hitting champex we got to a steep climb up the forest that kept going forever, bumped into Stephanie and Mika who were hiking the other way to catch Belinda. She assured us the next checkpoint is not far. We hit Champex-lac checkpoint after awhile and bumped into Johnny who was crewing his friend. Paige went to take a 10 min nap as they had beds there; I kept time and was chatting with Mika while eating salted crisps as they had something different to the usual aid station fare. It was good to chat with Steph and Mika here and my plan was to not sleep for the whole race if I can help it as this will help me gauge my tolerance for future adventures.

 

Champex Lac (124 km) to Vallorcine (151 km)

 

Being oh so excited to see Stephanie again at Champex-Lac! Photo by Stephanie

After spending some time here we eventually made our way out, it was freezing outside and yet I knew I would overheat once I start moving so decided against wearing my jacket, I’m used to cold weather and it wasn’t biting cold. After about 10 minutes I warmed up while we hiked up to the next climb. We chatted for a bit while running with one of Paige’s Belgian friends who kept catching up to us while we faffed at each checkpoint. So we ran with him and after awhile we started the climb. We could see headlamps on the other mountain, which was pretty cool, my memory of this section is a little hazy as I was sleep deprived and went into auto pilot. There are only certain fleeting moments that I remember being awake but was still moving, I don’t quite know what I spoke to Paige in this section, all I remember was the climb to Bertone took FOREVER and once we hit the summit I was so sleepy I was struggling to stay upright. I kinda feels like I was dreaming with few moments of being lucid. I didn’t sleep at all since the start of the race and it caught up to me on the second night. We pressed on and hit la gieté which I have very little memory of crossing! I remember it was super muddy here after the rain and started the descent to Trient. On the way down I told Paige to keep running while I sat down to remove dirt from my shoes, I had a blackout here for around 10 minutes where I had a vivid dream which involved me volunteering two years ago atop this same mountain while tracking the elite runners, it felt so real that it was hard for me to snap out of it as my mind was playing the memories of what happened two years ago before I snapped out of it and started questioning if THIS was real or if I was dreaming. I slowly got back to my senses as people passed me, I looked at my Bib and realized I am in the race and not volunteering! Slowly got up and started running, I had a vague recollection of running with Paige but couldn’t quite remember her name so thought I could possibly catch up at Trient so ran down.

After a kilometer I saw her sleeping on the side of the trail as she realized I wasn’t running to catch up. It was starting to get daylight and I was super fresh after the blackout, we ran this bit while I was explaining about this complex dream of mine and kept asking her what happened on the last climb as I had zero recollection of summiting Bovine. The memories did come back eventually but only two weeks after I finished the race! This was in the back of my mind until the finish as I kept replaying this section to put the pieces together. After a steep descent we hit Col de la forclaz which was one of the summits of a mountain stage of the Tour de France this year and then Trient, the entry into the town was super muddy and reminded me of a cross country field than a trail. Got to this checkpoint and hugged Stephanie dressed up as an angry bird. The cameras were filming me as I spoke about this vivid dream before getting some food down. We spent some time here refueling to get ourselves ready for the next climb.

The climb out of trient was steep (as usual!) and mostly uneventful as I kept encouraging everyone and was chatting about other races. Once the sun came out we stopped at every stream to cool off. I knew this climb wasn’t as bad as the final one so was quite comfortable with dealing with it as there are bits that are runnable before the long descent. Once we hit the descent I knew this was the last section in the shade before facing the heat so made the most of it by running a fair bit. This section to vallorcine was beautiful and I’ve explored it further so had good memories of it, we entered France again and it was slowly dawning on us that a finish was on. I never doubted it but it felt good to be just one nasty climb away from Chamonix!!

 

The last section of the descent was steep and fun as we ran down a field, Stephanie and Mike were dressed up in a fancy dress, Steph as a dirty nurse with fake boobs which was hilarious 😀 Perked me up as we chatted about Belinda and that she was going to make it too. After hitting the town, I gave high-five to Johnny before hugging David Hetherington and his wife. After a quick pic, we headed into the checkpoint. I filled up my bottles and got some calories down for the final climb. The final piece of the jig saw that I’ve been piecing together in my mind for the past two days. We headed out into the baking sun but the daylight was always welcome.

Vallorcine (151 km) to Chamonix (171 km)

I knew the climb out until Col des montets is not steep so it was relaxing to move well in the woods before meeting more friends to chat. Had a quick drink at col des montets before crossing the road for the final climb which I knew was going to be brutal but best to get on with it. The climb was steep, narrow and had big steps. We took a few breaks near ANY shade as the climb was unrelenting. It went from steps to rocks to several false summits, I knew I just had to keep it together until La Flegre as it was all downhill from there.

The traverse in the heat was sapping and dehydrating, I asked people cheering past us for water and one of them gave me a bottle. This section kept going on forever as it’s a little rocky and technical, I could see a stream in the distance and aimed for that as I was getting dehydrated by this point. I sat in the stream for a little while to cool off and fill my bottles, one of the volunteers told me to run as I was close to the last cut-off point at flegere but I felt I had to top off my reserves as I knew I could run the whole descent so it wasn’t something that worried me, I’m generally a pretty relaxed person so it helps in a race like this I guess!

I met Belinda here and shared a few miles with her as we made our way to Flegere, she knew the cut-off time so we stuck together until we hit that checkpoint. There were only liquids here so I drank lots before putting my headphones on for the final descent, which I dreamed about running for the whole race. I saved my quads for this moment so started running downhill with a good rhythm. It was so much fun as I knew this trail very well as I used to run up to flegere when I lived in Chamonix last summer. I kept cheering all the runners that I passed and the confidence of running that last downhill brought a lot of joy, it was like dancing and playing as the trail did get technical at certain bits. Lots of spectators were on the sides cheering us which was pretty cool, it wasn’t long before I hit La Floria and met Lachlan and Lynne Lamont who were cheering the runners in, they told me I looked fresh for someone running for two days! After a quick chat I was on my way down passing more people, since I knew the petit balcon sud well I had an idea of exactly how many kilometers were left so pushed it here to finish it a little sooner. It wasn’t long before I saw Stephanie and Mika hiking to meet Belinda, told them she’s not far and kept plugging along.

Soon we exited the trail to hit the road junction as we entered Chamonix, it was so emotional as I saw the crowds lining up the streets and everyone was going crazy as I was moving very well at this point. I did call Chamonix my home last summer and it felt great to be back home! I saw Johnny waiting for his friend and told him that I just passed her and kept running well, saw Dave and Tracey before meeting Jon and Natasha. It was awesome to have so many friends out here that made it very special, I was sprinting to the town before crossing the pub where Helen gave me the flag and all my lovely Scottish friends gave me a huge cheer. I didn’t want to stop here, as I knew I’d get emotional and start crying so decided to keep the momentum going and sprinted through town. It was a beautiful moment to run across the town with the huge crowds before finishing at the center of town in a time of 45 hours and 43 minutes. It was so special and emotional to cross the finish line, I felt super fresh and was chatting away at the finish while my friends said I didn’t look like I ran a 100 miles!

Running the UTMB was a beautiful experience and all the training made it even more pleasurable, I had a certain plan and it went well. Training for this race was never hard work unlike road races because it was a great excuse to travel to new mountain ranges so I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. Sure I could have gone a lot faster but I got to experience it better this way as I made lots of friends and I could almost guarantee a finish by running it in this manner. I have so much appreciation and respect for everyone finishing or the ones who attempted it, as it’s a massive challenge. Life’s Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late, I feel my experience counted for A LOT as I knew what was happening and could deal with problems swiftly without panicking. Yiannis Kouros said that an ultra is not about running a 100 miles or 50 miles, It’s about “going beyond” or “transcending”. That is real ultra running and I felt that this race gave me that and it was beautiful, took me two nights of no sleep for all the layers and mental conditioning to fall away so that I could peer into my soul and find genuine happiness through the process. While some may find this through running around a track or road running, for me the mountains play a massive part in giving me that experience.

Thanks to my sponsors WAA Ultra who have provided me with some wonderful gear specifically designed for a race like UTMB, it worked really well in the heat and kept me warm in the cold. They had the whole team out at Chamonix to support us, which was very special. Thanks to Unived Sports for providing me the nutrition for this race, they made a couple of nutritional products specifically for this race and their drink mix worked really well in the heat as it was designed for the heat and humidity of India. I didn’t have any major stomach issues and could eat well right until the end, which is a massive bonus at a race like the UTMB. Both these brands get Ultrarunning and go out of their way to design and support products that help us to achieve our goals so it’s been great to work with them and help them create or refine things to better suit our needs.

Thanks to my amazing coach Paul Giblin who finished 17^th overall after a minor incident 20 miles in. He’s made a massive difference after I got back from a major injury at the start of last year, just my mind set and training has been very different and it’s made a big difference. Thanks to my wonderful friend Alexandra Yule who’s a dietician, she had a look at my nutrition plan and tweaked things to make it work on race day and also helped me plan incase of any GI issues. Thanks to my loving parents and friends who tracked me and were willing me on from near and far. I will write another blog about my gear and nutrition but this is purely my experience of the UTMB and why it is such a special race despite being CRAZY HARD! I called it a song of ice and fire to get a GOT reference in somehow and also because you need to be patient and cool while the race throws a lot of variables at you while also possessing the fire to run or make a move when you have to but without overdoing it, it’s a balance very much like life. Thanks for your patience!

With love,

Ash