Two outstanding performances from WRC runners in Chamonix.
Read how "Ultra Novice" Julie Lucas and "Seasoned campaigner" Andy Watts got on in testing their ultra stamina.
Both Julie and Andy performed respectively way beyond their comfort zones in what I can say is the most impressive festival of running I have experienced…..after the WWHM of course.
Every August Chamonix is host to the pinnacle event in the world ultra train running calendar, the UTMB. With a variety of courses designed to provide competition to the top echelon of the world's ultra distance athletes these events are a challenge just to finish due to distance, ascent, duration and the climatic variances that only high mountains such as the Mont Blanc Massif can provide. Two Wilmslow Runners took part in the event this year.
Julie Lucas dipped her running shoes into the world of ultra distance running by entering the recently created OCC event (53 km, 3300m of ascent) which starts from Orisieres with 1200 other competitors. For an introduction to mountain running this is a tough course and Julie mastered it with aplomb despite the abnormally hot alpine weather. Just before dusk, after 12 hours, she confidently jogged through the town to saviour the delight of finishing a UTMB events looking remarkably cool and fresh.
Meanwhile later in the week Andy was chasing the trilogy of the longer individual events by entering the blue riband event "The UTMB" (170km , 10,000m of ascent) which circumnavigates the whole of the Mont Blanc Massif in one race. The winner incredibly completed the course is c21 hours, with an hour buffer on second place. So Andy started at 6pm on Friday evening running through the evening by head torch, all through Saturday in the extremely hot weather, through another night before emerging into Chamonix on Sunday afternoon finishing 44 hours later.
A truly notable performance from Julie and Andy, respectively, for accepting and completing their challenges. As a postscript there is a further and even longer challenge which over five days requires pairs to cover 300km and 26000m of ascent. So if a man in a UTMB gillett approaches you with good intentions beware!
Jon Bale
What an awesome achievement for both Julie and Andy. I take my hat off to them both. Saying well done and congratulations doesn’t really cover it. A truly impressive performance.
Fantastic. Well done, both – and thanks for the report Jon.
and I thought Shutlingsloe was tough ! .. Can’t imagine how tough that combination of elevation, distance and conditions must be. As Carolyn said, hats off to you both !
Wow fantastic running Julie and Andy. Bernard’s comment makes me wonder how many Shuttlingsloes = UTMB. I’m sure that Andy can work that one out …
The answer to Rob’s question is – the UTMB represents 28 Shutlingsloes in terms of distance, and 36 Shutlingsloes in climb. However this is chicken feed – look for example at http://www.thehillultra.com/
here’s a great article about the UTMB.. http://stories.strava.com/the-ultra-trail-du-mont-blanc?slow=1