:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:Originally Posted by crumblydown
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We wondered how Mrs C had got on. Well done from us too :thumbup:
Poacher turned game-keeper
Good account Morgan - the bitter disappointment of that 11am text rerouting the race impacted me just the same, I should have heeded Brian Melia's advice (expect the unexpected) a bit more closely! We finished within a couple of minutes of each other and like you i was feeling the strongest of the race (took c.300 from Les Houches) - as Arnie would say ... I'll be back!!
Thanks for the various kind comments about my finish and the report.
I've been reflecting further on the sequence of events, to understand why I was in such a bad place just hours before the start.
My report highlights 3 key attributes to do these things: adaptability, patience and humility.
My dip occurred because of my own hubris. After all the miles of training and preparation, I felt that I was entitled to run the classic route of 100 miles. It was my due.
My humility temporarily deserted me, and partly my patience too (though this is normally a quality I expect to have to deliver during the race.)
I had briefly forgotten that these are the mountains and that they essentially decide whether we can run or not. We should cherish and be thankful for every race we run, even if the rules are changed on us at the last minute.
I shall try not to make the same mistake again.
Well said, Morgan. I too did the race and had mixed emotions as I wanted to race the full route but also I could see how low down the valley the snow line was getting. This was my first night race ultra and I quite enjoyed it as we were running into the light rather than into the dark. The conditions were hard but you are right in saying the organisation made the correct call. Not sure I will be back next year as there are so many other racces out there but heartlily recommend all the races or just going to the area to enjoy the trails and soak up the atmosphere.
A message from the UTMB organisers:
Friday August 31st, 19:00. Christopher Columbus’ fleet leaves to make its assault on Mont-Blanc, but this year, it is going to leave discouraging memories in the Place du Triangle de l'Amitié
Friday, August 31, 2012, 19 h 15. We are forced to admit that the trailer/ runner we saw in the first edition in 2003, is no longer the same. The runners have multiplied exponentially and not always in the best way. To celebrate this 10th edition, the legendary departure area was covered with garbage. It was littered with trash bags and old newspapers in which runners used to protect themselves from the rain before the start (but then what are their jackets for??) There were plastic bottles for optimal hydration at the start that were easily thrown away when no longer needed. It was like we were on the Champs-Élysées, minutes after the start of the Paris Marathon.
And unfortunately, that was only the beginning: we have more evidence from runners, shocked to see so many tubes of gels and packaging strewn on the trails. It seems as if it has become normal to rely on others to clean up after oneself.
Shameless... During the summer, reports from volunteers, hikers, hut keepers, runners and locals from the pays du Mont-Blanc multiplied. Guilty as charged! Each one backs up the other, the accusations getting more precise, growing, with blame upon us. We are wondering, now more than ever, what the is meaning of this festival that we organize?
Has the ultra-runner become a pig with no manners?
There was a group who stopped during a night reconnaissance on the balcony of a hut. They were laughing and joking but also disturbing people who were sleeping quietly in the refuge. The runners had booked a place with another hut, but they did not stop because they were faster than expected. These runners became angry at the hut keeper, when he said “there is no space for you here. ” This response was not was not what they wanted to hear after arriving late, exhausted after running all day. But this is no excuse for their lack of respect for the hut keepers and the circumstances of not having booked the hut and the hut being full.
A flame flickers. The new generation of trailer becomes unable to stop for 30 seconds to talk to a hiker. Slow walkers are asked bluntly to push out of the way on course, to let the fast runners, extreme men, those seemingly superior who sacrifice everything for months to reach their Grail ... selfishness. Or how to dispose of sublime values in a pit.
Unfortunately, the list is much longer than the few instructive examples. Key stakeholders are not unconcerned. Yet we are all concerned, all guilty, all responsible to allow the emergence of such behaviors.
Two weeks after the arrival, we find the facts, nothing more. We are trying to figure out how to respond to this. We note with sadness, and some anger as well. But we also know that we are still among the fire that brought us together. We can be happy blow out our ten candles, but this one, we don’t want to let blow out.
And on a more positive note:
Internal conquest
Once again the weather conditions around Mont Blanc at the end of August proved to be particularly difficult. If you lined up at the start of one of the The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® races this year you should know that it was a real challenge and one that you should be proud of.
Never two without three
In 2010, the races were cancelled or interrupted, with a restart of the UTMB® from Courmayeur the following day, due to diluvial rainfall rendering the mountain impracticable for a pack of runners.
In 2011, a storm forced us to modify the route of the TDSTM, the CCC® and the PTLTM and to delay the start of the UTMB® which, for the first time for this race, took place in very cold conditions, with snow.
In 2012, we managed to run the TDSTM but with a very high rate of runners abandoning the race, then the CCC® by avoiding two delicate passages but with a night which was both wet and glacial at Bovine. The UTMB ® suffered from bad weather, and we had to once again think about the best solution to offer an ULTRA feasible to all the runners who were enrolled. 2482 trailers started the UTMB ®, with knowledge of the altered the course and weather conditions; only 20 chose not to start.
A sleepless night
Throughout the night before the UTMB®, we envisaged several solutions which all avoided the Grand Col Ferret, which was too dangerous. We opted for a route in France, which allowed the runners to start from, and arrive at, the mythical arch in the Place du Triangle de l’Amitie.
Why? Because we could not offer a route without way-markers in place, without refreshment posts ready with volunteers, with out security measures complete with staff and the necessary materials, without the race sweepers….Because we could not reschedule the volunteers hours by more than 10 hours. Because the route maintained allowed those who ran it to glimpse the difficulty of the weather conditions as soon as they approached 2000m. Because even if individually you have the physical capacity and knowledge of the mountains to succeed on your own, it is quite another matter when 2500 runners are facing the same obstacles. If you were at the start, you know that it was a true UTMB®. If on the contrary you were not able to run the race, you have missed a veritable UTMB®.
Victory of the spirit
The UTMB® was created in 2003 by runners, mountain dwellers, slightly utopian, with the idea of making accessible a fantastic journey in one of the most beautiful massifs in the world. For this 10th year, in 2012, the creators are still the same, always present, with the same love for the original spirit and the same wish to mark the four events with their adventurous characters. But equally we still maintain the same intransigence.
The mountain is not a sand-pit, the mountain surpasses us, and we must listen to it when it sends out such obvious signs as it has done these last three years. Trail-runners who lined up at the start in 2012 were, in our minds, a lot more courageous than those who lined up for the race in very good weather conditions like we had in 2008 or 2009… Difficult weather, route in a complete mess, markers destroyed, heavy skies…altogether enough to make one give up and stay indoors, in the warm, for the day.
All the same you decided to give it a go, you knew how to keep your sense of humour, you adapted yourselves, improvised, stayed obstinate, kept your mind focussed and maintained your spirit. The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®, has beautiful routes to discover, but above all it is an internal conquest. Whether you were a Finisher or not this year, you passed the exam brilliantly.
Great shame to read of the problems with litter and general lack of manners on the trail, would have thought that most trail runners were more in tune with nature and the outdoors so as not to behave like that..........almost thought they were going to say it wasn't going to be run again !
The piece reporting poor behaviour suggests there will be a response.
Descending into St Gervais the guy in front of me dropped a gel packet. I saw him drop it from all of 3 metres away. I picked it up, caught him up and passed it back to him. He denied point blank it was his and just chucked it on the road. Just goes to show there are wankers even in trail races in the mountains.
Very depressing.
Maybe time to move to quieter, less famous races.
Some friends of mine speak highly of this in early July, La Montagn'Hard (St Nicolas de Véroce, 74)
http://montagnhard.free.fr/2012/inde...=accueil&page=
Three races:
103k with 8600m ascent
60k with 5000m ascent
37k with 3200m ascent.
200 runners max. in the 103k race. Entries open in January I think.
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