Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc

The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (also referred to as UTMB) is a single-stage mountain ultramarathon. It takes place once a year in the Alps, and follows the route of the Tour du Mont Blanc through France, Italy and Switzerland. It has a distance of approximately 166 kilometres (103 mi), and a total elevation gain of around 9,600 m. It is widely regarded as one of the most difficult foot races in Europe, and one of the largest with over two thousand starters. The combined participation in all of the events is approaching 10 thousand runners.

While the best runners complete the loop in slightly more than 20 hours, most runners take 30 to 45 hours to reach the finish line. There is no prize money awarded.

Since 2006, a second race Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix (half-loop) has also been organised, and a third race was added in 2009: "Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie". A fourth shorter "running" event - Orsières - Champex - Chamonix - was added in 2014.

La Petite Trotte à Léon is a non-competitive team event started in 2011. Each team is made of two or three members for safety. The route and direction of the course change every year. In 2015 it will be run counter clock-wise.

Today, the races consist of the following;

UTMB: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (166 km +9,600 m)
CCC: Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix (101 km +6,100 m)
TDS: Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (119 km +7,250 m)
OCC: Orsières - Champex - Chamonix (53 km +3,300 m)
PTL: La Petite Trotte à Léon (approx. 300 km +28,000 m)

Logistics

A check point on the UTMB 2005

The race is co-organised by Northface and an association called Les Trailers du Mont-Blanc.
15000 volunteers were involved in 2015.
Northface Ltd is the main sponsor since 2006.
Kuala4k is the secondary environmental sponsor since 2014
Runners are supposed to carry a minimum of equipment for safety reasons. This includes a waterproof jacket, warm clothes, food and water, whistle, survival blanket and head lamp.
There are food and drink points along the route, every 10 to 15 km. In addition, four big "life bases" provide hot meals, beds and massages: Chamonix (France), Les Chapieux (France), Courmayeur (Italy) and Champex (Switzerland).
At Courmayeur for UTMB and at Cormet de Roseland for TDS, runners can collect a drop bag they previously left at Chamonix or at Courmayeur.
Runners' race numbers contain a magnetic badge that is read at approximately 50 check points. Timings and rankings are available online and by text message in real-time.
It is conducted under ITRA regulations, the governing body for trail races in the Mont Blanc and Alpine region.
PTL is a mostly self-supported run without course markings or aid stations. Runners rely on a limited number of support points, mountain huts, local stores and restaurants for food and sleep. The course should be followed by GPS, maps, and its description.

Route

The route basically follows the Tour du Mont Blanc hiking path, that is usually completed in 7 to 9 days by hikers. This is a loop around Mont Blanc.

It starts from Chamonix (1,035 m) and goes up to the Col de Voza (1,653 m) to reach Les Contamines (1,150 m). It then climbs to the Croix du Bonhomme (2,479 m) before going back down to Les Chapieux (1,549 m), which is the first life base. The path then runs up to the Col de la Seigne (2,516 m) to enter Italy, and follows the ridge of the Mont-Favre (2,435 m) before going down to Courmayeur (1,190 m), the second life base. It climbs again to the Refuge Bertone (1,989 m) and Arnuva (1,769 m) before reaching its highest point, the Grand Col Ferret (2537 m), which also marks the border with Switzerland. The path goes down again to Praz de Fort (1,151 m) via La Fouly (1,593 m) before reaching the third life base, Champex d'en Bas (1,391m). The last part includes two rather low cols: Bovine (1,987 m) and Les Tseppes (1932 m), separated by Trient (1,300 m). On the descent to Vallorcine (1,260 m), the path re-enters France and crosses Argentière (1,260 m) before finishing at Chamonix, its starting point.

The route varies slightly every year, sometimes for safety reasons. In 2010, the route was 166 km long with a total elevation gain of 9500m.

Race profile

A more detailed profile can be found on the official web site: UTMB profile.

Participation and results

Vincent Delebarre at Champex during the UTMB 2005

The race was first held in 2001.
The race's popularity and its entry rate have grown significantly. Although the market has seen a decline in recent years.

The number of entrants doubled from 700 in 2003 to 1,400 in 2004. In 2005, the limit of 5,000 runners was reached 7 months after registration opened. In 2006, the organisers decided to create the CCC in order to allow more runners to take part. The registrations were sold out in only 2 weeks. In 2007, it was decided that runners must qualify, by running qualifying races beforehand gaining points. That year the limit of 5,000 runners was reached less than 24 hours after registration opened. For the 2008 event, 6,000 runners registered in only 8 minutes, 5 months before the race. For the 2009 event, the qualifying criteria were tightened to limit the number of qualifying runners, and a draw was introduced to make entry fairer, giving an equal chance to all qualifiers, and making registration more orderly. Despite the stricter criteria, 10% of qualifying entrants were still denied a place, so the organisers raised entry standards still further for the 2010 event so that selection would be based more on capability and experience than luck of the draw.

Ultra-Trail du Tour du Mont-Blanc

Year	Runners	Finishers	Winner Male	Time	Winner Female	Time	Notes
2003	722	67	Dachhiri Dawa Sherpa	20:05:59	Kristin Moehl	29:38:24	2003 full results
2004	1383	420	Vincent Delebarre	21:06:18	Colette Borcard	26:08:54	2004 full results
2005	2000	774	Christophe Jaquerod	21:11:07	Elizabeth Hawker	26:53:51	2005 full results
2006	2535	1151	Marco Olmo	21:06:06	Karine Herry	25:22:20	2006 full results
2007	2319	1437	Marco Olmo	21:31:58	Nikki Kimball	25:23:45	2007 full results
2008	2500	1269	Kilian Jornet	20:56:59	Elizabeth Hawker	25:19:41	2008 full results
2009	2500	1382	Kilian Jornet	21:33:18	Kristin Moehl	24:56:01	2009 full results
2010*	2400	1130	Jez Bragg	10:30:37*	Elizabeth Hawker	11:47:30*	2010 full results
2011		1133	Kilian Jornet	20:36:43	Elizabeth Hawker	25:02:00	2011 full results
2012*		2122	François D'Haene	10:32:36*	Elizabeth Hawker	12:32:13*	2012 full results
2013	2469	1685	Xavier Thevenard	20:34:57	Rory Bosio	22:37:26	2013 full results
2014	2434	1578	François D'Haene	20:11:44	Rory Bosio	23:23:20	2014 full results
2015		1632	Xavier Thevenard	21:09:15	Nathalie Mauclair	25:15:33	2015 full results
2016	2555	1468	Ludovic Pommeret	22:00:02	Caroline Chaverot	25:15:40	2016 full results

The races in 2010 and 2012 were shorter due to bad weather conditions.

Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix

Year	Runners	Finishers	Winner Male	Time	Winner Female	Time	Notes
2006	1054	854	Alun Powell	10:53:17	Corinne Favre	10:35:55	2006 full results
2007	1609	1332	Julien Chorier	10:19:46	Andréa Zimmermann	12:28:05	2007 full results
2008		1318	Guillaume Le Normand	12:26:04	Lucy Colquhoun	14:33:37	2008 full results
2009		1266	Jean-Yves Rey	11:40:47	Chantal Begue	16:51:00	2009 full results
2010		1677	Xavier Thevenard	11:57:13	Maud Giraud	14:07:38	2010 full results
2011		1591	Emmanuel Gault	10:10:25	Virginie Govignon	12:47:11	2011 full results
2012*		1585	Tofol Castañer Bernat	08:57:04*	Ellie Greenwood	11:17:24*	2012 full results
2013		1320	Jordi Bes	11:23:01	Caroline Chaverot	14:12:00	2013 full results
2014	1945	1423	Paul Bartolo	11:21:16	Anne Lise Rousett	14:28:48	2014 full results
2015		1470	Zach Miller	11:53:32	Ruth Croft	12:54:53	2015 full results
2016			Michel Lanne	12:10:04	Mimmi Kotka	13:42:46	2016 full results

Runners by night during the UTMB 2005

External links

Official web site - (main language: French, but also English, Italian and German)
Press kit on the official web site (PDF)
UFO Les fous de l'UltraFOnd - (French ultra runner web site)

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