Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc

The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) is a single-stage mountain ultramarathon, first held in 2003, that follows the route of the Tour du Mont Blanc.

Description

It takes place once a year on either the last weekend in August or the first weekend of September in the Alps. It follows the route of the Tour du Mont Blanc through France, Italy and Switzerland. It has a distance of approximately 171 kilometres (106 mi), and a total elevation gain of around 10,040 metres (32,940 ft). It is widely regarded as one of the most difficult foot races in the world, and one of the largest with more than 2,500 starters. It is one race during a week-long festival based around Chamonix in France, and is a race of the Ultra-Trail World Tour. The races have strict entry and qualification requirements attained by accumulating enough race points through qualifying trail races over the previous two-year period. In 2016 and 2017, 42% and 34% of runners did not finish the UTMB race.

While the best runners complete the loop in slightly more than 20 hours, most runners take 32 to 46 hours to reach the finish line. Most runners will have to run through two nights in order to complete the race.

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 was run counterclockwise.

Today, the races consist of the following;

  • UTMB: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (171 km +10,040 m)
  • CCC: Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix (101 km +6,100 m)
  • TDS: Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (121 km +7,300 m)
  • OCC: Orsières - Champex - Chamonix (56 km +3,460 m)
  • PTL: La Petite Trotte à Léon (approx. 300 km +30,000 m)
  • MCC: De Martigny-Combe à Chamonix (40 km +2,300 m)
  • YCC: Youth Chamonix Courmayeur (15 km +1,100 m)

Route

The route 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), which is the first life base. It then climbs to the Croix du Bonhomme (2,479 m) before going back down to Les Chapieux (1,549 m). 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 (2,537 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 (1,391 m). The last part includes two rather low cols: Bovine (1,987 m) and Les Tseppes (1,932 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's popularity and its entry rate grew significantly since it was first held. 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.

The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants automatically receiving a 55% refund and given the option of reserving a spot for 2021, 2022, or 2023.[1]

Ultra-Trail du Tour du Mont-Blanc
Year DistanceRunnersFinishersWinner MaleTimeWinner FemaleTimeNotes
2003 153 km72267Dachhiri Dawa Sherpa 20:05:59Kristin Moehl 29:38:242003 full results
2004 155 km1383420Vincent Delebarre 21:06:18Colette Borcard 26:08:542004 full results
2005 155 km2000773Christophe Jaquerod 21:11:07Elizabeth Hawker 26:53:512005 full results
2006 158 km25351152Marco Olmo 21:06:06Karine Herry 25:22:202006 full results
2007 163 km23191437Marco Olmo 21:31:58Nikki Kimball 25:23:452007 full results
2008 166 km25001268Kilian Jornet 20:56:59Elizabeth Hawker 25:19:412008 full results
2009 166 km25001383Kilian Jornet 21:33:18Kristin Moehl 24:56:012009 full results
2010[lower-alpha 1] 88 km24001127Jez Bragg 10:30:37[lower-alpha 1]Elizabeth Hawker 11:47:30[lower-alpha 1]2010 full results
2011 170 km2361 1133Kilian Jornet 20:36:43Elizabeth Hawker 25:02:002011 full results
2012[lower-alpha 1] 103 km2483 2122François D'Haene 10:32:36[lower-alpha 1]Elizabeth Hawker 12:32:13[lower-alpha 1]2012 full results
2013 168 km24691686Xavier Thevenard 20:34:57Rory Bosio 22:37:262013 full results
2014 167 km24341582François D'Haene 20:11:44Rory Bosio 23:23:202014 full results
2015 170 km2561 1631Xavier Thevenard 21:09:15Nathalie Mauclair 25:15:332015 full results
2016 170 km25551468Ludovic Pommeret 22:00:02Caroline Chaverot 25:15:402016 full results
2017[lower-alpha 1] 167 km25371687François D'Haene 19:01:54[lower-alpha 1]Núria Picas 25:46:43[lower-alpha 1]2017 full results
2018 170 km25611778Xavier Thevenard 20:44:16Francesca Canepa 26:03:482018 full results
2019 170 km25431556Pau Capell 20:19:07Courtney Dauwalter 24:34:262019 full results
2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic[1]

Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix
Year DistanceRunnersFinishersWinner MaleTimeWinner FemaleTimeNotes
2006 86 km1054854Alun Powell 10:53:17Corinne Favre 10:35:552006 full results
2007 86 km16091332Julien Chorier 10:19:46Andréa Zimmermann 12:28:052007 full results
2008 98 km2032 1318Guillaume Le Normand 12:26:04Lucy Colquhoun 14:33:372008 full results
2009 98 km1865 1266Jean-Yves Rey 11:40:47Chantal Begue 16:51:002009 full results
2010 98 km2004 1677Xavier Thevenard 11:57:13Maud Giraud 14:07:382010 full results
2011 98 km1907 1591Emmanuel Gault 10:10:25Virginie Govignon 12:47:112011 full results
2012[lower-alpha 1] 86 km1913 1585Tofol Castañer Bernat 08:57:04[lower-alpha 1]Ellie Greenwood 11:17:24[lower-alpha 1]2012 full results
2013 101 km1910 1320Jordi Bes 11:23:01Caroline Chaverot 14:12:002013 full results
2014 101 km19451423Pau Bartolo 11:21:16Anne Lise Rousett 14:28:482014 full results
2015 101 km2127 1470Zach Miller 11:53:32Ruth Croft 12:54:532015 full results
2016 101 km2123 1386Michel Lanne 12:10:04Mimmi Kotka 13:42:462016 full results
2017 99 km 2155 1742 Hayden Hawks 10:24:30 Clare Gallagher 12:13:57 2017 full results
2018 101 km 2147 1622 Thomas Evans 10:44:32 Miao Yao 11:57:46 2018 full results
2019 101 km 2132 1578 Luis Alberto Hernando 10:28:49 Ragna Debats 12:10:33
2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic[1]

Ultra-Trail Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie
Year DistanceRunnersFinishersWinner MaleTimeWinner FemaleTimeNotes
2009 105 km632 480 Patrick Bohard 14:01:48Fernanda Maciel 17:17:432009 full results
2010 105 kmcancelled
2011 110 km1180 781 Franck Bussiere 15:51:37Jolanda Linschooten 20:57:322011 full results
2012 114 km1464 633 Dachhiri Dawa Sherpa 14:37:07Agnès Herve 19:07:002012 full results
2013 119 km1528 1022 Arnaud Julia Bonatti 15:09:59Nathalie Mauclair 17:36:412013 full results
2014 119 km1588 1076 Xavier Thevenard 14:10:37Teresa Nimes Perez 18:41:122014 full results
2015 119 km1807 1214 Pau Bartolo 14:26:40Andrea Huser 16:35:292015 full results
2016 119 km1794 1060Pau Capell 14:45:44Delphine Avenier 18:46:242016 full results
2017 119 km18181251Michel Lanne 14:33:09Mimmi Kotka 15:47:072017 full results
2018 121 km17991329Marcin Świerc 13:24:00Audrey Tanguy 16:05:222018 full results
2019 145 km17851091Pablo Villa Gonzalez 18:03:06Audrey Tanguy 21:36:15
2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic[1]

Orsières-Champex-Chamonix
Year Distance Runners Finishers Winner Male Time Winner Female Time Notes
2014 53 km 1200 1109 Nicolas Martin 5:07:45 Sonia Glarey 6:37:40 2014 full results
2015 53 km 1442 1317 Marc Pinsach Rubirola 5:21:38 Celia Chiron 6:41:53 2015 full results
2016 55 km 1413 1232 Xavier Thevenard 5:28:37 Mercedes Arcos Zafras 6:54:13 2016 full results
2017 55 km 1565 1468 Marc Lauenstein 5:19:34 Eli Gordon Rodriguez 6:12:16 2017 full results
2018 55 km 1572 1478 Erenjia Jia 5:28:44 Ruth Croft 5:53:09 2018 full results
2019 55 km 1605 1474 Stian Angermund-Vik 5:19:24 Ruth Croft 5:50:14
2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic[1]

Results by nation

UTMB
UTMB Males
# Nation 1st 2nd 3rd Podium
1 France 8 2 4 14
2 Spain 4 6 7 16
3 Italy 2 0 1 3
4 Nepal 1 2 0 3
5 Switzerland 1 0 1 2
6 United Kingdom 1 0 0 1
7 USA 0 3 4 7
8 Hungary 0 1 0 1
8 Germany 0 1 0 1
8 Sweden 0 1 0 1
8 Lithuania 0 1 0 1
8 Romania 0 1 0 1
9 Japan 0 0 1 1
UTMB Females
# Nation 1st 2nd 3rd Podium
1 United Kingdom 5 1 0 6
2 USA 5 0 1 6
3 France 3 2 9 14
4 Spain 1 7 4 12
5 Switzerland 1 2 1 4
6 Italy 1 1 0 2
7 Luxembourg 0 2 1 3
8 Czech 0 1 0 1

CCC
CCC Males
# Nation 1st 2nd 3rd Podium
1 France 5 7 6 18
2 Spain 3 0 2 5
3 USA 2 1 0 3
4 United Kingdom 2 0 1 3
5 Switzerland 1 0 0 1
6 Greece 0 1 2 3
7 Poland 0 1 0 1
7 Canada 0 1 0 1
7 Japan 0 1 0 1
7 China 0 1 0 1
8 Italy 0 0 2 2
CCC Females
# Nation 1st 2nd 3rd Podiums
1 France 6 4 5 15
2 United Kingdom 2 3 1 6
3 USA 1 2 1 4
4 Sweden 1 1 0 2
5 New Zealand 1 0 0 1
5 Switzerland 1 0 0 1
5 China 1 0 0 1
6 Spain 0 3 4 7
7 Italy 0 1 1 2
Runners by night during the UTMB 2005

Logistics
A check point on the UTMB 2005
  • 15000 volunteers were involved in 2015.
  • Northface Ltd was the main sponsor from 2006 to 2014. Columbia has been the main sponsor since 2015.
  • Kuala4k is the secondary environmental sponsor since 2014
  • Runners must carry a minimum of equipment for safety reasons. This includes a waterproof jacket, warm clothing, food and water, whistle, mobile telephone, survival blanket and two head lamps.
  • 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 Roselend 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 the regulations of the International Trail Running Association (ITRA), 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 the road book. It goes as high as 3300 meters (11,000 feet) and must be completed in about 6 days. Each team of two or three people carries a satellite beacon for safety. The course is modified every year and there are no official winners.

See also

Notes
  1. The races in 2010, 2012, and 2017 were shorter due to bad weather conditions (though only about 5km shorter in 2017).

References
  1. https://utmbmontblanc.com/en/mag/159
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