Once every year for a week in a valley completely surrounded by the Alps and glaciers, a little town named Chamonix Mont Blanc comes alive and gets transformed with a special vibe and passion for human endurance. Mont Blanc is a mountain high in the Alps on the border of of France,Switzerland and Italy at 4810m, it is the highest point in the alps, with the Chamonix valley at 1024m. It is a mountain that needs your respect like all mountains, it is a weather maker. Mountains are awesome!... Chamonix is the starting point for many climbing trips, downhill mountain biking, skiing, ice climbing and of course the start and finish of the Ultra tour du Mont Blanc.
So, after doing my first 100 mile trail run on reunion island last year, i found a new passion for ultra trail running and specifically 100 mile races and decided to train and enter the Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc (UTMB), having gathered enough points i got an entry i was super stoked. UTMB is a super though 100 mile trail race around the Mont Blanc Massif ascending high mountain passes and passing though France, Italy and Switzerland in pure mountain wilderness. It is more than a race, it is a journey, an experience. I spend a week before and after the race in the alps, and it was an experience to see this little town get transformed into trail running heaven for a week. I decided to buy some of the less available in south africa compulsory gear over there before the race, and i wasn't disappointed. Chamonix is outdoor shopping heaven for those looking for outdoor gear for climbing, mountaineering, trail running, downhill mountainbiking and many more. Almost every second shop is an outdoor shop with rooms dedicated to each mountain sport, some jaw dropping followed by drooling will happen if you are a gear junkie. So i easily picked up waterproof gloves and rain pants witch is some of the less than ordinary compulsory equipment i am used to. I stayed in a youth hostel, and i met quite a few interesting people and trail runners from all over the world ranging from Taiwan and Russia to Spain. Some did CCC a unique 100km race starting in Italy while others did UTMB. The CCC race started a few days before UTMB but also ended in Chamonix. Then 4 days before the start i got sick after coming down from a high altitude 3800m cable car ride up to aiguille du midi, i panicked a bit but tried to recover myself hoping each day the next day i would feel better. I remember some Spanish CCC runners that finished and shared the room with me with me feeling worse than them and this is before I started the UTMB race. But i was very excited and recovered every day, and race day when i felt better but was still sick i decided i am going to start, but take it a bit easier. Now, Clear your mind ....... It is 23:20 in Chamonix Mont Blanc, the race start was postponed from 18:30 to 23:30 to miss a bad weather system and storm passing through that brought in some snowfall. It is still raining, and you can feel Mont Blanc's presence even though it is dark, I walk into town with my backpack and rain gear and the vibe hits you in the face. I worm myself thought the crowds of supporters to get to the starting line with 2300 other UTMB runners. It is as if the mountain is alive and watching all the runners line up in the rain before the world famous trail running stage and arch while tension is building..... and then as if it is coming straight from the top of the mountain, the famous music of the DOMINO song gets pumped though the speakers ... goosebumps! but also respect is the feeling ... It is as if the mountain is talking to you and saying respect me i am big or else, but if you respect me i will reward you with more than you can ever image. This is every emotional, and then we start and we all touch a band above the starting arch on our way out, to say respect and to this point i shall return after conquering 100 miles of mountain. The crowds are amazing, the first 2km of the start is just goosebumps trying to run but working yourself though the supporter crowds with people taking photos, very emotional, and then you get going, it gets dark, it is still raining and we are on our way, the journey has started! Then 9km into the race we start to go up climbing 800m in 5km to la charme, it is muddy and very slippery, 90% of people are using trekking poles, my gortex salomons keeps the cold water out, soon i am forced to put my waterproof gloves on as the temperature drops as we go up. Then we go down 800m, the mud makes it very slippery but if you trust your feet you don't slide. Reaching St Gervais 21km into the race the rain stopped and the vibe of supporters was amazing, there would be groups of supporters that would go absolutely crazy if you pass them, you can't help to get a kick in your legs and run twice as fast automatically while they blow horns ring alpine bells and shout at you. Then there are silly french people shouting "O, la la!, O le le!" the whole time very funny. Then we started a huge climb to 2486m, I made the cutoff time by 5min and had to exit the water point gate immediately without getting water, and i was starting to feel very sick with a bacterial infection brewing. I asked if i could at least get water, but they refused as i had already exited the point, so up i went seeing a stream high above me i though i will just have to look after myself. So up we went and i got water, and then ice rain started witch turned into snow as we went up col bonhomme, it was quite something, and you realize your are on your own on the mountain. After coming down the mountain at 50km i missed the cutoff, witch i think was a good thing as i would have carried on with my sickness witch would have been bad for me. They stopped me, and i was taken from the breathtaking beauty of italy though the tunnel in the mountain back to chamonix where i tried to recover from a now hectic sickness. Bad stuff happen, that is life. So i have unfinished business, that is fine. I feel i would have definitively finished the race making the cutoffs if i weren't sick. Now being a spectator at the finish line of UTMB is a very emotional experience. When runners enter Chamonix they don't enter as persons, they enter as absolute heros with an emotion of heart moving pride having found the reason making life worth living, whole families would escort runners in where some runners would carry all 3 their children on their back after 100miles! Then when they go though the finish line arch the DOMINO song plays and everyone are in tears... I still am, and not because i got sick. Because it is such a beautiful race. I will be back for this race, for sure, it was an amazing experience! Jacques -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/darkanddirty?hl=en.
