Ultra Trail Tour du Mont Blanc

The Ultra Trail Tour du Mont-Blanc (also referred to as UTMB) is a mountain ultramarathon. It takes place once a year in the Alps, across France, Italy and Switzerland. The distance varies between 150 and 160km, with a total elevation gain of around 8500m. The race is run in one leg. Some believe that is the most difficult foot race in Europe.

While the best trailers complete the loop in slightly more than 20 hours, most runners take 30 to 45 hours to reach the finish line.

From 2006, a second race Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix (half-loop) has also been organised.

Logistic

* The race is organised by an association called Les Trailers du Mont-Blanc.
* 600 hundred volunteers were involved in 2005.
* The North Face is the main sponsor of this event.
* Runners are supposed to carry a minimum of equipment for security reasons. This includes waterproof jacket, warm clothes, food and water, whistle, survival blanket and head torch.
* There are food and drink points along the route, every 10 to 15km. On top of that, four big "life bases" provide hot meals, beds and massages: Chamonix (France), Les Chapieux (France), Courmayeur (Italy) and Champex (Switzerland).
* At Courmayeur and Champex, runners can collect a bag they previously left at Chamonix.
* Runners race number contain a magnetic badge that is read at around 20 check points. Timings and rankings are then available online and by Short message service in real-time.

Route

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

It starts from Chamonix (1035m) and goes up to the Col de Voza (1653m) to reach Les Contamines (1150m). It then climbs to the Croix du Bonhomme (2479m) before going down back to Les Chapieux (1549m), which is the first life base. The path then runs up to the Col de la Seigne (2516m) to enter Italy, follows the ridge of the Mont-Favre (2435m) before going down to Courmayeur (1190m), the second life base. It climbs again to the Refuge Bertone (1989m) and Arnuva (1769m) before reaching its highest point, the Grand Col Ferret (2537m), which also marks the border with Switzerland. The path goes down again to Praz de Fort (1151m) via La Fouly (1593m) before reaching the third life base, Champex d'en Bas (1391m). The last part includes two rather low cols: Bovine (1987m) and Les Tseppes (1932m) separated by Trient (1300m). On the descent to Vallorcine (1260m), the path enters back France, crosses Argentière (1260m) before terminating at Chamonix, its starting point.

Slight variations are applied to the route every year. In 2007, the route was 163km long for a total elevation gain of 8900m.

A more detailed profile can be found on the official web site: [http://www.ultratrailmb.com/page.php?page=profil UTMB profile] .

Participation and results

* The race was first held in 2003.
* In 2006, a women won the first edition of the Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix
* In 2007, 2000 runners registered in only 10 hours, 8 months before the race, demonstrating the exponential popularity of this event.

Ultra-Trail du Tour du Mont-Blanc

Year	Runners	Finishers	Winner	Winner time
2003	722	67	Dachhiri Dawa Sherpa	20h05
2004	1383	420	Vincent Delebarre	21h06	[http://www.ultratrailmb.com/classentete_utmb.php?page=resultats 2004 full results]
2005	2000	774	Christophe Jaquerod	21h11	[http://www.ultratrailmb.com/live2005.php?fichier=classement.php 2005 full results]
2006	2535	1151	Marco Olmo	21h06	[http://www.ultratrailmb.com/live2006.php?fichier=classement.php 2006 full results]
2007	2319	1437	Marco Olmo	21h31	[http://live.ultratrailmb.com/classentete.php 2007 full results]
2008	2500	1269	Kilian Jornet	20h58

Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix

Year	Runners	Finishers	Winner	Winner time
2006	1054	854	Corinne Favre	10h35	[http://www.ultratrailmb.com/live2006.php?course=ccc&fichier=classement.php 2006 full results]
2007	1609	1332	Julien Chorier	10h19	[http://live.ultratrailmb.com/classentete.php?course=ccc 2007 full results]
2008		1318	Guillaume Le Normand	12h26

Ethics quick facts

* Respect of the nature.
* Solidarity between runners.
* Explore its own limits.
* No money prizes are given.

See also

* Trail running
* Ultramarathon

More pictures about the Ultra-Trail Tour du Mont-Blanc:

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External links

* [http://www.ultratrailmb.com Official web site] - (main language: French, but also English, Italian and German)
* [http://www.ultratrailmb.com/documents/the_north_face_ultra_trail_dp2005_anglais_ok_light2_.pdf Press kit on the official web site] (PDF)
* UFO [http://www.ultrafondus.fr Les fous de l'UltraFOnd] - (French ultra runner web site)