The world’s best ultra trail runners descend on Chamonix in the Alps this week, writes Adrian Stott For a week toward the end of August or early September every year, the French mountain resort of Chamonix becomes a global trail running hub as runners congregate from all over the world to compete in the annual Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) races. Opinions among runners continue to be divided on the influence and growing global outreach of the UTMB operation, which now covers 48 events throughout the planet. The self-styled “UTMB World Series” has evolved to include a distance close to 100 miles, 100km and 50km at each venue, with shorter mountain and junior races added at most venues.
The Chamonix event hosts the UTMB World Series Finals. Simplified, you qualify for the finals by collecting points or ‘stones’ from taking part in other UTMB World Series events. The blue riband of Chamonix is the UTMB race itself, over 171km/105 miles, with 9963 metres of climbing.
The route circles Mont Blanc from Chamonix in France, travelling through Italy and Switzerland, before finishing back in Chamonix. The two other classic races are its sister race, the CCC over 101km and the OCC over 57km, which are also World Series final races. What cannot be denied is that some of the world’s best trail and mountain runners will be in Chamonix this week, battling it out for podiums, with several thousand other runners of all standards joining them on the start lines.
In such a large .