The 2,300 or so competitors in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), the queen of mountain foot races, set off on Friday in front of an enthusiastic crowd in a packed Chamonix decorated with flags.
The course, 176.4 kilometres long and with almost 10,000 metres of elevation gain, goes around Mont Blanc with several passages in the high mountains, at over 2,500 metres above sea level, in high temperatures. The organisers have announced the activation of the “heatwave kit”, requiring runners to carry an extra supply of water and something to protect themselves from the sun.
The fastest are expected to return to the starting point at the foot of the giant of the Western Alps in about twenty hours. For many participants, the challenge is mainly to complete this epic course, all in less than 46 hours and 30 minutes to be certified as a “finisher”.
Among the favourites in the men’s race, the winner of the 2023 edition, the American Jim Walmsley, is aiming for a double for his sixth participation in the event.
He is lining up against other confirmed champions such as the French Mathieu Blanchard, Ludovic Pommeret, Germain Grangier and Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz, reigning winner of the Diagonale des Fous (La Réunion) last autumn, as well as the Briton Tom Evans.
In the women’s race, the race appears more open in the absence of the defending champion, the American Courtney Dauwalter. However, among the big names in the discipline are the American Katie Schide, winner of the Western States 100, a benchmark race in California, and the 2022 edition of the UTMB, as well as the Chinese Fuzhao Xiang and the French Blandine L’Hirondel.
Four-time race winner Kilian Jornet is absent, having caused controversy earlier this year for criticising the UTMB’s “values” and appearing to suggest a boycott.
Coincidence or not, the Catalan is nevertheless very close to Chamonix: engaged in a superhuman crossing of the Alps aimed at reaching as many 4,000-metre peaks as possible, he indicated on his Instagram account on Friday that he had just conquered in the space of 17 hours the Aiguille Verte, the Aiguille du Jardin and several other famous peaks of the Mont-Blanc massif, a stone’s throw as the crow flies from Chamonix.
