This is part 2 in a 2 part series of posts on the 2012 Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc by Auckland Ultra Runner Penny Kirkwood
Race Day – Joining The Army Of Stick Men
Ok this is the bit I am not good at as I start a race to fully focus on fuelling correctly, clothing correctly and enduring to the finish line no matter what. I know the guys out there are all facts and figures which I struggle to remember as I fully focus solely on enduring. Apologies also as zero photos as the rain never stopped and I would have been trampled if I had stopped to take them. There are official pictures on route but very few in the hours of darkness, mud or snow which was 12 hours of the 20 hours course. I tried to remember distances that stuck out in my head at the time but then I seem to have forgotten them later, sorry.
OK we were finally off with the famous UTMB music playing loud. It was a mass crush with stop start, stop start. I just tried to stay safe and was in the middle of the funnel. People are seen on video waving to cameras, I never saw these as too little amongst the men. More false starts and stops. French behind me going “baaaaa” at one point as we walked again. I was never able to see my brothers, Rick or Isabelle so I was glad the children did not come to the start as they would have been disappointed. Finally we got to run a bit and I would jostle for spaces on the wider trail and try and pass on the banks of the narrower trail. Hills started coming up and everyone’s walking sticks came out. I had my collapsible sticks packed in the side pocket of my rucksack but only planned to use them in the most extreme snow conditions as I am not that experienced with them yet and so prefer not to use them currently. Soon people were dropping to the side of the track to take off their waterproof jackets. I was still warm enough in merino long sleeved top, merino T shirt, merino gloves & three quarter length leggings. I had just over a litre of water in my bladder and planned to only re-fill every four hours as that is when I’d eat my cliff bar. Gu chomps I was eating every half hour (and chewing my lip for some reason – ouch). For all aid stations I just forced my way straight through the middle using all my brute (nearly taking out a camera crew) force to get out the other side unless I needed water then straight onto the course again. There aid stations were packed with wall to wall tall men 5 rows deep each side eating off the tables (you have to consume all food off the tables in the support station). Rain came and I had to put my jacket on at the side of the track with my buff round my neck as I knew I would get too hot in my hood. Darkness fell the hills got steeper with endless upon endless kms uphill. At 11km I realised the hell that I had got myself into. I said to myself the only thing I can do to finish this is to “Catch a ride on the stick man train” or “the Star Wars Cylon March”. Since the start had been and I still was surrounded by tall men three or four across clicking their walking sticks in unison up the never ending winding up hills ahead of us. Their pace was never wavering with the space between them in constant formation. All in complete and total silence in the dark. This was tough and I needed a reality check on how I was going to survive this to the end as the amount of continuous effort seemed immense hence no one was talking. I stepped to the very edge of the trail and exhaled 4 to 5 times before stepping back into formation. I did this a few times and while doing so contemplated waiting until all had passed in order to just do my own pace at the back. However every time I stepped out and looked up the hill or down the hill the stream of head torched stick men was never ending and in constant continuous formation to be replaced by yet more consistently pacing stick men! Hence I resigned to catching a lift back on the “stick man train”. I could only compare them to armies of clone troopers from Star Wars. These guys are professional machines! Note to self to learn to use sticks! Rick had told me when I landed the stats on the great walking speeds one could do using sticks, however I was insufficiently trained on them so decided against them on the course. Had I got them out I am sure I would have got them tangled in the “stick train” due to lack of experience. I was starting to get why people might DNF on this course as you could easily get stuck in the speed set by these professional tall man machines that swamped the course and that people might feel that you had to keep up with them. You actually had no choice about keeping up on the many single track trails as there was nowhere else to go, but to keep up! This was so different from any other ultra I had done before. Normally in a race I find I have the front pack ahead of me and a gap with me in it where I can do my own thing and then another pack some way after me. Here there was no place to do your own thing! I had to realise this very early on and find a way to work with it. My way of working with it was to every so often become one with the very edge of the track and breath out 4-5 times and step back in again, and repeat. I found my pace returned steady and strong if I kept doing this. Phew! On single track however, which there was a lot of, I just had to suck it up and keep “trudging”. “Trudge” was my word for the day. Fast walking, marching & speed walking were not possible, only trudging.
Facts and Figures
Points Distance Positive altitude change First runner Last runner Time barriers Penny
(race started late)
Départ 0.00 Km 0 m 31-19:00 31-19:00 19:00+
Le Delevret 13.60 Km 1015 m 31-20:10 31-21:53 21.08
Saint Gervais 20.88 Km 1123 m 31-20:37 31-22:59 22:10
Les Contamines 30.69 Km 1793 m 31-21:34 01-01:21 S-01:20 23:43
La Balme 38.82 Km 2372 m 31-22:28 01-03:36 S-03:40 01:26
Les Contamines Retour 54.10 Km 2915 m 31-23:52 01-07:05 S-07:05 04:18
Bellevue 66.87 Km 4142 m 01-01:38 01-11:27 07:25
Les Houches 71.72 Km 4144 m 01-01:59 01-12:19 S-12:20 08:18
Les Tines 85.65 Km 5037 m 01-03:37 01-16:22 ??
Gare pp 10:38
Argentiere 93.38 Km 5684 m 01-04:38 01-18:52 S-19:00 13:25
-1km 102.42km? 14:55
Chamonix Arrivee 103.42 Km
?????????? 5862 m 01-05:30 01-21:01 15:00
Attention: no spare bag on the UTMB 2012!
FB & UTMB Live results state 19:54 total & 9:21:24 for half way.
I was 919 out of 2126 Overall
I was 22nd Female of 79 for Category VF1
I was 53rd Female of All Females
Total Female finishing = 172
Total Men finishing = 1954
DNF Women = 42, DNF Men = 182, Total DNFs = 224
Total Finishers = 2126, Total Starting = 2350
Prior to sun up we were just continually soaked as the rain never let up and it just got colder and colder. At one aid station I finally made sure I had on my four layers that we had been warned about wearing and put on my second layer of gloves as we were about to hit the snow line and my plan to stay warm was to get through the snow as soon as possible as it was technical and pretty exposed. Note to future eventers – there is bugger all room at aid stations to dress. I managed a tiny bit of dry cover at a battery stall (doing a roaring trade) but as with all stops you spend your time dodging not knocking over peoples precariously balanced walking poles which became a real mine field!
What can I say about the course in the dark? Up, up, up, up, click, click, click, rain, rain, rain, trudge, trudge, cow bells, “allez allez allez”, “courage, courage” and pure determined concentration.
Sun up at 07:19 so 12 hours 19 mins of rain, dark, cold and total silence. Pretty much total silence in daylight too until we hit 82km and technical single track when the odd word was spoken briefly by me ie. “tres fatigue”, 2 French men saying “please, please” (when pushing me to pass them on the hills) and one French lady when we both decided to take all our waterproof and extra layers off in the heat. She was the only one of two females I ever saw out there on the course! I was amazed how many people struggled through the whole course in all their night time and waterproof layers.
During the light hours the trails were complete slurry due to the rain and due to so many feet passing over them so most slid everywhere. At 72km there had been a sign that read 4X4, so we expected we would have to do it four times. The route was the closest to a French “Tough Guy Tough Girl” course I could imagine. So I perked up immediately and overtook the whole field as no one could cope with the pure mud slurry and slopes…weeeee!!! No one’s shoes from all nationalities had enough grip to cope. Everyone let me pass and I loved it! Unfortunately the sign had been badly translated and was meant to say 4WD track. So we only got to do it once but it really cheered me up.
The course was well over 100km more like 108-110km. Hence I really thought the last two aid stations were the finish, but when I asked the support crew they only laughed. So I said “can’t hang around here – I’m off!” This was after I had sprinted into each support station of course, doh. As the course had had to be changed there were more support stations set up on village streets rather than on the trail so that hurt my feet as I am a trail runner.
Finally the course took us into Chamonix and I knew exactly where I was from my previous running explorations the week before running out of the back of where I was staying and I knew how to run to the finish from there. But no, they took us round numerous hilly trails, round the back of the towns houses meandering our way to Chamonix’s centre. Now all I was saying in my head was “this course is 100, no 1000, times EVIL” & “North Face is EVIL!!” Fellow runners were saying to me “allez, allez!!” which was odd as we had not spoken before and I suddenly wondered if there was a cut off time I did not know about, eek. I think they just wanted me to get a good time but I was toast.
Finally on Chamonix centre streets I saw the finishing funnel of barriers and knew that it was set up to wind all the way through several streets to the church finish (no quick short cut route). I started walking and then spotted my old brother, typical for him to see me walking! I had been told twice that it was only a km to go, yeah right! My brother John ran all the way to the finish with me to the shouts from the crowd that were amazing but needed as I was tired.
The Final Finish – I Wanted to Slap The Race Director!
The finish line stops dead and you nearly head butt the Race Director who is right in your face along with a microphone and camera. There is no time clock either to see your time. Again I noted that this was a different race. The race director said “Oh we like New Zealanders”. But then he made a big mistake and said “We like to shoot your Kiwis!” I was completely over French men at that point! I so wanted to slap him but I used all my remaining effort not to as there were a lot of spectators very close to me, a big camera in my face, my brother right next to me and I was on an international stage so I thought better of it for future repercussions. Truth be known I did not want to waste my remaining energy slapping him and just wanted out of there plus I guess I’m used to it now with Aussie Race Directors doing a very similar thing. My angered expression must have been very obvious as he suddenly then said “But even more we love to kiss kiwis” and gave me a peck on the cheek. “That was a very fast recovery!” I stated. I collected my UTMB finisher’s jacket and exited in order to track down my free beer.
I discussed with fellow runners the extra length of the course and that it was way over 100km and that the last hills were the worst. I was joined by a Polish racer I had chatted with at 82km when my calves were toast. He recorded 108km on his Garmin which sounded right to me!
Prize Giving
Prize giving was in a mix of French and English (thank god). All race directors from all countries and levels filled the stage and then all the first aiders from all countries and levels filled the stage. The UTMB music played and we gave them a massive round of applause. Many thanks was then given to us all for being so flexible and accepting of the new course and for still rocking up to the start with such a small number deciding not to start as a result of the course change. In the sunshine with the mountains in the background we applauded all age groups and overall winners of UTMB, CCC, TDS & competitors in the PTL with the UTMB music continually being played and re-started. All category winners won a cow bell which most held up and rung. The top winners won a metallic sculpture style trophy also and some other goodies that I could not see from where I was standing. At the finish all PTL three person teams crowded on to the stage with a few teams just having finished and staggering around in the bright sunshine. A description from the race director regarding the course told us that four teams went through the normal course before part of the course had to be routed in the opposite direction to avoid the mass dumping of snow in the passes. Some passes had 45cms of snow! A Finnish team was the first through. We then celebrated the 10 year UTMB anniversary and the four people (two men & two women) who have completed all 10 UTMBs.
