8 months ago
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Posted On: March 8th 2026, 04:49 am
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Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc (UTMB) is the crème de la crème of trail running events the world over.
In 2024, while living in Spain, Reuben and I journeyed to Chamonix, France to support our friend @sam_______wise as he took on the mythical 100-mile UTMB race for the first time.
The 100-mile race is an iconic 176 km loop with roughly 10,000 metres of positive elevation gain. To put that into perspective, the summit of Mt Everest sits at 8,849 m.
Runners start on Friday at 6pm in Charmonix, run through the night and into Italy, hours later they cross the border into Switzerland, and finish back in Charmonix. The maximum allowed time to complete the course is 46 hours and 30 minutes.
UTMB has made legends out of the likes of Courtney Dauwalter, Kilian Jornet, Jim Walmsley, Katie Schide, Tom Evans and Ruth Croft, and basically anyone brave (and insane) enough to take on the challenge — like my friend Sam.
The course record for men and women is held by Jim Walmsley (19h 47m in 2023), and Katie Schide (22h 09m in 2024).
It’s quite funny that my first real taste of competitive trail running came from a somewhat chance visit to the most important trail running event in the world. I had no idea how much it would capture my imagination and competitive spirit.
Watching people run around mountains, over gullies, and up grassy and rocky terrain reminds me a lot of my childhood where I spent most of my free time running across my farm, chasing cattle and racing up the rolling hills with my dogs - free and on the run for hours on end - nothing felt better.
Seeing such a supportive and joyful mountain community among the heavenly mountains of Mont Blanc is enough to make anyone want to lace up their trail running shoes and get out there!
#utmb
In 2024, while living in Spain, Reuben and I journeyed to Chamonix, France to support our friend @sam_______wise as he took on the mythical 100-mile UTMB race for the first time.
The 100-mile race is an iconic 176 km loop with roughly 10,000 metres of positive elevation gain. To put that into perspective, the summit of Mt Everest sits at 8,849 m.
Runners start on Friday at 6pm in Charmonix, run through the night and into Italy, hours later they cross the border into Switzerland, and finish back in Charmonix. The maximum allowed time to complete the course is 46 hours and 30 minutes.
UTMB has made legends out of the likes of Courtney Dauwalter, Kilian Jornet, Jim Walmsley, Katie Schide, Tom Evans and Ruth Croft, and basically anyone brave (and insane) enough to take on the challenge — like my friend Sam.
The course record for men and women is held by Jim Walmsley (19h 47m in 2023), and Katie Schide (22h 09m in 2024).
It’s quite funny that my first real taste of competitive trail running came from a somewhat chance visit to the most important trail running event in the world. I had no idea how much it would capture my imagination and competitive spirit.
Watching people run around mountains, over gullies, and up grassy and rocky terrain reminds me a lot of my childhood where I spent most of my free time running across my farm, chasing cattle and racing up the rolling hills with my dogs - free and on the run for hours on end - nothing felt better.
Seeing such a supportive and joyful mountain community among the heavenly mountains of Mont Blanc is enough to make anyone want to lace up their trail running shoes and get out there!
#utmb
Comments (4)
8 months agoameliahanigan
It was such an epic moment… and so cool to see it start something for you! ❤️
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