UTMB® [Ultra-‐Trail du Mont-‐Blanc®] : 3 countries – 170km and 10 000m ascent in semi-‐autonomy 2 300 runners at the start on Friday August 28th at 17:30 from Chamonix to Chamonix in 46hrs max .
CCC® [Courmayeur-‐Champex-‐Chamonix] : 3 countries – 100km and 6 000m ascent in semi-‐autonomy 1 900 runners at the start on Friday August 28th at 09:00 from Courmayeur to Chamonix in 26 1/2 hrs max.
TDS® [sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie] : 119 km and 7 250m ascent in semi-‐autonomy 1 600 runners at the start on Wednesday August 26th at 06:00 from Courmayeur to Chamonix in 33hrs max .
PTL® [la Petite Trotte à Léon] : 3 countries – around 300km and 26 000m ascent in complete autonomy A non-‐stop event without ranking open to 100 teams (250 runners max). Starts Monday August 24th at 17:30 from Chamonix to Chamonix in 142hrs max.
OCC [Orsières-‐Champex-‐Chamonix] : 53 km and 3 300m ascent in semi-‐autonomy 1 200 runners at the start on Thursday August 27th at 08:15 from Orsières to Chamonix in 14 hrs max. Chamonix, April 20th 2015
Who are they? For trail-‐runners all over the world, participating in one of the Ultra-‐Trail du Mont-‐Blanc® races is an objective. If since the first year (2003), Americans were all ready present at the UTMB® , the other 14 were all european. Since then, over the years, the phenomena has expanded and globalised with, since its fifth year, in 2007, representation from the five continents. More and more countries, more and more representatives from each country; the Ultra-‐Trail du Mont-‐Blanc® has become the Mecca for trail-‐running, The Race which has to be run at least once in one’s life….
7 500 enthusiastic runners In 2015, there were 15 500 who wanted to participate. A number that the organisation must limit, not only in respect of the exceptional environment, but also in respect of the candidates, some of whom have crossed the world, who are not coming to run in a queue. In fact, the paths around Mont-‐Blanc do not have the dimensions to welcome such a flow of runners, to whom it would be difficult to ensure security in an environment in the midst of the mountains. There will be 7 500 from 87 countries coming from the 5 continents who will take the start of one of the races at the end of August.
Of whom around 141 are elite at an international level… This planetary infatuation has not escaped the thousands of runners from all over the world who have given themselves a rendezvous at the Ultra-‐Trail du Mont-‐Blanc®. Mid-‐April, almost 141 athletes, elite at an international level, have already registered for one of the 5 races… The high ranking international athletes are runners who have an ITRA* mark superior to 800 for the men and 700 for women. These objective criteria allow the organisation to identify high ranking athletes, to give them sufficient recognition and to manage their registration fairly:
Since 2014, the UTMB® is one of the « Series » races in the UTWT -‐ Ultra-‐Trail® World Tour ‘s competitive circuit, one of whose objectives is to unite, at exceptional events, the world elite. …
And 7 300 fervent runners
They are all together at the start but with slightly different objectives! While for elite runners, the podium is the main objective, for more than 7 300 runners, crossing the finishing line, to become a finisher, is the final grail. For the great majority, the challenge is that of their time against their own limits.
Amongst them, André, 41, who had a promising career in English boxing. For health reasons, he had to stop. He began running, without a real aim, just to unwind… A decisive meeting and he started trail-‐running … longer and longer distances!
Or Emmanuel, 46, responsible for a cancer surgery department: he runs for pleasure, the discovery of himself but above all for those he treats who do not have the chance of partaking in physical activity… « This activity gives me the force to follow my mission of caring and bringing some comfort. »
David is a Chti (comes from Northern France) and trail-runner! Like many northerners he is a miner’s son and loves his region, the slag heaps and the labour which they testify. A trail-‐running enthusiast, he has found a training ground on the highest slag heaps in Europe, those of Loos-‐en-‐Gohelle to prepare for his UTMB® ! Or even Clément, 31, one of the 120 solidarity race-‐bibs in the UTMB®… This year, Clément is allowing himself his « petite trotte à Clément », an itinerant year around the mountains of the world in preparation for the UTMB® and raising almost 4 000€ to renovate, via the association Children’s home, a primary school in Nepal.
One of the precious characteristics of trail-‐running is to allow all runners, elite or not, to participate in the same race with the same rules of play. This proximity between runners whatever their level, is particularly important for the UTMB® organisation. The Ultra-‐Trail du Mont-‐Blanc® races represent the excellence of this sport but also its diversity. The engagement, personality and the talent of each runner, elite or not, promises the display of very beautiful emotions!
Program:
- Monday, August 24th – Chamonix 17:30 : Start of the PTL® Tuesday August 25th – Chamonix 13:00- 19:00 : Ultra-Trail® Salon and TDS®Race-bib distribution
- Wednesday August 26th – Courmayeur and Chamonix 07:00 : Start of the TDS®, Courmayeur (Italy) 10:00-19:00 : Ultra-Trail® Salon and Race-bib distribution 22h00 : First TDS® finishers
- Thursday August 27th – Chamonix 08:00 : Start of the OCC, Orsières (Switzerland) All through the day TDS® finishers 10h00- 19h00 : Ultra-Trail® Salon 13:00 : First OCC finishers
- Friday August 28th – Courmayeur and Chamonix 09:00: Start of the CCC®, Courmayeur (Italy) 09:00- 13:00 : Ultra-Trail® Salon 17:30 : Start of the UTMB® 20:30 : First CCC® finishers
- Saturday August 29th – Chamonix Throughout the morning CCC® finishers 14:00 : First UTMB® finishers
- Sunday August 30th – Chamonix Throughout the day arrival of UTMB®finishers 15:00 : Official Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® closing ceremony 15:30 : Last arrival of UTMB® and PTL® finishers
