From Andrew Merrick…

Four Ilkley Harriers made it to the start line of this year’s event. Laura (my Somerset based ultra-running friend and non Ilkley Harrier!) and I met up with Jane McCarthy at her very central hotel for a pre-race coffee in a small oasis of calm before heading to the mania that is the start. We had taken the very British approach of walking back from the drop bag area to Jane’s hotel under a golf umbrella, and we were still in jacket on jacket off mode as we waited for the 6 pm start (last year in covid times, there were three start waves which did reduce the runner congestion) . Happily despite the crowds of runners and spectators (which were too much for a young German runner who seemed completely overwhelmed by it all) we saw Dave Reynier, whose race plan appeared to be get past Arnouvaz and take it from there! It took us a few miles up the road before we completed the Harrier set when we saw Dick Waddington cruising along.

I am sure we all had slightly different motivations for being there – in my case it was principally to support Laura (aka Tintin – 1010 was her race number) who had narrowly failed to finish on previous attempts. She, Jane (aka Vi) and I (the trail knight – I’m taking responsibility only for the other two nicknames!) had all been surprised to get in this year. To say Laura was prepared would be a major understatement; she Jane and I had agreed we would start off steadily and try to retain some running ability for the later, tougher stretches. This did mean we had to keep a careful eye on cut-off times particularly early on, but it seemed the right plan to all of us. 

The first 5 miles is pretty flat with fantastic crowd support for almost the first mile so we had to work hard to resist the temptation to charge off. After the first “warm-up” climb and steep in places descent into Saint Gervais, we were pretty much on schedule as we reached “party central” – the route deliberately taking us through the main street to much cheering. 

I had wrongly recalled that it was reasonably flat from there to the start of the first serious climb so I was busy apologising to Jane for the incorrect information as we donned headtorches for the next stop at Les Contamines (about 20 miles in). There are certain CPs where support is allowed, and Laura’s friend Loz had very kindly committed to be on duty again this year, being as keen as I was to see Laura finally achieve her ambition, together with my ski friend Emma, who had called in to Megeve on her summer tour of Europe. They had been fully briefed and did an utterly awesome job across all the places they were allowed to be. Loz was on duty at Les Contamines, and arrived (wearing the requested bright hat to allow us to find her easily) with the planned meal in a bag, which Laura and I both dipped into before leaving with a small bag of mini roast potatoes, including one for Jane who we had unfortunately lost in the melee (the supporter area was separate from the main area). Just before the start of the first big climb up to the Col du Bonhomme, we were diverted through a really impressive light tunnel put on by Hoka – the only thing they have ever done well according to Laura…. And then the first real climb began; happily we caught Jane up at the next intermediate check point and stayed together up the rest of the hill before the descent down into Les Chapieux. It was about this time we were dropping slightly behind our planned schedule but were still doing ok relative to the cut-offs but there was no time for faffing at any of the CPs so it was a quick refuel and go. Here there was also a random kit check as we were all asked to show our waterproof jackets (easiest for Jane – as she was wearing hers!) and our phones. We had also warned Jane about the next climb, which was messy on the way down (the reason Laura didn’t finish the first time) but was preceded by a double summit – I was ready for the extra climb this time!  

We managed to get down the scrambly descent without incident, entertained by the sound of Jane’s alarm (I had also told Jane at some point that the trails were generally easier than the Lake District – she was no longer believing me at this point), and arrived at the most desolate CP, happy in the knowledge we were only one stop from Courmayeur, almost half way and the point where Emma and our drop bags would be waiting. Lac Combal was another efficient stop with a water refill, a bit of food and away. We were starting to establish by this stage that Laura was the most efficient uphill, Jane was quickest downhill, and I was at best average at both…. but we made it work and arrived still behind schedule but ok relative to the cut-offs at a pretty warm Courmayeur. We had initially expected rain in both France and Switzerland with warm dry weather in Italy – the latter was at least correct. By the time we had finished the serious of switchbacks – no less dusty than the previous year – I wasn’t in a great place by the time we got to Courmayeur, and Jane was starting to have blister challenges. However, as part of her preparation and in keeping with her role as Team Tintin leader, Laura had established that a 20 min sleep would be beneficial both here and subsequently one more time en route. At this point all I wanted to do was lie down, but with material encouragement from both Laura and Em, I did at least force some food down, including some soup that Em had kindly brought with her. The (20 min) alarm went off all too quickly, but this and a teeth clean definitely had a positive effect, as had a cheery wave from Paula Reynier who was there on support duty. Dick was also at Courmayeur at this point, but his quads weren’t happy about much further progress from there we subsequently discovered. In the meantime, Jane had gone off to get her feet sorted, leaving a clear message via Em that we were to start without her. We did, slightly reluctantly, but recognising we had to keep working hard to ensure we stayed the right side of the cut-offs. Tintin was rightly very focussed on getting to Arnouvaz with some more time to spare to give us some flexibility over the next big climb thereafter. Happily as she and I set-off, Jane appeared immediately but then said she would not be able to keep up with us up the climb out of Courmayeur (the 5th out of the 10 climbs we had), so with more reluctance we went into march mode for the climb ahead and overtook at least 30+ people before reaching the Refuge Bertone, which marked substantially the end of this climb and about half way. We had gained some considerable time back on this section and felt good about the world as we jogged down the track before the small climb up to the next hut (Bonatti) – scene of the Merrick melt-down last year. We felt even better when we heard a cheery Vi behind us, who had been given a lesson in narrow trail overtaking by Benoit, a technique subsequently deployed very effectively by Laura later on. Who knew that a cheery “hello” is the most effective way of encouraging slower runners to move aside. 

So the band was back together for the final busy descent into Arnouvaz (we thought of Dave as we arrived). Timewise we were still ok, but were disappointed we had not made up any more time (vs the cut-offs) from the previous time check at Bonatti. We stuck with the no faff plan – I have no recollection of what I was eating at CPs at this point; whilst Jane seemed to leave most CPs with a serious picnic…. I took the lead on the next climb up to Grand Col Ferret (which at 2500m was one of the highest points on our route), trying to set a pace that I could sustain, and that would work for all of us. Jane and I both recognised subsequently that we were both having more trouble breathing on these climbs than we would have expected, whilst Tintin moved serenely on… My normal approach on such climbs is never to stop, but after we had got most of the way up, I did feel the need for one. Laura, in a good way, was soon encouraging me to keep moving even if It was more slowly, and to keep eating and drinking, so I slotted in behind her and Jane for the final part of the ascent. We were then rewarded by a long long descent into Switzerland and the CP at La Fouly, which I was finding harder than both Jane and Laura, but I had at least got my head into “at least get to Champex” (the subsequent CP). It was good to finally get down into this valley, where Loz was waiting to say hello, courtesy of a UTMB bus, as were Laura’s family who seemed to have driven about 100 miles across Italy to get there! Laura worked hard to outpace her daughter into the CP, leaving Jane and I trailing in her wake. Soon, emotionally and physically recharged, we were off on the 7th, and one of the smaller climbs, to Champex-Lac prompting further discussion on whether the x was to be pronounced or not. Benoit was firmly in the Ex camp so we now regard this as definitive!! It was also time to get the headtorches back out as our second night beckoned, but happily so did our second (20 minute) sleep. The first half of this leg was largely flat although both Laura and I had forgotten about the tree section that preceded a visit to some delightful Swiss villages and then the climb up to the lake. For some time now, we had been seeing a significant amount of runner debris on the sides of the trails, by which I mean runners rather than their rubbish although there was a disappointing amount of that too. The trees on the climb up to Champex were no different and a few times I thought I was hallucinating, only to find it was actually a real person sitting on a rock wearing a Father Christmas red jacket…… A steady pace up the hill which I remembered from previously went on longer than expected got us to Champex to be once again greeted by Loz (I am not sure she enjoyed wearing the required bright hat!), and the point where Team Tintin leader had allowed us our second sleep. Naively she left me in charge of timing, and after a few mins in the sleeping area, I noted that I had somehow paused the timer function on my phone at 19:58 seconds…. I guessed approximately how long we had been dozing and played safe by setting my alarm, so I am not sure how much rest I got before levering myself off the more-comfortable-than-an-Italian-Sport-Centre-floor mattress for the next stage of our journey. In the meantime the ever resourceful Loz had found a supply of chips for all of us (the supply of gf food in the checkpoints was very poor). Jane had hers as a takeaway!

At this point we were still doing ok for time, and actually getting closer to the official Tintin schedule, but we knew we had three remaining tough climbs ahead, two of which would be in the dark. By now our only focus was to ensure we finished and we were going to stay as a gang until we did. Jane took the lead up the next climb and set a really good steady pace, another of those climbs that you think you have got to the top of but keep giving…. It was around this point that we were starting to have material headtorch challenges. My second headtorch battery lasted about 2-3 hours as opposed to the expected 9. Laura had had the same problem with hers, which we had made last for a while my her moving uphill between Jane and me so she had enough light from in front and behind.

This was less helpful downhill, so Laura used the last of her good battery on the downhill stretch to Trient with me attempting, using as little light as possible, to follow Jane (whose kit was fully functional) with both of us trying to do enough to catch up Laura who was keen to keep moving.

As we got to Trient, (Jane had by then joined the “the descent into Trient goes on for ever” club) my second torch ran out, as did the rest of Laura’s Petzl batteries, so we walked through the town in the dark to our final Swiss CP and the behatted Loz. We warned Jane that the next climb was similar and stuck with the same plan – Jane going first with a decent torch, Laura with her spare bindi, and me bringing up the rear using Jane’s spare! Happily a clear dawn arrived as we headed up the penultimate climb, and we were able to switch off any remaining functioning torches before the winding descent down into the ski area of Vallorcine. Laura had at this point perfected the Benoit overtaking technique and Jane and I had to work hard to ensure we were passing people at the same rate. Another goes on for ever descent to the CP followed (Laura and I had joined that club too last year) with a bit of tree root action just to give our sore feet a further work-out. Both of our support team members greeted us at Vallorcine, and we were all in good spirits. I gave a hug of apology to Em for my taciturnity (it should be a word if it isnt) at Courmayeur, safe in the knowledge we had one climb left. I made the schoolboy error of using one of the available two toilets here, which left no time for the pastries that Em had thoughtfully provided, before I headed out after Tintin and Vi, stopping to collect Tintin’s poles as I did so. A chilly riverside mile or so ensued before we hit the final climb in increasingly warm sunshine. We sensibly agreed that we would take it steady up here, there was no longer any major hurry, as we were only one climb away now. Laura and I stopped to put our hats back on, and later Jane probably wished she had too. I am still not sure whether poles help or hinder on this final rocky climb, I tried a bit of both, and was still finding breathing wasn’t as easy as I would have hoped. This time, I wasn’t fooled by the column impersonating the Tete aux Vents, the real one being decorated with more people and more flags. The real one is where Laura’s adventure had finished last year… Flegere (the final CP) is not that far and pretty much visible from there, but it took a long time before it was getting any closer. This was not helped when I was rather slow to join the conversation about the cut-off time at Flegere….. Laura was clear that the cut-off was 2:30pm. Some time later by the time I had finally fished the rather battered and soggy route card out of my pocket, I eventually announced “It’s 2:45”, it took Jane and I some time to convince Laura that I was talking about the cut-off time rather than the actual time, which was nearer to noon. After this slight further set-back, we made good progress to Flegere, and in my case, a celebratory glass of coke, and in all our cases, very moist eyes, given this was where Laura had been timed out previously, and barring total disaster, we knew, but didn’t say, we were going to finish. Jane was now slightly giddy (in several senses) and Laura and I were slightly more circumspect over the tree roots on the first downhill section towards happiness (and beer in my case). At this point we bumped into Team Carter who had all very kindly come all the way up from Chamonix to cheer us on…. When they said they would run down to the finish with us, I don’t think any of us thought they would come the whole way…. Whilst Jane was catching up with Rachel, I had finally got back into Trail Knight mode, having been missing in action for a lot of our adventure, and was keeping Laura company. I could only look on in horror as another runner tried to overtake Laura by running up a bank on the side of the track only to slide down it and take her out completely. Fortunately no serious damage was done and we reached the Floria café, and a wider less gravelly path with no further incident. I celebrated this by tripping and almost falling over the edge and then tripping again before re-engaging some concentration ….. On the way down, to complete our day, we bumped into the young German woman who had been overwhelmed at the start (she hadn’t finished but was in a much better place), and Kostja who had told us at the start that his only other 100 miler had been the Western States… 

Not too long later we were near the road side in Chamonix where Maisie was waiting to run in with her mum, leaving Jane and I trailing in their wake once we had all had to take on the temporary footbridge to cross the road – I would have happily paid for the extra crossing marshal. The run-in is a special experience, particularly if you finish as we did in the middle of the day, with the route snaking deliberately through Chamonix to provide extra cheers. Team Tintin crossed the line just before 1pm with a lot of hugs and more tears, with Rachel taking further shots in town and Em running behind us filming for the last half mile or so.

This is probably (!) my last 100 miler. It was no means my finest through a combination of unusual preparation, poor nutrition discipline at times after a good start, and the fact that it is a very tough event and therefore there are almost certain to be low points, not that Laura seemed to have any – she clearly did far more taking care of us than the other way round. However it is unquestionably the most enjoyable (not always at the time) and emotional experience of my running life, sharing the whole adventure with two exceptional people, who I am very happy to call my friends, supported by a dedicated support crew in Loz and Em who did a fantastic job. Finishing, as we started, together, was very special, and to be there when Laura finally crossed the line some years after her first attempt, unsurpassable. 

And to complete our day, Dave Reynier finished a little later well inside the cut-off …. and well beyond Arnouvaz! (Great work, Paula, too!)