From Petra Bijsterveld…

Photo credit Sportograph

I travelled to the Chamonix Valley to run the 100km/6000m CCC race (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix), part of the annual UTMB trail running summit which includes the World Series Finals (UTMB, CCC and OCC) and a further 5 events including the TDS (Traces des Ducs de Savoie) which Andrew Merrick took part in. Arriving 10 days prior to my race gave me time to recce, in three sections, the second half of the race from Champex-Lac, much of which I would be doing in the dark, before commencing a steep taper of a week. Having discussed it with Andrew, who knows the course well having completed the UTMB a number of times, I decided against recceing the first half.  It was a little too late in the day to adequately recover from the two major climbs involved, and anyway in the race I would be doing it fresh and in daylight. There is no need to recce the route from a navigational point of view, as these races are incredibly well waymarked, as well as so busy that there will always be runners in sight ahead of you.

As race day approached I grew more and more excited but also apprehensive about the task at hand. I have some experience of racing in big mountains, having done three races in the Swiss Alps and one in the Pyrenees, but none were 100km. I have run a couple of long UK ultras (80 and 90 miles) that took around 24 hours. Still, this felt like a big step up again, with so much ascent and descent to negotiate, much of it on fairly technical terrain. I am a very poor descender when faced with tree roots and rock-strewn paths, and I knew I would be facing a lot of those, primarily in the second half. I fully expected to be battling the cut-offs at the checkpoints and to be only just inside the overall allowed time of 26 hours and 30 minutes. Though the recces had given me a silent hope that I might just be marginally faster than that.  To try and off-set my terrible descending I would have to play to my strengths, which are ascending and being efficient in the checkpoints. Having savoured the Chamonix finish line atmosphere which is truly exceptional, and having seen Andrew come over the line in the TDS, I was extra determined I wanted a slice of that for myself.

Race day was Friday. Thankfully the weather forecast was excellent, pleasantly warm but not too much so, no rain, no wind, and a bonus full moon too. Unlike earlier in the week, see Andrew’s report about cold, rain, snow and mud on the TDS. My early morning journey to Courmayeur (in Italy) on the UTMB shuttle bus was not as chaotic as Andrew’s had been on the Monday evening, but traffic through the Mont-Blanc tunnel was still very heavy due to the continuing closure of the Frejus tunnel as a result of a major landslide, and we had to queue for about an hour. Still, it meant no hanging about at the start, I really just had time to go to the toilet, take my layers off and get my finish bag handed in for transport back to Chamonix, straighten myself out and head to my 09:15 second wave start.

The climb straight out of the starting blocks from Courmayeur to Tete de la Tronche (2563m) is 1428m of ascent in one go over a distance of 9km. Though we were stationary for about 15 minutes at the point where the wider trail becomes single track. Frustrating but I knew to expect this, having had the same experience last year at Val d’Aran in the Pyrenees. 99% of the runners waited patiently. The odd one or two performed shameless queue jumping. I tried not to be annoyed and reckoned karma would deal with that down the line. Once on the single-track switchbacks it’s like being on the train, there is one pace and you have to go with it, unless you are really in trouble at which point you can step aside of course. Thankfully the pace was OK for me. I reached Tete de la Tronche at 11:45 after 2 ½ hours. After this followed a fairly runnable descent (though plenty of runners scooted past me) to the first checkpoint at Refuge Bertone. I was glad to arrive a full hour and 20 minutes inside the cut-off, this felt reassuring. I restocked my water supplies, grabbed some cheese and salty biscuits and went on my way to run the next 12k to Arnouvaz. This is a runnable traverse with not too much height gain or loss and gave me some opportunity to enjoy the stunning landscape surrounding me. I arrived at the Arnouvaz checkpoint at 14:45 and had gained a bit more on the cut-off time so I started to relax about getting timed-out. Very usefully there are big signs in every checkpoint giving the distance and elevation gain and loss to the next checkpoint, as well as the cut-off times. ‘Obviously’ I carried all this information with me anyway on a card I had prepared, but those signs are still mightily handy. After Arnouvaz the next ascent awaited us: Grand Col Ferret (2526m). As Arnouvaz is already at 1794m this is nowhere near as big a climb as the ascent out of Courmayeur, but it was still a tough 800m and it was pretty warm by now. There remained some snow on the ground near the top, evidence from the cold weather earlier in the week. The views from the top of the col were absolutely awesome and for a moment I wished I were not in a race, it would have been nice to linger a while and take photos. No time to waste though, I put my poles away and set off on the very long but thankfully very runnable and pleasant descent of 1000m, 10km in distance, all the way to La Fouly. We were now in Switzerland by the way. I reached La Fouly at 6pm, a total of 40k done. I didn’t linger (spent 8 minutes there) as I wanted to make the most of the daylight. I quickly had some bouillon, bread and cheese and was on my way to Champex-Lac, 14k to run. There I would get a hot meal and would need to get ready for the night.

I had been to Champex-Lac with Andrew when we reccied the section to Trient. I had seen all too well what a climb that had been in the car, from the bottom of the valley, we had done it twice, having to retrieve the second car at the end of the run of course. Somehow though, and despite carrying my laminated time/distance chart as well as the elevation profile, I had managed to temporarily forget there would be a climb up to Champex from La Fouly. There is a lovely descent first to Praz de Fort, even involving some downhill road running (yay!) but what goes down must come up. By the time we were in the woods within reach of the checkpoint it was virtually dark. I was grateful that I had followed advice I had picked up on YouTube: carry a small handheld torch as well as your head torch (actually two head torches and a spare battery for each, this is mandatory kit for the race). Getting your head torch out is always a bit of a faff and difficult to do on the move, so you put it off with a consequent risk of tripping in the dark. But I could just get my handheld torch out of the front pocket of my vest until we reached the checkpoint, it helped the runner in front of me too!

Whilst still some distance away from the checkpoint at Champex-Lac it became very noisy with incessant tooting and hooting sounds from a particularly loud group of supporters. There’s encouragement and then there is just irritating noise, and to me it was definitely the latter. I reached the checkpoint at 20:30 so had been going for almost 12 hours. With the cut-off there at 23:15 I knew I was totally safe timewise, though there always remained the chance of a fall or injury before the finish. The massive marquee was heaving with people, this being the first aid station where crew support was allowed. It was way too full for comfort or efficiency. I spent at least 5 minutes looking for where the pasta was being served, had to ask in the end, and then had to actually search for a spot to even sit down. I ate my cheese and pasta, organised my water bottles, put another layer on, put my cap and sunglasses away and replaced them with my buff and head torch. When your race pack is full to bursting it’s tricky and I made extra sure nothing crucial fell out amidst all this race admin. I had a message from Andrew, who would be meeting me at Vallorcine, to message him when I got to the next checkpoint at Trient. I was ahead of the timing schedule we had imagined! I had some sugary tea to finish and was on my way to Trient, 23 minutes spent in the aid station.

It’s 16km to Trient with around 1000m to ascend and descend. Another long single file ‘train’ up the endless switchbacks. It had felt a lot shorter on the recce! At the top we reached the intermediate checkpoint of La Giete, which is a genuine cow shed (though without the cows being at home) with appropriate smell, and a full-on party going on! Mainly the volunteers in party mode, whilst runners looking rather the worse for wear were sitting on long benches on either side. I decided to not stop and carried on through the barn (the doors were so low they had put pillows at the top to stop you hitting your head) and down to Trient. One of those endlessly long technical descents full of rocks and tree roots where I lost a lot of time and constantly had to step aside to let others pass. At Trient another party was in full swing, with Abba music blasting out. Here crew was allowed too so it was busy.  It was now 00:50 and whilst in good spirits I was definitely not in the party mood. I messaged Andrew as arranged, had some more food and attended to my water bottles. 17 minutes later I was on my way (your runner’s page collects all this handy info) towards the next climb.

The ascent to Les Tseppes, on the way to the Vallorcine checkpoint, is steep. It’s less than 4km in distance and you climb almost 700m. It had been tough during the recce, it was tough now. I tried to focus on the good things. The weather (perfect temperature), the beauty of my surroundings which I could make out under the full moon, the fact that I was doing this. The knowledge that there would be a runnable stretch before the more technical descent into Vallorcine. Knowing that I would see Andrew at Vallorcine and he would bring pizza.

I reached Vallorcine at 04:10. 82km had been done now. And we were back in France. I knew Vallorcine as I was staying there, and I knew where the aid station was. What I didn’t know is that you were led to do more or less a loop of the village first for no obvious reason! I was running it though, delighted to be properly moving again after another dose of tree roots and rocks which had slowed me down to a walk. I was in an upbeat mood even though tired, and 4 am is never a good time in anyone’s day, or night rather. I had instructed Andrew to not let me throw in the towel unless my leg had fallen off or I was patently ill, and to give me a metaphorical kick out of the checkpoint and in the direction of Chamonix should it be needed. But no kicking was needed. I had also purposefully put my apartment key in my finish bag which had gone to Chamonix so I had to go there too! I ate some of my pizza, it was a bit too dry at this point in the race though, Andrew kindly dealt with my water bottles, I swapped the battery over in my headtorch and I was off out in 10 minutes, heading towards the Col des Montets, La Flegere and Chamonix.

18km to go with another 1100m of ascent and descent. A route change had been announced, rather than climbing up to the Tete aux Vents we were taking an alternative route from the Col des Montets to La Flegere. This involved a sneaky descent in the middle of two climbs. I had reccied it and it was hideously technical, much more so than any other section. In places I had to use my hands to get down. It was even worse for me now, on tired legs, and in the dark. Most runners managed to make a better meal out of it of course and went past, but I struggled at snail’s pace together with a German girl. There were a couple of moments where I felt like sitting down and crying, but that would not have taken me any further towards Chamonix so I battled on knowing this too would end and I could climb again, which is tough, but easier for me. And the descent became a climb, I came out of the dense woods and I suddenly noticed it had become light. Seeing the morning light on Mont Blanc was one of the highlights of the race for me.  Another runner kept having to sit down every few minutes, he was obviously dizzy. I have been there on other races and I know how awful that is. I was very grateful to be feeling well which must have been largely down to my nutrition which had worked like a dream.

I knew by now that a sub 24 hours finish should be possible but I had to crack on. I slogged up the wide track to La Flegere and suddenly all the climbing was done, I arrived at 07:36! Though I was in a rush I had enough presence of mind to use the toilet there, take my headtorch and buff off and re-tie my hair. I didn’t want to look any more of a mess in those finish photos than necessary and I certainly didn’t want to arrive bursting for the loo, as I knew there were no toilets directly by the finish line.  I quickly slurped some tea and headed for the descent. 7km to go. After some easy running (though by now somewhat hampered by the pain in my quads) on the gravel track you are forced onto a downhill path full of, you guessed it, tree roots and rocks. I had to more or less walk it all, and looked longingly for La Floria, the lovely café on the mountainside above Chamonix. Because after that I would be able to run all the way, which would be necessary to get my desired sub 24. I kept thinking I saw it round the next corner, but they all turned out to be optical illusions! When I finally got there a man said ‘only 3km to go’. I put my poles away and ran down the gravel track. A Spanish runner overtook me only to immediately take a very nasty tumble. Initially it looked pretty bad, I thought ‘oh no, there goes my finish time!’ as obviously I felt obliged to stop and help. Thankfully there were some spectators and walkers around and a young American couple rushed in to assist, so I asked if they didn’t mind if I went on. I was glad to see the runner back on his feet moments later so it had looked worse that it was.

I reached the road in Chamonix, negotiated the steps up and down the temporary footbridge over the road which is always erected by UTMB, as much as to avoid a traffic accident as to inflict some final pain onto runners’ quads. Running into Chamonix along the river Arve and through the streets even at 9 am I received so many cheers and encouragement, literally everyone gives you a shout out, and in many languages too. Coming round the final bend I was greeted by Andrew, and by Oli, Zoe and Alfie Murphy, who had come into town early for me, which was lovely. I had initially told them I would probably be finishing just before 12. I crossed the line at 09:03 in 23:47:59. I enjoyed my finisher’s beer even though the sun was nowhere near over the yardarm yet!

The winner was Jon Albon in 10 hours 14 minutes! There were a total of 1650 finishers, whilst 578 runners withdrew or were timed out. I was 1207th overall, and 4th out of 11 runners (7 finishers) in my age category of women aged 60 to 64. There were no women older than that in the race at all.