Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc

It takes place once a year on either the last weekend in August or the first weekend of September in the Alps. It follows the route of the Tour du Mont Blanc through France, Italy and Switzerland. It has a distance of approximately 171 kilometres (106 mi), and a total elevation gain of around 10,040 metres (32,940 ft). It is widely regarded as one of the most difficult foot races in the world, and one of the largest with more than 2,500 starters. It is one race during a week-long festival based around Chamonix in France, and is a race of the Ultra-Trail World Tour. The races have strict entry and qualification requirements attained by accumulating enough race points through qualifying trail races over the previous two-year period. In 2016 and 2017, 42% and 34% of runners did not finish the UTMB race.

While the best runners complete the loop in slightly more than 20 hours, most runners take 32 to 46 hours to reach the finish line. Most runners will have to run through two nights in order to complete the race.

Since 2006, a second race Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix (half-loop) has also been organised, and a third race was added in 2009: "Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie". A fourth shorter "running" event - Orsières - Champex - Chamonix - was added in 2014.

La Petite Trotte à Léon is a non-competitive team event started in 2011. Each team is made of two or three members for safety. The route and direction of the course change every year. In 2015, it was run counter clock-wise.

Today, the races consist of the following;

• UTMB: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (171 km +10,040 m)
• CCC: Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix (101 km +6,100 m)
• TDS: Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (121 km +7,300 m)
• OCC: Orsières - Champex - Chamonix (56 km +3,460 m)
• PTL: La Petite Trotte à Léon (approx. 300 km +30,000 m)
• MCC: De Martigny-Combe à Chamonix (40 km +2,300 m)
• YCC: Youth Chamonix Courmayeur (15 km +1,100 m)

The route follows the Tour du Mont Blanc hiking path, that is usually completed in 7 to 9 days by hikers. This is a loop around Mont Blanc.

It starts from Chamonix (1,035 m) and goes up to the Col de Voza (1,653 m) to reach Les Contamines (1,150 m), which is the first life base. It then climbs to the Croix du Bonhomme (2,479 m) before going back down to Les Chapieux (1,549 m). The path then runs up to the Col de la Seigne (2,516 m) to enter Italy, and follows the ridge of the Mont-Favre (2,435 m) before going down to Courmayeur (1,190 m), the second life base. It climbs again to the Refuge Bertone (1,989 m) and Arnuva (1,769 m) before reaching its highest point, the Grand Col Ferret (2537 m), which also marks the border with Switzerland. The path goes down again to Praz de Fort (1,151 m) via La Fouly (1,593 m) before reaching the third life base, Champex d'en Bas (1,391m). The last part includes two rather low cols: Bovine (1,987 m) and Les Tseppes (1932 m), separated by Trient (1,300 m). On the descent to Vallorcine (1,260 m), the path re-enters France and crosses Argentière (1,260 m) before finishing at Chamonix, its starting point.

The route varies slightly every year, sometimes for safety reasons. In 2010, the route was 166 km long with a total elevation gain of 9500m.

Race profile

A more detailed profile can be found on the official web site: UTMB profile.

Vincent Delebarre at Champex during the UTMB 2005

The race's popularity and its entry rate grew significantly since it was first held. The number of entrants doubled from 700 in 2003 to 1,400 in 2004. In 2005, the limit of 5,000 runners was reached 7 months after registration opened. In 2006, the organisers decided to create the CCC in order to allow more runners to take part. The registrations were sold out in only 2 weeks. In 2007, it was decided that runners must qualify, by running qualifying races beforehand gaining points. That year the limit of 5,000 runners was reached less than 24 hours after registration opened. For the 2008 event, 6,000 runners registered in only 8 minutes, 5 months before the race. For the 2009 event, the qualifying criteria were tightened to limit the number of qualifying runners, and a draw was introduced to make entry fairer, giving an equal chance to all qualifiers, and making registration more orderly. Despite the stricter criteria, 10% of qualifying entrants were still denied a place, so the organisers raised entry standards still further for the 2010 event so that selection would be based more on capability and experience than luck of the draw.

Ultra-Trail du Tour du Mont-Blanc

Year	Distance	Runners	Finishers	Winner Male	Time	Winner Female	Time	Notes
2003	153 km	722	67	Dachhiri Dawa Sherpa	20:05:59	Kristin Moehl	29:38:24	2003 full results
2004	155 km	1383	420	Vincent Delebarre	21:06:18	Colette Borcard	26:08:54	2004 full results
2005	155 km	2000	773	Christophe Jaquerod	21:11:07	Elizabeth Hawker	26:53:51	2005 full results
2006	158 km	2535	1152	Marco Olmo	21:06:06	Karine Herry	25:22:20	2006 full results
2007	163 km	2319	1437	Marco Olmo	21:31:58	Nikki Kimball	25:23:45	2007 full results
2008	166 km	2500	1268	Kilian Jornet	20:56:59	Elizabeth Hawker	25:19:41	2008 full results
2009	166 km	2500	1383	Kilian Jornet	21:33:18	Kristin Moehl	24:56:01	2009 full results
2010*	88 km	2400	1127	Jez Bragg	10:30:37*	Elizabeth Hawker	11:47:30*	2010 full results
2011	170 km	2361	1133	Kilian Jornet	20:36:43	Elizabeth Hawker	25:02:00	2011 full results
2012*	103 km	2483	2122	François D'Haene	10:32:36*	Elizabeth Hawker	12:32:13*	2012 full results
2013	168 km	2469	1686	Xavier Thevenard	20:34:57	Rory Bosio	22:37:26	2013 full results
2014	167 km	2434	1582	François D'Haene	20:11:44	Rory Bosio	23:23:20	2014 full results
2015	170 km	2561	1631	Xavier Thevenard	21:09:15	Nathalie Mauclair	25:15:33	2015 full results
2016	170 km	2555	1468	Ludovic Pommeret	22:00:02	Caroline Chaverot	25:15:40	2016 full results
2017*	167 km	2537	1687	François D'Haene	19:01:54	Núria Picas	25:46:43	2017 full results
2018	170 km	2561	1778	Xavier Thevenard	20:44:16	Francesca Canepa	26:03:48	2018 full results
2019	170 km	2543	1556	Pau Capell	20:19:07	Courtney Dauwalter	24:34:26	2019 full results

• The races in 2010, 2012, and 2017 were shorter due to bad weather conditions (though only about 5km shorter in 2017).

Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix

Year	Distance	Runners	Finishers	Winner Male	Time	Winner Female	Time	Notes
2006	86 km	1054	854	Alun Powell	10:53:17	Corinne Favre	10:35:55	2006 full results
2007	86 km	1609	1332	Julien Chorier	10:19:46	Andréa Zimmermann	12:28:05	2007 full results
2008	98 km	2032	1318	Guillaume Le Normand	12:26:04	Lucy Colquhoun	14:33:37	2008 full results
2009	98 km	1865	1266	Jean-Yves Rey	11:40:47	Chantal Begue	16:51:00	2009 full results
2010	98 km	2004	1677	Xavier Thevenard	11:57:13	Maud Giraud	14:07:38	2010 full results
2011	98 km	1907	1591	Emmanuel Gault	10:10:25	Virginie Govignon	12:47:11	2011 full results
2012*	86 km	1913	1585	Tofol Castañer Bernat	08:57:04*	Ellie Greenwood	11:17:24*	2012 full results
2013	101 km	1910	1320	Jordi Bes	11:23:01	Caroline Chaverot	14:12:00	2013 full results
2014	101 km	1945	1423	Pau Bartolo	11:21:16	Anne Lise Rousett	14:28:48	2014 full results
2015	101 km	2127	1470	Zach Miller	11:53:32	Ruth Croft	12:54:53	2015 full results
2016	101 km	2123	1386	Michel Lanne	12:10:04	Mimmi Kotka	13:42:46	2016 full results
2017	99 km	2155	1742	Hayden Hawks	10:24:30	Clare Gallagher	12:13:57	2017 full results
2018	101 km	2147	1622	Thomas Evans	10:44:32	Miao Yao	11:57:46	2018 full results
2019	101 km	2132	1578	Luis Alberto Hernando	10:28:49	Ragna Debats	12:10:33

Ultra-Trail Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie

Year	Distance	Runners	Finishers	Winner Male	Time	Winner Female	Time	Notes
2009	105 km	632	480	Patrick Bohard	14:01:48	Fernanda Maciel	17:17:43	2009 full results
2010	105 km	Cancelled
2011	110 km	1180	781	Franck Bussiere	15:51:37	Jolanda Linschooten	20:57:32	2011 full results
2012	114 km	1464	633	Dachhiri Dawa Sherpa	14:37:07	Agnès Herve	19:07:00	2012 full results
2013	119 km	1528	1022	Arnaud Julia Bonatti	15:09:59	Nathalie Mauclair	17:36:41	2013 full results
2014	119 km	1588	1076	Xavier Thevenard	14:10:37	Teresa Nimes Perez	18:41:12	2014 full results
2015	119 km	1807	1214	Pau Bartolo	14:26:40	Andrea Huser	16:35:29	2015 full results
2016	119 km	1794	1060	Pau Capell	14:45:44	Delphine Avenier	18:46:24	2016 full results
2017	119 km	1818	1251	Michel Lanne	14:33:09	Mimmi Kotka	15:47:07	2017 full results
2018	121 km	1799	1329	Marcin Świerc	13:24:00	Audrey Tanguy	16:05:22	2018 full results
2019	145 km	1785	1091	Pablo Villa Gonzalez	18:03:06	Audrey Tanguy	21:36:15

Orsières-Champex-Chamonix

Year	Distance	Runners	Finishers	Winner Male	Time	Winner Female	Time	Notes
2014	53 km	1200	1109	Nicolas Martin	5:07:45	Sonia Glarey	6:37:40	2014 full results
2015	53 km	1442	1317	Marc Pinsach Rubirola	5:21:38	Celia Chiron	6:41:53	2015 full results
2016	55 km	1413	1232	Xavier Thevenard	5:28:37	Mercedes Arcos Zafras	6:54:13	2016 full results
2017	55 km	1565	1468	Marc Lauenstein	5:19:34	Eli Gordon Rodriguez	6:12:16	2017 full results
2018	55 km	1572	1478	Erenjia Jia	5:28:44	Ruth Croft	5:53:09	2018 full results
2019	55 km	1605	1474	Stian Angermund-Vik	5:19:24	Ruth Croft	5:50:14

A check point on the UTMB 2005

• 15000 volunteers were involved in 2015.
• Northface Ltd was the main sponsor from 2006 to 2014. Columbia has been the main sponsor since 2015.
• Kuala4k is the secondary environmental sponsor since 2014
• Runners must carry a minimum of equipment for safety reasons. This includes a waterproof jacket, warm clothing, food and water, whistle, mobile telephone, survival blanket and two head lamps.
• There are food and drink points along the route, every 10 to 15 km. In addition, four big "life bases" provide hot meals, beds and massages: Chamonix (France), Les Chapieux (France), Courmayeur (Italy) and Champex (Switzerland).
• At Courmayeur for UTMB and at Cormet de Roselend for TDS, runners can collect a drop bag they previously left at Chamonix or at Courmayeur.
• Runners' race numbers contain a magnetic badge that is read at approximately 50 check points. Timings and rankings are available online and by text message in real-time.
• It is conducted under the regulations of the International Trail Running Association (ITRA), the governing body for trail races in the Mont Blanc and Alpine region.
• PTL is a mostly self-supported run without course markings or aid stations. Runners rely on a limited number of support points, mountain huts, local stores and restaurants for food and sleep. The course should be followed by GPS, maps, and the road book. It goes as high as 3300 meters (11,000 feet) and must be completed in about 6 days. Each team of two or three people carries a satellite beacon for safety. The course is modified every year and there are no official winners.

• Trail running
• Ultramarathon

More pictures about the Ultra-Trail Tour du Mont-Blanc:

• Sunset viewed from the Col de Voza, beginning of the UTMB 2005
• Group of volunteers at Champex on the UTMB 2005

• Official web site - (main language: French, but also English, Spanish, Italian and German)
• Press kit on the official web site (PDF)
• UFO Les fous de l'UltraFOnd - (French ultra runner web site)