In recent years, the Ultratrail community has developed well. At the same time, Dale Fjelløpere (DFL) has done a solid job of increasing interest among the average exerciser. In large parts of the region, mountains and moors are challenged, and with some of Europe's most technical terrain in our own backyard, it's perhaps not surprising that many of our runners succeed in local, national and international competitions. However, it should not be forgotten that what most trail runners have in common is the joy of doing outdoor sports in spectacular nature for hours on end.
Two of our national team athletes participated in Nice by UTMB at the end of September. For a little insight into what such a race entails, we’ve got a report from both of them.
Marjo Nice by UTMB
I was very happy to be able to compete in the 115km ultra race in Nice as the last dance of the season. The previous 2 months had been plagued with falls and knee problems, so there was uncertainty about the shape and body, but the head was in place, and that’s the most important thing in ultra running, they say…? I traveled with a nice group with Silje Skorve Skarpeid from GTI and Bjarte and Tore, and in addition we got to hang out a lot with 2 fine GTI gentlemen John and Tom Erik 🙂
The days before the race, croissants and coffee were on the program. Early on Saturday morning, the bus took us up to the mountains behind Nice in Roubion. I was tired and didn’t feel particularly good at the start when everyone was pushing hard in the first few kilometers. I thought that this was not my day right then. I stayed in 8-10th place, but decided to just keep running and enjoy the ride.
The trail had some big and easy trails/roads (that I had driven a car on back home in Finland!), it was a bit boring. But then we had long stretches of fantastic single track on the mountainsides! It was a bit technical too, with lots of loose gravel and long downhills where you had to focus to avoid falling on the rocks. The weather was almost too nice, between 25-30 degrees and blazing sun. But to turn it into something positive – this time I got to see the beautiful, beautiful peaks of Merchantour natural park!
Even though the heat got to me a bit, and I was careful not to push too much during the hottest time, I was able to pass a couple of women between 20-50km. Okay, this might actually go a little better, I thought, and just focused on working, working, working. Eat, drink, run. After the dropbag at 70km I passed a man who said that the lady in second place was not far ahead. I thought he was messing with me, and when I passed that lady on the next uphill, I didn’t dare ask which seat we were in!
Last 15km and we got an incredibly nice sunset over Nice. I had wanted to get a message from home if someone was just ahead or behind me at the end, and was quite relieved when it said: “50min ahead, 40min behind, don’t fall and you’ll take second place!” Shit, second place! That was huge. I ran with a man who congratulated me on the Western States golden ticket already (2 best women and men each got one), and got a little chill when we ran towards the finish on the seafront in Nice. Being able to run with real flow after almost 15 hours of running, feeling so strong on a day that at first seemed to be bad, that’s why I love ultra running. Anything can happen during those many hours in the mountains, it can go to hell… or it can turn around for you! Most often there is a little bit of both on every race 😉 and if you manage to dig, work, take the next step further, the feeling of getting second place as payment… it’s crazy nice!
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Tom Erik Nice Cote dázur by UTMB 100 miles
A few weeks have passed and you finally have the time and the necessary distance to be able to absorb and process your second 100 mile race. A real mountain race of the tough variety… This race was planned relatively late in the season, after I felt I had underperformed on the last edition of Xreid in Trollheimen at the end of June this year. There was a burgeoning need to get my potential out on a long and very demanding race with factors such as high altitude, many cumulative positive and negative altitude meters, 11-12 hours with a headlamp and also strong heat. After quick planning over the summer, the airfare, ticket to the race and apartment were booked via Airbnb. About a month before the race, I also got the go-ahead from our coach John that he was ready to support me during the race. YES!!! I thought. John and I have done very good races together before, including the World Championship Ultra Trail in 2018. Nice by UTMB is a relatively new race in the UTMB world series where tickets are handed out for the main race in Chamonix, which takes place at the end of August every year. In total, about 3300 people participate in the 4 distances; 100 miles, 100k, 50k and 20k. To be among the top 3 in the 100 miles and thus get direct qualification was also the goal for u.t. On the start line this year at the second longest distance, 100 km, was none other than Jim Walmsley – perhaps the world’s best off-road ultramarathon runner and this year’s winner of the main race UTMB finals. “On the start line I felt very strong and well prepared. I have trained as well as I have felt I could since the decision to run was made in June. The most important and crucial training week with 300km/15000hm through Jotunheimen on the tourist association’s trails with friends had gone beyond all expectations. It was warm and sunny at 1700 m above sea level in Auron, where the race started. From there we had 167 km and 9300 hm upwards/11000hm downwards over the mountain ranges down to Nice. Due to a wasp’s nest on the path out from the start that had to be removed, the start was postponed 10 minutes:) By pure coincidence, I then got to know the hard-working youth Gvideo from Latvia. We chatted a little further out from the start, including how fast we thought it was going at the front and gradually agreed to share the path for the first few miles. The race hadn’t even started yet. It felt like it went nicely and neatly until the first food station after 8 km with about 100 hm up and maybe 300 hm down. I took some quick drinks with me and gave a high five to my Latvian fellow runner before we pulled up the poles and began the 1300 hm long climb towards the highest point of the trail and the next food station. The weather was fine even though the heat was fine even at 2600-2700 meters altitude. I was a little worried that the lack of acclimatization would make it difficult to run up here, but so far it went smoothly. We were now around 16th-17th place, which we both thought was a reasonable opening. Down towards Isola and the 3rd food station we would now descend 1700 hm in 6 km!! on unmarked trail parts of the course, before we would run the last flat 6 km on asphalt towards the station. The downhills went smoothly, but you could already feel that this was starting to materialize in your thighs. After talking a little with John (who I now met for the first time in the race) and eating and drinking a little, Bjarte Wetteland from DFL surprisingly came into the checkpoint. This stressed me out a bit as I thought it meant that I might have opened a little too slowly. I tried to convince myself that it was Bjarte who instead ran well or maybe had opened a little too much. We climbed some new mountains and still worked well together, me and Gvideo. I think it was me who launched the idea of trying to work together a little longer and maybe into the night. If one of us felt a bit stronger than the other, we should just say so and it was okay to run away. We chose to stick together and when dusk came on we were on our way to the first big checkpoint where you could pick up drop bags. The headlamps were on and now more than 10 hours of running through the night awaited us.
Already on the first climb from here, the full moon became our companion. The higher we got, the less we needed the lantern. Magical!!! I still felt good both in terms of breathing and muscular strain. The fact that we had a good trend in the race was confirmed by the fact that we were steadily picking up new runners. At the next major food station at 116 km, we had had a nice and fast climb up about 400 hm. At the station, John rubbed Vaseline on my legs for the second time and I was ready for the last 50 km. John confirmed that we ran fast and were now only 5-15 min behind #5-9. On the way out of here, we ran a little wrong and Gvideo complained that he hadn’t eaten enough food at the station. On this climb where we were going up 1000 new altitude meters, we probably also started to lose ground to those in front. Down from this mountain we were again at gradients of about 30. This really started to hurt my thighs and there was a lot of walking down hills where I would normally have “opened up” my legs and given gas. Gvideo introduced me to the term “shuffle” about off-road ultra runners who are done and can’t lift their legs properly anymore due to muscular fatigue. This was now us 🙁 We made good time at the last food station where we saw John about 21 km before the finish. The heat had now become quite intense and it was becoming urgent to get to Nice. The finish was beautiful, but anything but easy going. The satisfaction of finally crossing the finish line after just over 25 hours on the trail was therefore great. Even though the ambition for top 3 was not achieved, the race was still a great experience and an important experience towards new races. Running/being with another human being for over 24 hours while working hard physically is an experience I wouldn’t have missed, and Gvideo is already a good friend because we shared and mastered this experience together. That said, running a race with someone in this way will probably always make you a little less competitive along the way. It’s quite possible I could have run a few minutes faster if I had given it my all and run the last few miles alone, but the benefits of running together, especially at night, probably outweigh the disadvantages of this race for me in my opinion. In retrospect, you might also wonder if you should have run harder on the uphills with a higher heart rate for a better end result? In the end, it was the muscular strain of the downhill run that slowed down the speed, so a slightly higher speed upwards might not have affected this.
Hopefully I will have the opportunity to run the UTMB final in Chamonix next year despite not making the top 3. In the training work leading up to the race, priority will be given to hardening the legs for downhill running. Finally, I would like to thank John and GTI-Friidrett for their physical and financial support for this great race. It is highly recommended to other GTI’ers whether they want to run 167, 115.65 or 20 km. If anyone wants more information about practical things regarding the race, just ask 🙂