The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc Registration is Complete
Rob Howard / 15.02.2010
The registration for the 4 events of The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc has just ended, calmly.55 nations will be represented (there were 51 in 2009) with participants arriving from 5 continents to take part in this mythical race.
Over the 4 events, Europeans dominate with the France in the lead with 62.15% of the registrations. Coming next are Italy, 7.68%, Spain 7.03% and the United Kingdom 4.54%. A notable increased presence is that of the Japanese, who are now ahead of the Americans with 110 registrations in comparison with 33 last year and 6 in 2008 !
The premier event, the historic UTMB® had a record success with around 3,900 requested pre-registrations. With its 166km and 9,400m of positive height it confirms its success amongst a crowd of trailers and amateur runners. For everybody, it is the event to finish, (in less than 46 hours), the event in which one has to compete, the event that has to be experienced. Limited to 2,300 competitors in order to respect the environment, to avoid clogging the paths and to benefit from the utmost security, the draw has designated the 2,680 competitors who will have the chance to compete this year.
There was also a great success for the CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix) with more than 2,500 requests to race. With a distance of 98km, the CCC is for many the test before the complete the full tour, allowing self-assessment in relation to the ground and the duration of the effort. But; it is, all the same, equivalent to 2 marathons back to back with 5,600m of positive height gain at the foot of Mont Blanc, all within the heart of a grandiose landscape. The 2,543 people pre-registered have all been able to finalise their registrations.
For the third year, the La Petite Trotte à Léon has had a record number of people registering with 76 teams now signed up for the long team event. New for this year: teams of 2 have also been accepted. This proves the enthusiasm of our followers: several teams are returning despite the fact that the race is far from a ‘Petite Trotte’: the distance is 245km with 19,000m of positive height gain, to be run in complete autonomy with a maximum time of 110 hours.
Finally there is the TDS, (Sur les traces des Ducs de Savoie), which was created in 2009 in order to provide an alternative to runners who didn’t want to, or couldn’t set out on the UTMB or the CCC. Discovering of new countryside, participating in this event week-end, or knowing one’s limits, are the advantages of this new race.
