The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc
The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc
News Release / 16.01.2014
Today more and more trail races are confronted with the growing success of the discipline and obtaining a race-bib becomes a veritable pre-race competition...
Registration: Control, Equity And Security
Since the first year, 2003, the UTMB® has been very successful with 700 runners registered, confirmed by 1600 requests the following year. The number has not ceased to increase which is why the organisation chose to limit the number of runners in 2005, firstly for the UTMB® (2,300) then, for the other races. Faced with an abundant number of runners, in 2007 it decided upon a qualifying system with points being obtained for finishing various races on the list.
Today, there are almost 1200 races organised on the 5 continents, in one or more stages, points from which open the door to one of the 3 races: UTMB®, CCC®, TDSTM. The last step, which has existed since 2009, to decide between the candidates: a draw.
The principle of the The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® races is that they take place on paths, sometimes a simple track, on the route around Mont-Blanc. The limiting of the number of runners is due to a question of security, the impact upon the environment and in the respect of trail-runners - of whom many arrive from afar-, who have not come to run in a 'queue'. The points system also means that all those on the starting line have a minimum of experience and fitness and the draw is the best solution to give everybody an equal chance.
The 12th Event: 14 000 Requests, 75 Nations, 5 Races, 7 000 Participants
Pre-registration opened on December 19th and closed on January 6th and more than 14000 runners, representing 75 nations were candidates for one of the 5 races on offer in 2014.
For its first year, the new kid on the block, the OCC (Orsières-Champex-Chamonix, 53km and 3 300m ascent) has been a great success with more than 2500 requests from 50 different nationalities.
The PTLTM is full with 113 teams registered representing 25 nations.
4 000 people (62 nationalities) wanted to be one of the 1900 runners who will be on the starting line for the CCC®.
More than 6 000 candidates from 67 nationalities are awaiting the results of the draw to know if they will be amongst the 2300 at the start for the UTMB®.
1400 people from 46 nationalities are pre-registered for the TDSTM. They have no need for a draw because 1600 are expected at the start, things as they are, these places will be taken very fast by those unlucky in the draw for the other races, on a first come first served basis.
A Worldwide Success
The event is becoming more and more international, and the number of French runners has for the first time fallen to below 50%: only 41% for the UTMB®, and 39% for the PTLTM !
Spain is the second most represented nation, Italy, the United Kingdom and....Japan (592 requests), then come Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and The United States. Among the 20 most represented countries, 7 are non-European: Japan (592 requests), The United States ( 292), China (135), Argentina (73), Brazil (71), Canada (68) and Australia (58).
Results Of The Draw: January 15th At 10:00
On January 15th, the draw selected the numerous candidates for the last phase of registration.
Unfortunately, more than 6 635 runners will not be able to take part, almost the same number as those who will participate...
The organisation, conscious of the disappointment this will generate, tries every year to explain this choice and Catherine Polettiexplains the how it functions: " Of the total number of runners admissible, some places are reserved for our partners' teams, for international elite athletes, based on the performance index complied by the ITRA for the Ultra-Trail® World Tour, for journalists who report from the inside, as well as for the solidarity race-bib wearers who in exchange make a donation to charity. After that we calculate the level of over-booking possible so as to guarantee that, despite last minute withdrawals, there are no fewer runners on the starting line for each race than the limit imposed for each race, which will be very frustrating for those runners unlucky in the draw.
This ratio is applied country by country for each race. Following that on an Excel chart, each name will be allotted a random number between 1 and 0, multiplied by the runner's co-efficient (those runners unlucky the preceding year have a co-efficient of 2)... All that then remains to be done is to put the lists in order and select the participants from the top of the list".
PROGRAMME
Monday August 25th - Chamonix
17:30 : Start of the PTL™
Wednesday August 27th - Courmayeur et Chamonix
07:00 : Start of the TDS™, Courmayeur (Italy)
Ultra-Trail® Salon
22:00 : First TDS™ finishers
Thursday August 28th - Chamonix
08:00 : Start of the OCC, Orsières (Switzerland)
All day, finishers of the TDS™
Ultra-Trail® Salon
TDS™ Prize Giving
Friday August 30th - Courmayeur and Chamonix
07:00 : First PTL™ finishers
09:00 : Start of the CCC®, Courmayeur (Italy)
Ultra-Trail® Salon
17:30 : Start of the UTMB®
20:30 : First CCC® finishers
Saturday August 30th - Chamonix
All morning, arrival of CCC® finishers
CCC® Prize giving
14:00 : First UTMB® finishers
Sunday August 31st - Chamonix
All day, arrival of UTMB® finishers
14:30 : Last PTL™ finishers
UTMB® Prize giving
The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® official closing ceremony
14:30 : Last finishers of the UTMB®
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