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Training
for this event did not go as well as the previous year - I had cold
after cold in the spring, and it was only in the last couple of months
before the race that I managed to do any long or hilly runs. The
longest run I managed training for this marathon was only 16 miles, so
I was not feeling very prepared by the time it came to catch the flight
to Geneva. The marathon was on a Sunday, so myself and Jeff flew
out on the Friday - we planned on staying in Veysonnaz for the night,
then driving across to Chamonix on the Saturday morning to watch our
friend Sam (who lives in Chamonix) running the Cross du Mont Blanc, a
15 mile race the day before the marathon that covers much of the same
course. This was Sam's longest ever race and the day was hot and
sunny. We cheered on Sam at about 8 miles (Col des Montets) and
11 miles (La Flegere - see the photo on the right) - the race was
really tough as it climbed most of the same hills as the
marathon. Sam kept on smiling through the race and was rightly
proud to finish it - many didn't. Seeing how hard people were
finding the big climb up to La Flegere made me nervous about what we
would be doing the next day - we would climb this same hill after over
20 miles of running, including climbing the Aiguillette des
Possettes. We decided a small beer and some time sunbathing with
views of Mont Blanc would calm any nerves. Later in the
afternoon, Nathan arrived in Chamonix - he was running the following
day as well.
The
marathon starts at 7am to allow most runners to complete the course
before the hottest part of the day. This meant getting up at
5.30am for a light breakfast, then walking down to the centre of
Chamonix for the start. The route followed the valley up to
Argentiere, and would be in the shade until we crossed the Col des
Montets and headed down to Vallorcine. The tops of the mountains
were already basking in the early morning sun, so we could be sure that
it would be another hot day. The marathon started at 7am, and
headed out of Chamonix and the first 10km headed through woods and
meadows to Argentiere. My plan was to take it really easy until
the big climb of Aiguillette
des Possettes, and try and save some energy for the climb to La
Flegere. The first 10km was pleasant running, with a few short
climbs.After Argentiere, we climbed up to the Col des Montets, then down through meadows to the village of Vallorcine. At 18km, Vallorcine is a little under half way round the course, but most of the ascent was still to be done. The route climbed 900m over the next 6km as we headed from Vallorcine to the summit of the Aiguillette des Possettes at an altitude of 2200m. The first section of the climb was brutally steep, through meadows and then forest, following a downhill mountain bike trail - these aren't typically made with an ascending pedestrian in mind. At about 1900m we emerged onto a slightly less steep vehicle track, which led to the Col des Possettes, then narrow, rocky paths led up to the summit of the Aiguillette des Possettes. I loved the final section up to the summit, running on narrow paths along the ridge with spectacular views in all directions. From the summit, the route quickly descended on a steep rocky trail towards Le Tour - I had been looking forward to a relaxing downhill section, but the route dropped over 800m in altitude in less than 3km, so the gradient was anything but relaxing. We passed through Le Tour and Montroc before crossing the road below Col des Montets after 30km - I had taken just under 4 hours to this point, so with 12km remaining, I thought five and a half hours was still achievable.
The
next section, between the road crossing and La Flegere, was the
mentally the toughest on the course. After crossing the road I
expected a few kilometres of flat, easy running, but instead the trail
was rooty, rocky, and every few hundred metres there would be a rock
step to clamber up or down that would break up any sort of running
rhythm that I could get into. At this point my lack of long
distance training was really starting to tell, and I felt myself
getting slower and slower, and being passed by what seemed like lots of
runners. There were a few times when I doubted that I could
finish the course, especially half way up the climb to La Flegere as I
felt my entire body was overheating. But once we came out of the
trees, and into the thinner, cooler air, I started to feel better and
managed to muster up enough energy to run up the final climb to La
Fleger, encouraged by the crowds that were there.From La Flegere to the finish at Planpraz (1000m higher than the start in Chamonix), the course pretty much traverse round the mountain, through boulder fields and rocky slopes. I managed a shuffle jog for these last 6km, as my watch ticked past five and a half hours. With tired, sore legs, and feeling like my tank was close to empty, I passed 40km and approached the finish. Of course there was a sting in the tail on this marathon, in that there was 150m climb in the last kilometre, but it wasn't as bad as Zermatt so soon enough I was breaking into a run to cross the finish line in about five and three-quarter hours.
I was initially dissapointed to have been over my target time, but then I met up with Jeff (4 hours 27 mins) and Nathan (5 hours 17 mins), and we all realised that this had taken longer than we each had expected. In fact, the winner had taken about 30 minutes longer than the previous year's winning time. It turned out the route had been changed - the previous year the route had descended to Le Tour directly from Col des Possettes, excluding the climb to the summit, and also the rough, rocky descent path. Suddenly I was much more satisfied with my time, and soon after finishing was enjoying a cold beer (refreshments at the finish of these continental races are much better than UK races!), while looking over Chamonix to Mont Blanc.
Jeff finished 13th (incredible!), Nathan was in the top-100 and I managed to scrape in the top-200, so we were all very pleased with how we had done - though we agreed that it had been a most brutal route. In total there we over 1100 finishers - and we would all like to say thanks to the organisers and volunteers that made this race such a great experience.
During the evening spent relaxing in Chamonix, talk inevitably turned to what we would try next year. We felt that it was only proper to continue to try more and more challenging events, and we didn't think that there were any more challenging marathons, so there was only way our journey was heading - ultras.
There are more photos here.
If you are thinking about running the race and would like to find out more about it, try the Marathon du Mont Blanc website, or send me an e-mail if you have any questions I might be able to help with.