By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka’s Chris McGraw, 39, took part in one of the most famous, and hardest, ultra-marathon racing events in the world last month: France’s Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
Known as the UTMB, it takes place every year on the last weekend of August, or the first one in September, and follows a path through France, Italy, and Switzerland.
Held as a week-long event it features five ultra races, the UTMB being the longest at 170k or 105.63 miles.
Sitka resident Chris McGraw runs along a mountain
trail near the Italian/Swiss border during the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc’s CCC (Courmayeur Champex-Lac Chamonix). The 62-mile race through France, Italy, and Switzerland is part of the UTMB, the world’s toughest running race. (Photo UTMB)
McGraw ran in the CCC, a 101k (62.75 miles) race starting from Courmayeur, going through Champex-Lac, and finishing in Chamonix.
“UTMB was a great experience,” McGraw said. “Chamonix was a very special place. The trails and mountains there are unlike anything I’ve seen.”
The CCC had a field of 2,147 starters, of whom 1,622 finished and 525 did not.
McGraw placed 218th in a time of 16 hours, 52 minutes, and 55 seconds. The United Kingdom’s Thomas Evans, a Hoka One One-sponsored athlete, won in 10:44:32. Top woman was China’s Miao Yao, sponsored by The North Face, in 11:57:46 (11th overall).
“The toughest part for me had to be dealing with the crowded trails in the first quarter of the race,” McGraw said. “The trail ultras I’ve done in the U.S. are lucky to have 250 runners, and most of time you are by yourself. In this race I was constantly having to ask to pass people. Even in the later parts of the race I would catch up to a group of 10-15 runners on a climb and have to get in line with them and do my best to pass them.”
All five of the individual races are run on the Trail Mont Blanc, which is an established trail that circumnavigates Mont Blanc. The acronyms for the races come from the towns they go through.
Additional races are the TDS, Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (121k); OCC, Orsieres Champex Chamonix (56k); and MCC, De Martigny-Combe a Chamonix (40k).
There’s an additional team relay: PTL, La Petite Trotte a Leon - 300k; and a kids run, the YCC: Youth Chamonix Courmayeur - 15k.
McGraw said he felt physically prepared for his race even though it had over 20,000 feet of climbing.
“I did notice that I was affected by the altitude when I got over 6,000 feet,” he said. “Some of the climbs reached 8,000 feet and it was tough to control my breathing and push hard on the climbs at altitude.”
Numerous of the best runners in the world withdrew from various races, including Spain’s Kilian Jornet, a three-time UTMB winner, and the United States’ top ultra Jim Walmsley, a top-three placer in prior years.
The highly anticipated UTMB race was won by France’s Xavier Thevenard, from team Asics, in 20:44:16 for men, and Italy’s Francesca Canepa, MontBlancTeam, in 26:03:48 for women. Over 2,560 athletes started this 105-miler; 1,778 finished and 783 didn’t.
“The whole UTMB week was a little much for me, though,” McGraw said. “There were a lot of people and everything felt very commercialized and sponsor logos were plastered everywhere. It kind of reminded me of the Boston Marathon. Trail running is definitely a different animal in Europe.”
Most of the participants are established elite runners with professional contracts and sponsored by various shoe brands, outdoor companies, or established businesses.
Each year the various races fill up within hours of opening registration and have strict entry and qualification requirements attained by accumulating enough race points through qualifying trail races over the previous two years.
“I went into the race in great shape,” McGraw said. “However, based on my bib number I was in the third starting wave with about 1,800 people starting in front of me.”
The course has a 4,000-foot, seven-mile single track climb at the start so McGraw got stuck in a very slow conga line.
“In the first 15 miles I counted 10 times where I actually had to stop and wait in line,” he said. “After 15 miles it opened up and I was able to make good time and pass a lot of people. I felt strong the entire race and feel like I could have probably taken one or two hours off my time without crowds.”
McGraw said the biggest highlight of the race was the location.
“The scenic beauty of the Mont Blanc region is really unbelievable,” he said. “The sheer scale of the mountains is something that pictures don’t do justice. Being able to run around two-thirds of Mont Blanc allowed me to take in impressive vistas. Also, the race ran through numerous small villages and communities in Italy and Switzerland. I had never been to Europe before and being able to run through the small villages to see how people live in this region of the world was really cool.”
Aside from the high number of competitors, most of the trail was in good runnable shape, albeit most of the climbing was steep.
“I would compare it to going up Verstovia,” McGraw said. “There wasn’t a lot of roads, probably less than four miles out of the 62.”
McGraw arrived in Chamonix on August 26th and the race day was the 31st.
“I spent the days before the race running and hiking the mountains around Chamonix,” he said. “And I did my best to not overindulge on the French pastries.”
The months of training for the race included searching Google Earth to find strenuous, but accessible ridges to run in Sitka. His main route was the Harbor Mountain loop, plus numerous flat miles and biking.
“I think I did Harbor Mountain at least once a week from May through the end of August,” he said.
He also tacked on a trip to Juneau to run a 20-plus mile ridge route with two-time ultra marathoner of the year Geoff Roes and a field of established runners from various states.
Next up for McGraw will be the Orcas Island 100 miler in Washington in February.
“It looks like a low key race with lots of vertical,” he said. “Which is what I like so my winter will most likely be spent up and down Gavin Hill.”
