Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc

UTMB - an extraordinary trail running adventure in the breathtaking alpine landscape of the Mont Blanc massif.

July 18, 2022
trail-ivan-favretto-skinfit

The way to the UTMB

The Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) is not only one of countless ultramarathons. For many passionate trail runners it is THE great experience, THE great dream or THE great challenge. Once in a lifetime they want to run over fantastic trails in breathtaking scenery from Chamonix counterclockwise around the Mont Blanc group. With a course length of almost 170 kilometers with over 10,000 meters of altitude, which must be run in a time limit of maximum 46 hours, the UTMB is one of the most demanding mountain marathons in the world. This year, our South Tyrolean trail runners Alexander Rabensteiner, Jimmy Pellegrini and Ivan Favretto are also heading to this very special race.

Big rush on 4 sections

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the major trail running event in France. Especially in the last 10 years, the UTMB has become the non-plus-ultra event for more and more runners. In addition to the main route along the long-distance trail Tour de Mont Blanc, the organizers have also included other shorter, but by no means less attractive, sections in the program in the interest of trail running. The CCC is the "little sister" of the UTMB and offers a course length of 101km. The TDS over 145km is technically particularly demanding and leads from Courmayeur in Italy to Chamonix. The shortest and meanwhile most popular ultra trail start within the UTMB is offered by the OCC with a length of 56km. There are always new race formats added to the "Event Week UTMB" every year. So in 2022 there is also an offer for trail beginners (ETC over 15km) and/or young runners (YCC and Mini) who also want to be part of the big event.

Due to the growing enthusiasm for all UTMB races, a normal registration has not been possible for a long time and until today a selection process had to be created, governed by a system of qualification points and a lottery. In total, at the beginning of this year, about 22,000 runners were waiting for the draw of the only 10,000 available starting places (distributed over all distances). Already this announcement of the results of the UTMB lottery is undoubtedly one of the first highlights and marks for all participants the beginning of their personal UTMB adventure.

Qualification and lottery

Ivan Favretto explained to us how to be part of the UTMB: "To qualify in 2022, you had to have finished some qualifying races within the last four years (because of Corona, the period was extended from two to four years) - including at least two races over 100km. More and more trail running events are becoming specially advertised qualifying races for the UTMB and are thus advertising for growing numbers of participants. This is the case, for example, with the Mozart 100 by UTMB in Salzburg. Once you've cleared that hurdle, you get into a lottery pot and hope among thousands that you're one of the lucky ones to get a commitment for your starting spot six months in advance."

Professional and elite runners can escape this lottery - which resembles a rather strenuous game of chance - by running for so-called ITRA points, as Ivan, Jimmy and Alexander have done in previous years, and qualifying directly for the UTMB based on their strong performances in the professional field. The ITRA points system (International Trail Running Association) is an objective evaluation in points, which shows the performance at the respective race. Criteria such as finish time, placement and strength of competition are taken into account. The average of these points results in a personal ITRA score. From 800 ITRA points, elite runners can register directly and start at the front of the professional starting block.

South Tyrolean trio at the start

2022 will be a very special UTMB edition for Skinfit, because our trail runners Ivan, Jimmy and Alexander have had their ITRA points firmly in focus in recent years and will be on the starting line together at the finale around Mont Blanc on August 26, 2022 at 6 p.m. local time. Alexander told us how it came about: "Jimmy and I had the big goal UTMB in mind for a long time and were already registered in 2020. Since the race was not held due to corona, we received a reserved starting place, which, however, is only redeemable until 2023. Some time ago, over pizza and beer, we philosophized about the UTMB together with our friend and training partner Ivan, and so relatively spontaneously agreed that all three of us would start together this year at the biggest trail run in the world. Ivan has no experience with such long races with a distance of 100 miles but he was immediately motivated and also brings the necessary performance. Now we are looking forward to being at the start with the world's best in our sport. Of course, everyone is also pursuing their own goals during the race."

Trail runners Alexander Rabensteiner and Jimmy Pellegrini have been running among the world's elite for over 10 years and have already finished countless top-class ultramarathons on the podium. They love the extremely long challenges. In 2014, both trail runners have been to Chamonix before. Jimmy was able to "circumnavigate" Mont Blanc in 28 hours back then and has never lost sight of a second start since. Meanwhile, Alex still has an open bill with the UTMB. Because 8 years ago the ultraathlete had to give up his race after 120km due to injury.

The third in the group is her training partner Ivan Favretto, who also lives in Klausen - at just 30 years old, he is one of the Rookies 2022, who will tackle a race over 170km for the first time. Already in 2021 he proved his potential for the long distances at the Trans Alpine Run with strong results. He also confirmed these this year already at one or the other Ultratrail. Nevertheless, it is something new and special for Ivan to be able to start at the UTMB.

Alexander Rabensteiner

ALEX RABENSTEINER

Results 2022:
Lavaredo Ultra Trail: P46
Ultra Trail del Lago di Como: P2
Tuscany Crossing TC100M: P1

Jimmy Pellegrini

JIMMY PELLEGRINI

Results 2022:
Monterosa Walser Waeg 90km: P5
Dolomiti Extreme Trail 72km: P1
Tuscany Crossing TC103K: P1

Ivan Favretto

IVAN FAVRETTO

Results 2022:
Ultrabericus Trail: P17
S2 Trail La Corsa della Bora: P1
TransAlpine Run 2021: P7

If you want to know how Alex, Jimmy and Ivan do at UTMB 2022, you can follow the action in our stories.