Usually the last week of August sees thousands of ultra-runners traverse the French Alps, competing in the coveted Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc. However, in a year with unprecedented changes to distance running caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent global lockdowns, the race has unsurprisingly not gone ahead.
For many, the news that the race is cancelled has been challenging, and whilst this has been unsurprising given the pandemic, elite athletes and their teams have refused to idly wait for racing to resume. Take the ON running team from Switzerland. the relatively new team wanted to still take on the 166km course, but without the structure of a race, they created their own project, and built this into their wider research and development efforts.
Starting in Chamonix close to the start of the official UTMB, the team were split into four and each team member handled their own quarter of the route. The relay style project allowed for flexibility, as the athletes tested different pieces of kit, all whilst ON's Sport Scientist Dina tracked their progress on the route. The project started with Marine, an experienced and quick road runner, who was given the flattest part of the course, covering Col de Voza and Les Contamines, before Manu, an experienced trail runner took over. Manu, who has proven himself on steep courses throughout his legendary trail racing career, took over into the steepest part of the Croix du Bonhomme before handing over to Fanny who also boasted speed as she sped along the penaltuminate leg prior to handing over to the final and youngest person in the quartet, Antoine Charvolin. Antoine led the descent to Vallorcine, crossing Argentiere, before finishing quickly in Charmonix. In his leg, Antoine was joined by legendary UTMB winner Pau Capelli who had attempted his own similar project, all himself! The team finished just outside their target of sub 20-hours, but given the stormy conditions they faced, and some of the logistical issues, they were happy with the progress the project made.
Kevin Dellion– Head of Athlete Services reflected positively afterwards.
We wanted to do something together. Create connection between research and development and athletes. My job is to research athlete focused performance products and I wanted to create an event where we can combine these two. We could not do the UTMB because it is cancelled, so we decided to do a “TMB”, so we pick four athletes. We had Marine, Manu, who is a famous trail run runner Antoine, who is one of our young athletes, he did a top five marathon race. Fanny, she is not a trail runner, but provides speed, so we had a mix. Establish rapport, firstly.
The second thing was to be part of this adventure, and the third thing was to worth with Dina (Sport Scientist) to do research. So, we put sensor on them, check before the race, during the race, and after the race. Check their food volume. We checked their vibration. So we came up with this idea to measure everything, to ensure that we understand long distances and that’s why we made this adventure.
SH: How did the individual strengths of each team member help with the overall project? Marine, she’s a road runner right?
Yes, Shes good at it and fast. For instance, she was behind paul C the first 5KM below 4min per KM. So that’s why we put her on the first relay. The on the second relay we had fanny and Manu during night time, because it was very technical, so it was easier to feel it as well, then to do shorter exchange. Then with Manu it was important, he has a lot of experience, and at night time it is easier to get lost. When you are on the trail you must decide, ‘is it left or is it right’. The last one was Antoine, the last part to Chamonix, its technical, but really you need gas, you need power and to go fast. So that’s why we organised the relay like this.
SH: Were the sections of the course for testing and researching new products, effective for what you hoped to find?
Yes, its what we wanted. But not the all the sections. This was because it was very difficult to organize. So we had two vans, we had to bring each athlete to the exchange, then we had all the tools in the other van. So we had different focusses for each stage of the relay. This was based on the terrain, so for the first relay we tested one shoe, then the second relay we tested another, and we also wanted to test the shoe on each terrain.
SH: Overall, was your project successful?
I think so. We are all very happy. We are not professional, so the time we ran is very good. They were happy as a team and we helped them to do that. So overall, it was a nice first attempt but we can do better. Now we know the trail, we know where to go, we know how to organize. So we will try again in one or two months time. We are all athletes so we always want to do better. Marine took 10-15 mins during her relay to find trails So we can save 5-10 mins each relay stage. As well, Manu had technical stages in the mountain where he didn’t know them and he was reliant on his headlamp. He was thinking ‘Where I go now, what about now’. So yes we can save a lot of time when we do it again. So overall, it was a success. But we will do better.
SH: I get the sense from every member of the team that they always want to do better, they always want to beat their self the next time they are on the trail.
We came with this idea, by the end we had all worked together, we really came together. We all wanted a good time, but when we were in the vans we were always concerned about the other athletes, we would check up on them to check they are not lost in the mountains. So at the end of the ay is was super nice to be together and get to follow each other, more than individual.
SH: It's nice to see a team be celebrated in a trail race, rather than just the individual. What you have done is to focus on the team, and you can see the benefits of this focus.
It’s nice to be part of this events. They are all athletes, they are very cool. It is a nice project. Yes, we did not sleep a lot. But if they ask to do it again, I will say yes I will come!
Comments