I ran the very first UTMB in 2003 and I’ve done every edition since, with two exceptions: in 2010, when the main race was stopped because of terrible weather and mudslides; and the Covid-cancelled event in 2020. I have so many memories. I could name a thousand favourite moments.
The first race was, of course, so special. It was a real adventure – into the unknown. The equipment was so much less sophisticated and I didn’t know what to expect as there wasn’t really a culture of trail running in Germany, where I’m from, at that time.
I remember at the aid station in Champex-Lac watching a fellow runner eating spaghetti and he was so exhausted he literally slumped forward into his bowl, asleep.
The weather was dire and so many people dropped out that year; only 67 of us completed it. I slept in the back of my Opel Corsa on the nights leading up to the race. At the finish, Michel [Poletti] personally drove us to a nearby alpine sports education centre where we could have a shower and sleep in the classrooms. That’s what it was like back then.
What has kept me coming back year after year? It’s a combination of so many things. The scenery, the spirit, the respect for nature and the realisation that nature cannot be beaten. We are not stronger than the mountains. There’s solidarity among UTMB runners; if you have a problem, you know others will do whatever they can. The volunteers make it, too. Even though it’s now a mass event and so much more commercialised, you’ve still got the feeling that they’re there only for you.
I regard having been able to compete in so many UTMBs as a gift. I had to qualify each time – but also I needed to be lucky in the lottery, and to be lucky with my health, and then lucky with the conditions too. So much is beyond your control.
In 2022 my luck ran out. I was under a lot of stress at work and I fell really ill during the race and had to withdraw. It took me two weeks to recover. It felt like a personal tragedy, given my close relationship with UTMB. It hurts even now to speak about it.
But I’ve pledged to return in the next couple of years. I need again to feel that joy at the finish line – to forget the pain of having pulled out. I’m 55 now but it’s not too late: Marco Olmo won the race in 2006 and 2007 aged 57 and 58. I’ll settle for just getting around!
The UTMB has been the love affair of my life – and in more ways than one. During the 2003 race, somewhere in the rain on the top of Col de Seigne, on the French-Italian border, I met a ghost: a figure covered entirely in a poncho, so long he kept treading on it. This was Georg. Today, all these years and all these races later, we’re still together.
