Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc – An odyssey between Mercury and Pluto, an inner journey – Statistics and Tribute

"In the beginning of time, of gold was the race of men on earth."

• The Iliad

In the brief prose that follows, I list some statistics from the 2015 UTMB and pay my heartfelt tribute to the participants in this fabulous adventure!

The male winner was the Frenchman Xavier Thévenard, with an incredible time of 21:09:15.

Xavier Thevenard

The female winner was the Frenchwoman Nathalie Mauclair, with an equally fantastic time of 25:15:33.
This lady is already 45 years old and is the mother of 3 children!

 Nathalie Mauclair

Portuguese Participation:

Armando Teixeira, for achieving an outstanding 19th place in the overall men's ranking and finally realizing his ambition of completing this iconic race. You’re GREAT, my friend!

Armando Teixeira

Lucinda Sousa and Susana Simões, not only for their excellent 20th and 21st places in the overall women’s ranking, but especially for the immense capacity for overcoming challenges they demonstrated throughout the race, where they had to face enormous difficulties and did so together, showing a great spirit of solidarity and mutual help.

Lucinda Sousa e Susana Simões 

My tribute to the entire Portuguese team for performing magnificently, especially those who, despite months of sacrifice to be present, had to stop before the finish line due to some unforeseen event, bad luck, or something unexpected that prevented them from completing the race. It could have been any of the 47 who lined up at the start. Each one of us had different ambitions. The strongest wanted to place highly, those in the second tier hoped to shine among their peers, and those in the peloton aimed to finish the race within the time limit. Each one gave their best. They are all heroes for having had the courage to pursue their dreams by lining up at the start.

Armada Lusa

There are better days, and others worse. A foot poorly placed that causes a sprain, ill-chosen shoes that torment our feet, an intestinal upset that prevents us from absorbing nutrients and water, an unfortunate fall that fractures a knee, a thousand and one things that can go wrong during 20, 30, or 40 hours of a race. It also takes a lot of courage to know when to stop.

To the entire great Portuguese team who followed us on-site, accompanying us from checkpoint to checkpoint and celebrating each one of us as we passed, to those who waited for us at the finish line, to those who followed us on Facebook, the race website, by SMS, phone, or carrier pigeon, and were always present with us, even if from a distance.

To our sponsors, to all those who contribute time and resources to help us achieve our goals. In my specific case, I am grateful for the generous provision of sports equipment by "Equilibrium - Soluções Desportivas."

To our families and friends who support and bear with us, and give us encouragement and love. They know the right words when we are at rock bottom and extend their hands to help us rise from there. They celebrate with us when we are on top, and accept us just as we are.

A bow to Orlando Duarte for spending many hours at the computer collecting data and providing information to all those who were anxiously following the race. It is a true public service that you provide to the entire community of people interested in Trail (or "Trilhos" as you prefer to call them :-) ).

I take this opportunity to use some of the information he generously provided. I hope he doesn’t mind:

170 km, 10,000 m D+ 10,000 D-, 3 Countries, 7 Valleys, 71 Glaciers.

Main difficulties:

Col de Voza, Col du Bonhomme, Col de la Seigne, Mont Favre, Bertone, Grand Col Ferret, Bovine, Tseppes, and Tête au Vent.

Registered athletes: 2748

• Men: 2516
• Women: 232 / 8.4%

At the start: 2563

• Men: 2340
• Women: 223 / 8.7%

Classified athletes: 1632 / 63.68% of those who started

• Men: 1500
• Women: 132 / 8.09% of all who finished

Withdrawals: 931 / 36.32%

Average time for the 30 Portuguese athletes who finished: 39:33:05

Average time for the 1632 athletes who finished: 39:54:56

Table with the Portuguese classification

Statistics Table

My Stats:

Total:

170 km / 10,000 m D+ / 10,000 m D-
39:24:46 ~ 39.5 hours
Pace: 4.3 km/h

First two-thirds of the race:

136 km / 8,000 m D+ / 7,150 m D-
26:26:26 ~ 26.5 hours
Pace: 5.1 km/h

Last third, after encountering the infamous "Hammer Man":

34 km / 2,000 m D+ / 2,850 m D-
12:58:20 ~ 13 hours
Pace: 2.6 km/h

In other words, 1/5 of the distance covered in 1/3 of the time at half the speed! What an enormous drop in performance.

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Text from the Organization:

28th August, 2015. It is 6:00pm and we are more or less 2300 people sharing the same dream carefully prepared over many months. Despite the incredible difficulty, we feel serene thanks to the help and comfort offered with by 2000 volunteers who in a spirit of sharing and friendship are ready to partake in the same adventure.
We are about to take off on a dream-world adventure.
We will be rubbing shoulders with Aiguille de Bionnassay and crossing Col du Bonhomme by moonlight. At sunrise, we will cross Col de la Seigne into Italy and the magical Val Veni overlooked by Noire du Peuterey and the glaciers descending Mont Blanc. Later we will reach the Val Ferret, guarded by Dent du Géant and Grandes Jorasses before finally turning into Switzerland to relish the beautifully protected countryside.

We will have to put up with fatigue, to overcome our fears and anxieties. Some participants, having pushed their limits to the extreme, will choose to break off the race keeping intact their hopes to make it from beginning to end at some later date. They will be rewarded for their achievement and their names will be added to the list with everyone else at the end of the race.

The others will climb over Bovine and Les Tseppes. Then, with Aiguille Verte in front of them, under the vertical heights of the Drus and with majestic presence of Mont Blanc before them, they will dive down towards the finishing line in the heart of Chamonix. 

Refreshment posts : The principle of the race is semi-self sufficiency. Ten posts will be supplied with drinks and/or food to be taken on site. 

Major difficulties: Ascension of high passes (col de Voza, col du Bonhomme, col de la Seigne, grand col Ferret) as well as the ridge of the Mont favre, the Bertone Refuge, Bovine, Tseppes and Tête au vent.
Downhill tracks towards Saint Gervais, Courmayeur, La Fouly, Trient and Vallorcine. 

Registration to UTMB® is only allowed to competitors who have already had an experience and who can prove it. To enrol for the UTMB® 2015, you need to have acquired a minimum of 8 points by having completed, between 2013/01/01 and 2014/12/31 exclusively, races included in this list. The 8 points have to be acquired with 3 races maximum.This race is limited to 2300 competitors.

http://www.ultratrailmb.com/en/page/20/UTMB%C2%AE.html