 Grant Swamp Pass, Hardrock 100. Photo: Dale Garland At the Colorado Springs screening of Unbreakable a couple of weeks ago, in the subsequent Q+A an audience member asked Geoff and I when an American was going to win UTMB. (As an aside, 2012 looks to be as good a year as any to ‘cherry-pick’ a victory there, with Kilian planning on skipping this year’s edition in favor of our very own Pikes Peak Marathon. Alas, athletes such as Miguel Heras and Iker Carrera are no slouches either, and I’m sure will toe the line again this year.)
Of course, the posed query was awkward (Geoff has started the race the past two years), especially in a very public forum where providing the necessary more nuanced and in-depth response is difficult, even inappropriate. But, it is a question I’ve been asking myself ever since 2007, the first year that several top runners from the U.S. decided to take a stab at what has become the continent’s crowning trail event in its most iconic mountain town, Chamonix.
I’ve never been to the Alps let alone raced there to experience its unique and vibrant mountain culture, so my perspective and opinions on the matter may not be worth much. However, beyond overcoming the language barrier and local customs, it seems that the Euros have a markedly different attitude towards mountain and ultra running than their Yankee counterparts. To begin with, running off-road in the US is rarely referred to as “mountain running”. Here, it is “trail running”, and for good reason. We almost exclusively run on trails, and soft, cushy, nicely graded and switchbacked trails at that. On the other hand, in the Alps and Pyrenees, it seems that in many sanctioned events trails are merely the approach routes to the craggy alpine where racers will then often scramble and dance their way over highly technical, even exposed, sections of talus and spectacular ridgeline before plummeting to the next valley (using the trail as only a suggested route) before climbing steeply to the next summit, and on and on.
 Sentiero delle Grigne 50K in Italy And there are sure to be many summits. Euro race courses seem to be planned by A) running in one giant loop, and B) cramming as much vert into that loop as is geographically possible, footing and trails be damned. I love this. It appeals to my internal aesthetic of tagging lots of peaks, not wasting any time getting from the bottom to the top and back down again (even if not every meter of the climb is runnable), and also to my physical abilities of being strong on climbs and descents but not really possessing great levels of leg speed on the flats. From what I’ve heard, while the UTMB course is actually relatively reasonable when it comes to being technical, the vert is crushingly steep and comes in never-ending 3-4000′ chunks.
Essentially, it seems that the center of each continents’ version of the sport lies a little closer to opposite ends of the gnar spectrum, and this has become at least one potentially decisive factor in our ability to achieve success over there. Here in the U.S., ultras are still thought of very much as running events. A constant trope in U.S. ultrarunning geek-dom is whether world-class track and marathon racers would dust the current crop of top ultra runners. I think that if our race courses looked anything like those found in Europe, the answer would be obvious and the question would probably begin to sound a bit ludicrous, even irrelevant.
This is because, conversely, Euro ultra roots seem to be grounded firmly in the disciplines of mountaineering, ski mountaineering, sky running, and adventure racing. A more appropriate debate in Europe might be whether the top skimo racers (of which, as we all know, Kilian Jornet is one) and go-fast alpinists (Ueli Steck, for instance) would dominate the continent’s current mountain runners. Asking whether Patrick Makau would be able to efficiently scramble the granite turrets at the summit of the Sentiero delle Grigne Skyrace or negotiate the kamikaze descent of Malaysia’s Mt. Kinabalu seems so silly as to almost be a non-sequiteur. Both of these races (along with many, many others in Europe) reduce even the fastest competitors to hands-on-knees hiking for significant periods of time and require comfort with techy terrain.
Simply put, few events in the U.S. require the top runners to employ such mountain-specific skills for large chunks of time. The Hardrock 100 certainly does (no small reason for why I am so excited to be running it in 2012), the Jemez Mt. 50 used to before it burned down last summer (likely not coincidentally, this race was born from the same community of northern New Mexico ultrarunners who steer the HR100), the Zane Grey 50′s footing is terrible but is hardly a mountain race, Idaho’s Pocatello 50 seems to offer sections of off-trail running (also likely not coincidentally, Pokey is directed by past HR100 Champ Jared Campbell), and Montana’s Bridger Ridge Run follows a perfect line along the crest of the mountain range but is only 20mi long (not necessarily a bad thing) and has little national prominence. When it comes to gnarly mountain races in U.S., that’s about it (I’m sure I’m missing a few, and I’d love to hear about others). Of course, much of this has increasingly become limited by permitting issues (probably not a terrible thing when one begins to consider environmental impacts), which I believe is the main sticking point here.
 UTMB 2011. If these guys are hiking, you know it's steep. Photo: Tom Humpage. But, the best thing is that on most public land one doesn’t need a permit to seek out steep, direct lines during training, which is the most important thing anyways. I’ll admit that as recently as a year ago I was still much of a snob about wanting to be able to actually run every step of a training run and that the mileage of a run probably mattered at least as much to me as the time on my feet, or the vertical I ascended, or the route I chose, or the peaks I tagged. And, simply put, during the past year I realized the mileage simply doesn’t matter and instead the simple, pure experience of moving quickly and efficiently under my own power over varied terrain — be that running, hiking or scrambling on all fours — is much more important, and ultimately, probably much more applicable to the kinds of races I’m becoming more and more interested in competing in.
Granted, much of this change in my thinking evolved through being limited to only hiking for much of the year (not a great position to be in), but in a strange way I am actually grateful for the limitations that my injuries this year have placed on my running, because without them I don’t know that I would’ve ever embraced hiking as a legit (and fast!) mode of mountain travel. And I would definitely be a less-competent and less-inspired mountain runner without the experience I’ve been gathering on the steeper, more interesting terrain that hiking offers access to.
While seeking out steep, rugged terrain likely isn’t the only key to success in doing well in a European ultra, I do think it offers worthwhile variation for the intrepid mountain traveler and certainly will be essential to my race at the Hardrock 100 in 2012. It has already been fundamental to me maintaining some basic fitness for the past year. If I am successful in the San Juans in July, I think I will be able to credit at least part of my achievement to the injuries and subsequent terrain-shift that I’ve experienced in 2011.
 |
Great write-up. This issue has sort of been stuck in my mind since the last UTMB when the trolls came out of the woodwork to taunt US athletes. Ugh.
I really question whether the environmental impact on bare mountain rock is really worth the panic our rangers seem to exhibit. Is it really going to hurt the ecosystem if a few ultra runners go off-trail and step on some lichen to train for an alpine race in Europe? I think we are still a long way from that in Colorado and probably the rest of the US. There are plenty of places where athletes can have minimal impact and still get the training they want.
In know it’s pricey, but you’ve got to get yourself to Europe if at all possible. The Alps are something to behold. NB really needs a Chamonix photo shoot
If you took Tony “Smoke” Stewart’s NASCAR ride and put it in a Euro rally race it likely wouldn’t perform very well. It’s simply not built for that. The same holds true for a rigged out Citroen rally car on the Daytona oval. There is something to be said, as you pointed out, on culture and specificity of training.
Can throw in some ‘Euro’ perspective?
There seems to be a lot of generalisation here which I think is somewhat unfair and in some instances incorrect. The ultra scene in Europe is extremely diverse, very similar to the US, probably even more so. There are big mountain Ultras like UTMB, but many more low altitide, more runnable trail races. The type of running you are referring to in your piece – taking in rocky/ craggy summits – really just happens in the Alps and other small mountainous areas dotted around the continent, and is certainly not a reflection of the ultra and mountain scene all accross Europe. It tends to be the Sky Running races which are like this. I can’t think of single European ultra which is like you have described. The big European mountain ultras such as Davos, UTMB and Trans Alps don’t take in the summits and they all follow set, well marked routes, but they do still cross some steep passes, typically following decent, well graded (in the most part), trails to reach them.
Personally, I think the missing factor for US athletes travelling over is respect for the course and an ability to adapt to the local conditions. Unless you are totally tuned into the course, and have intricate knowledge on how to run a race like UTMB, then an agressive racing approach from the start is almost certain to fail. All the stats confirm this. Mike Foote showed this year that a conservative approach is more appropriate if you don’t have an opportunity to ‘live and breathe’ the course beforehand.
Coming from a low altitude country (the UK) where cutting a direct line accross open terrain is completely acceptable (and legal in the most part), I also have a lot to get my head round when travelling to the Alps and racing. And I’m a ‘Euro’! (well possibly not for much longer). But that’s the exciting part of the sport – being adaptable – and training for the specific event conditions. It’s certainly what I love about it all.
Jez,
Many thanks for the comment and your (much more informed!) point of view. I’ll be the first to admit here that I struggled a bit with the construction, organization and thesis of this post, and, as with most pieces of writing, by time I got to the end I found myself coming up w/ counter-arguments and even making a completely different and only tangentially-related point. Your point about generalizing shorter skyraces to all Euro ultras (and UTMB in particular) was something I was aware of, but simply too lazy to fix I guess.
Most people I have talked to about UTMB, of course, very much confirm the things you say. In this post I was — maybe wrongly — using a recent incident (the Q+A question) to open a not-very-informed discussion about the differences between U.S. “trail running” and Euro “mountain running” and expressing my chagrin that more gnarly races don’t exist here in the States. However, most Yanks I’ve chatted with about UTMB has talked about how we “simply don’t have that kind of terrain (the Alps) to train on”. I think that’s total bunk — there are plenty of long, steep climbs to be found all around the American West (and East), but since most US races don’t necessarily require that kind of specific fitness, I think folks generally shy away from it in their training. Stateside, only Hardrock can compare with the sheer amount of climbing at UTMB. Again, more generalizations. Your point about “respecting the course” is exactly the point I was initially trying to make with this post, but only ended up doing so in a maybe indirect and ineffective manner.
Thanks for stopping by and congratulations on being a runner who has raced extremely well on both sides of the Atlantic!
TK
P.S. Euro for “possibly not much longer”? You migrating westward, perhaps?
Hi Anton,
I follow your posts regularly and I am a big fan of yours. On this subject, I tend to agree with Jez. UTMB is not a very technical course compared to other European events. Also it does not involve any kind of off-the-track running or trekking. Actually in most parts, the trails are wide and well maintained. The inclines are quite tough though! My approach on this subject is published on my blog:
http://polyenios.blogspot.com/2011/08/runblog-utmb-2011-comparison-of-us-and.html
I think that terrain is a decisive factor but only in respect to the way it affects the speed and not the technical skills so much. US runners are very aggressive in their approach and they want to run the whole thing… This is encouraged somehow by the small fields of runners in most US ultras. May I say that at UTMB you never run alone! 2.200 participants is something that will affect you on race day, especially if your approach to the race is from the competitive side (and like the majority of “just want to be a finisher”).
Your experience during these last months gave you a different perspective, which is closer to how we see these events in Europe. I admire your mentality and the way you have handled these last tough months. You managed to get something useful out of a difficult situation.
Anton,
Don’t you think european races like UTMB are in fact not the main goal of american runners?
Most of USA elite runs the western state endurance, Hardrock (sometimes both), don’t you think you’ve got to be in a very good shape and not tired by hard and important races you’ve made one or two month before.
So, it may be a question of calendar even if I know UTMB has been a real goal with a specific preparation for someone like Scott Jurek.
We shall not forget that a lot of very good europeans runners don’t finish UTMB every year. It is not hard only for americans !
As a conclusion, you are Anton, very welcome in the Alps if you want to train hard for UTMB.
I wish you the best for 2012 and Hardrock
David
Anton,
)
If it stimulates some good debate, then it can’t be all that bad as piece
The climbs in UTMB are definitely pretty unique and difficult to re-create other than to go there are practice on them. You’re always going to be at a disadvantage if you don’t live there – don’t get started on that!
I always say to people the best way to prepare for UTMB is to find a steep climb with over 1,000m of vertical climb, and go up and down it all day. For me, it’s Snowdon in North Wales. It’s always packed with people but the trails are well formed and you don’t spend the climb traipsing through sludge, unlike most other UK hills.
The comment about not being a European much longer was just in reference to the ongoing internal wrangling in the EU. I suspect there may be some fall out. Fun and games hey.
Jez.
Great article, Anton.
I also see that the more Euro & American runners cross the ocean to race and share each other´s trails, the more inbteresting the sports becomes for all. Great news!
Being a spaniard and having ran at Pyrenes, Alps and the Rockies, I tend to disagree with Jez view on EU ultras.
At least most of the ones held in Spain and Italy tend to include tricky and technical terrain, be it Madrid´s Gran Trail Peñalara, the Dolomites LUT or Andorra´s Ronda del Cims to name a few.
Obviously the UK has different terrain to cover and fellrunning is a tremendous influence there, now as ever if i am correct.
Finally, considering how it is precisely spanish and italian runners who have been lately dominating the international trail/sky running scene there is probably much to be said for Anton´s open minded approach to tackling all terrains & rythms while training.
Looking one step further, the reason why mountain running isn’t expanding as rapidly in the US is the population isn’t demanding it. The Baldy Peaks 50k was a solid race featuring 13,000 of gain with climbs as long as 6,000ft up the 10,000ft Socal peak. Among other logistical challenges, the race also faced the problem of getting runners to enter/return, that couldn’t run nearly as much of the terrain as they could in other trail races.
Furthermore, the transition from trail to mountain runner is not easy. Lower calf strength necessary for hiking 1500ft/mi inclines is not something usually found in runners competiting in 50k’s with 3-5,000ft of gain in the entire race.
Not all hope is lost though; just as the populace has warmed up to the idea of running ultras, they too will likely warm up to the idea of running up mountains. When that time comes, the races will come, the competition will come, and some yank will break through the euro mountain curtain.
Anton: Great write-up. I did Jemez last May and it was awesomely difficult and breath-takingly beautiful in areas. The trek up and back down Pajarito was insane. I was so looking forward to returning in 2012 for vengeance (Jemez kicked my butt in 2011) but, alas, the course burned badly not long after the 2011 race.
One well-known US mountain ultra you didn’t mention, and it surprised me, is the San Juan Solstice 50 (formerally known as the Lake City 50). I’ve heard it’s potentially the hardest of the American 50s, though Jemez gets some votes, too.
Wyatt
You are not in Hardrock?
I’ve also heard the Meltzer’s Speedgoat 50k is fairly gnar. Will try and get that one on my schedule is a few years.
Nice write up and good luck in your recovery.
Anton, based in your shifting interests I hope to root for you in the 2013 Barkley Marathons. Or could you be ready for them in 5 months? I think so.
Also, Leor Pantilat is a noticeable exception to the lack of US adventure runners. Too bad he keeps to tame 50-mile and shorter courses when racing. I’d love to see what he could do in a hundred like Hardrock (or Barkley). An example of Leor’s adventure running: http://pantilat.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/mount-mcduffie-ladder-lake/
Dom – Baldy Peaks had 10k’ vert, not 13k’, but yes, definitely still a stout course that I wish could be resurrected.
Wyatt – Lake City is definitely on my list…if it was one week earlier this year I’d race it. I’ve heard great things about it, but I think most of its difficulty comes from the altitude (10ish miles on the CD above 12,000′). 12k’ is a fair bit of climbing, but I’d like to see a course with that much packed into a 50K, not 50mi. Races such as Cavalls de Vent have 20k’ (holy crap!) in 53mi, Zugspitz and Transvulcania (100Ks) each have 18-19k’ vert and all of those courses are very logical and aesthetic either being one big loop through the mountains (like Lake City) or point-to-point. Ronda del Cims is a 105mi course in the Pyrenees with 40k’ vert (!!). Heras won that last July in 30hr, making a good argument that it is even more difficult than HR or UTMB.
Mike – I’m 16th on the waitlist. Historically, at least 27 runners have got in off the waitlist each year, so I’m pretty much as good as entered.
Darren – Yeah, not mentioning Speedgoat was an oversight. Karl and I have similar tastes when it comes to terrain.
Brian – Barkley is not in my near future, or maybe ever. Leor is super-legit when it comes to completing quality adventure runs. I hope he races some higher-profile ultras in the future!
Anton and Jez,
I wonder if it is more an issue of average grade than technical footing? From my experiences out west and in Europe, the key difference is the switchback. The trails out west tend to have a moderate grade compared to what I’ve run in France and Ireland, and looking at various elevation profiles for races. Jez spoke of respecting the course, and I think the specific issue may be the grade, both up and down. In the US, it is believed that a direct route up a mountain leads to rapid erosion resulting in complete collapse of the mountain over a few years. I think the steeper downhills are probably the most significant difference, if your legs are not used to running hard down a steep grade, you will lose time on course with this type of terrain.
I’ve seen good runners from the Pacific Northwest show up in thin shoes in the French alps. They killed the uphills, and then I saw them running like they had two broken feet at the bottom of the first big rocky descent, and they ended up DNFing.
I think an interesting parallel to this discussion is the recent developments in US mountain running. Part of the reason for the recent success with both the men and women’s team has been the infusion of talent, but part of it has been the logical approach taken by USATF in team selection. There has been a conscious effort by Paul Kirsch to closely model the WMRA race when he designs the up and down selection races. The runners trying to make the team know the course profile well ahead of time, train for that type of race, and the runners that are best suited to the WMRA course end up making the team. Despite increased competition from African nations, the US teams have become more competitive in recent years. A relevant read right on this website would be the interview with Kasie Enman where she the describes her specific training for Worlds (which sounds similar to Jez’s training for UTMB).
My favorite quote about the differences between US and European ultras is from Josh Brimhall when we were in Connemara Ireland this year. After the IAU race, he said:
“People in the US think Zane Grey is technical. This made Zane Grey look like a !##!$!$ freeway!”
I think the modern ultra runner will have to be skilled on a wide variety of terrain if they want to be very successful. As things become more competitive, you have to be better at eveything, as in any sport. Some of the same Europeans that excel on rough terrain also have quite a bit of speed.
In the Eastern US, we have plenty of steep and rough trails, but the longer routes in the parks will never become races. Training terrain is more important than what is available for racing, anyway.
Anton,
Hope you will be able to run UTMB one day, for the euro’s UTMB is the crown of any runs. The course is not very technical but like this year with the storm we end up running 111 mile with 33 ooo feet of vertical. This race I think is the place to be if you are serious about competing international.
In most ultras in the US there is usually about three guys going for the win. But chamonix is pack with those three guys and you have the chance to run with what I think are the top world runners.
Also in the US it seem like it is all about the 100 mile versus Europe where it is all about elevatin gain like UTMB or the diagonale des Fous, Le grand raid des Pyrenees or even L’infernale des voges.
Hi anton, interesting article.ive went over from ireland and done a number of sky races – zegama, dolomites, giir di mont and sierre – zinal, well marked trails which everyone bar the elite racers would stick to. You should try and do one of the sky races, so well organised and a fantastic atmosphere
Great debate as usual, guys. Thanks Anton for bringing it in.
These are my five cents to the issue (I am another one of those -Euro- Spaniards, but know well the US since I have been living there several years):
- To start, in my opinion it is very difficult to categorize races and to draw a clear line if they fall more under the “Trail” side or the “Mountain” side (e.g. I have been in races with 80% non-technical route, but with the other 20% being absolutely exposed and crazy, and in others being the whole course slightly technical… which of both can be consider to be more difficult/mountaineer?)
- I mean, each course is “unique” and that is one of the things I love from this sport. As a participant for being able to explore new areas, surfaces, etc. and see how I can adapt to them. And as a spectator because it is very unpredictable to know beforehand how each individual will adapt to each course and his potential performance on that race.
- Regarding the continents debate, my opinion is that there are mainy two factors that we need to consider: race organizational culture and terrains available.
- Continent terrain: In my opinion in the US is easier to create beautiful courses (formed mainly by single tracks, under nice tree coverage, etc.) in areas without much incline or technical terrain. In Europe it is much more difficult to be able to draw 100K or 100M courses with those characteristics in beautiful areas if you don’t go through the big mountains.
- Race organizational culture: Each area has their traditions. UK with fell running, Italy and Spain with Skyrunning, etc. and that has definitely affected the sport so far. But in the future if this keeps growing as it has in the recent years, I am expecting that we will be able to find all type of races in both sides of the Ocean so everybody can race according to their preferences. So expect a grow in technical races in the US and also some brainstorming to find nice non-technical-but-at-the-same-time-beautiful “trail” races in Europe. In fact I am in the process of creating one.
Nothing else to add to this debate. Just a pleasure to read you all guys.
Merry Christmas!