The 2013 The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc kicks off in Chamonix, France at 4:30 pm local time (10:30 am EDT in US). We’ll be livecasting the event on iRunFar’s Twitter feed. We’ll also be combining our twitter feed with other possible news sources and encouraging all of you to join the discussion in the CoverItLive window below.
Here are a couple resources to help you follow the race:
- iRunFar’s men’s preview and women’s preview;
- iRunFar’s pre-race video interviews with Anton Krupicka, NĂşria Picas, Yoshikazu Hara, Timothy Olson, Gary Robbins, Julien Chorier, Miguel Heras, Francesca Canepa, Rory Bosio, Jonas Buud, Emma Roca, and Seb Chaigneau, as well as Mike Wolfe and Mike Foote together;
- The UTMB website, including at the technical information about the race (there are tabs for the course, profile, etc.) and the entrants list;
- UTMB runner tracking;
- The full UTMB UltraTrail.TV website, with live broadcasts, webcams, and more; and
- For non-English coverage check out Trails Endurance Mag’s Facebook page (French), UltraMag’s Twitter feed (French), and DogsorCaravan.com (Japanese). Feel free to leave comments with other resources.
Please consider making a donation in support of our coverage of the The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. Purchasing items from the iRunFar Store also supports our race coverage around the world.
-Bryon Powell, Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar
LIVE 2013 – THE NORTH FACE® ULTRA-TRAIL DU… par UltraTrailMontBlanc
Here is a link to the time charts for UTMB published by the race organisation. The column headed "plus rapide" gives a good estimate of when the leading runners will arrive at relevant checkpoints on the course:
http://www.ultratrailmb.com/page/98/Time_charts.h…
Here is a checkpoints timing calculator for the UTMB course that I've written, including an altitude profile showing the route. You can also compare the altitude profile to other 100 milers, such as Hardrock and Western States:
– http://climbers.net/race/UltraTrail-du-MontBlanc-…
Any idea what the weather is looking like this year?
Ted,
It's looking awesome! Check it out here, http://www.chamonix.com/weather,11,en.html. It seems that Mother Nature is going to come through fantastically this year. *the whole town of Chamonix sighs in relief*
so pumped for this race! US has a strong representation this year.
with the combination of the Irunfar Twit Feed and UltraTrail.TV, 8/30/13 is going down as the most unproductive day of the year at my desk. :-p
Ann Trason?!
Ann will be running the IM TUF 100 (Idaho Mountain Trail Ultra Festival) this weekend.
Being a dude and all you'd think I'd be more excited about UTMB running, but hearing Ann Trason is running I can't help but follow it now. It's like Bobby Orr or Reggie Jackson coming out of retirement (I'm Canadian, so I had to look up a baseball player name that was popular in the 70's so I'm hope Reggies the one). Someone posted the link in the twitter feed earlier, but I'll re-post incase people missed it as I book marked right away. http://www.ultralive.net/imtuf/webcast.php
Ann is 3rd woman, 15th overall at 24 mile aid station – 5:49 elapsed time
Should be into 36 mile aid station within the next 30 mins or so
Man, she so rocks. I'm so glad she's back running – though I hope she doesn't feel any pressures except from herself. Your post made me flashback to her in the '90s, and me avidly consuming every bit of magazines I could find on her. Thinking she was nuts!, but in such a great way. Man, what she would've done with the UTMB course! Go Ann!, have a great time!
Super cool to hear about Ann racing -she's utterly amazing! Would love to read an interview with her someday (hint, hint). Gonna check that race's website!
Auto entry into 2014 WS for Ann would be highlight of the year for the sport! Just hearing she was there this year pacing was really cool
Can you post the Bib numbers for the runners in the preview.
Sheffieldnick, it would be helpful if you added Rondo dels Cims and Wasatch 100 to your list. Thanks
ET – send me an email through my site if you'd like to help me add some more ultras. All you need is the race results from a past year, including the split times at checkpoints/aid stations.
Cheers
If I am unable to get any work done today, is it ok if I blame irunfar?! :)
Did they do away with the night time start?
Night start was only due to altered course previous years due to weather
I think the start was always meant to be mid-afternoon. It just ended up being postponed the last couple of years due to the weather.
Your website is awesome. Thanks for putting it together.
is there any way to filter the moderated feed w/out the ignoramus chatter.
I'm more partial to Black Butte Porter if we're going Bend.
Great site. My only wish is that the owners and moderators were more open to allowing critical debate regarding "name" runners. This is not the same as being inflammatory or mean. Allowing no posts during the UTMB live coverage that are critical of Anton's training or racing is ridiculous. The man is a talent and an inspiration, but he is not very good at getting himself prepared to race well when it matters most. I think it a fair discussion to examine why this is and a discussion from which many lesser talented ultrarunners can benefit.
Being critical is fine, being a flaming ass is not. Some folks were having problems delineating between the two.
Jenn, are you the judge of flaming assery?
http://www.tucksbrand.com
I was glued to your twitter feed all last night — thanks for putting in the time, and keeping us informed. Looking forward to some post-race interviews!
Actually, it was a bit annoying when you tried to follow the race and 90% of the comments were about the color of Tony's shoes and the size of Timmy's trousers. "I Run Fashion". (Just like the 9000 people who had to ask of Tony stepped out of the race).
Besides, most of the debates could hardly be called debates at all. "Was Tony's injury caused by his shoes?" Well, maybe, but maybe not, how is somebody supposed to know the answer to that?
open forum,
Thanks for your note. You make a great point that other runners can and should learn from the experiences of top ultrarunners, including Anton. A constructively critical discussion, including one about Anton, is always welcomed on iRunFar.
The problem is that some people were not being constructive in their dialogue. Just saying that someone sucks or is an idiot is not only unproductive but it's mean. Out of respect for both the constructive-dialogue process and the fact that Anton is human being with feelings, our moderators worked hard to keep the conversation swung in an appropriate discussion. I'm sure you can appreciate these requests: constructive criticism or no criticism, and speak to each other like you're out trail running. The requests our moderators made during UTMB's live coverage were precisely these. Thanks for reading.
She was a pleasure to have at our race. I hope she returns. Being surrounded by so many fine runners has to be one of the greatest parts of being a race director.