As excitement builds for the 2023 UTMB, Adidas Terrex last week released a short film following two of their athletes — the U.K’s Tom Evans and Zimbabwe’s Emily Hawgood — in their preparation for last year’s UTMB, with a behind-the-scenes look at their respective trips around Mont Blanc.
UTMB is an approximately 106-mile, or 171-kilometer, ultramarathon, roughly following the Tour du Mont Blanc trail in the foothills of Mont Blanc, as it journeys from France to Italy, through Switzerland, and returns to the finish in Chamonix, France.
This would be Hawgood’s second run at UTMB and Evans’s debut, and the two had very different journeys to the start line. Hawgood was taking on the ambitious Western States 100−UTMB double, and Evans making a comeback from serious injury.
The film gives an honest look at the struggles of taking on this monumental challenge. In one touching scene, Hawgood is delivered a pep talk by coach, Paul Lind, during a low point in the race, who says: “We’re shooting for perfection, but we will settle for excellence.”
A scene from the Adidas Terrex short film following Tom Evans and Emily Hawgood at UTMB, showing Hawgood’s finish. Photo: Adidas Terrex
Evans too faces struggles and doubts, falling further back in the placings than he would have liked in the earlier parts of the race, and fighting a war of attrition to claw his way up the field.
The 2023 UTMB kicks off a week later than usual, on Friday September 1, and this timely film will whet your appetite for the journeys to come around Mont Blanc, which you’ll, of course, be able to follow right here on iRunFar.
The 2022 UTMB men’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Matthieu Blanchard, 1. Kilian Jornet, and 3. Tom Evans. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
