As this newsletter is being published, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) is in full swing in Chamonix, France, drawing thousands of runners and supporters to the small village and millions following online. Let’s take this opportunity to cheers the multiple members of the Donner Party Mountain Runners who are currently in Europe to race one of the events, and several others who made the trip to crew, cheer and take part in what is often considered as the World Championship of trail running.
The book The Race that Changed Running: The Inside Story of UTMB is a short book that retraces the story of UTMB and analyses the evolution of the race and the recent controversies, including the investment from the IronMan group. It is written by Doug Mayer, founder of the trail-running tour company Run the Alps.
The recent investment by the commercial group Ironman in the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc brought a lot of controversy about what it meant for the race, and for the sport of trail running in general. It has changed qualification requirements, forcing runners who want to run one of the UTMB races to collect running stones at other events from the UTMB World Series. The book has a lot of history about the race, its challenges, its evolution, which I find useful and important to put things into context and develop a more informed opinion on the recent changes.
The book touches on many of the aspects tied to the evolution of UTMB and the UTMB World Series, from the environmental impact, affordability to runners, inclusivity, spirit of the sport, as well as vision, mistakes and adaptation from the co-funders Catherine and Michel Poletti. The author aims at showing the different sides of the problem and while he gives his opinion on most matters, he also opens the door for everyone to think through the challenges.
I wish more time and attention had been put in the writing which feels like rough notes taken in a hurry than a published book. But it’s a quick read and the content is worth dealing with the writing style. There are also interviews from numerous runners from across the years which add to the multi-faceted view of developing such an iconic race.
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