Trail des Aiguilles Rouges, 27 September 2015
I am not really sure what I should say to
those who ask me whether I finished the 2015 Trail des Aiguilles Rouges (TAR) in
Chamonix. On the one hand I know that I
completed the course, and that the official results list me as finishing with a
time of 11 hours 57 minutes, a ranking of 353 out of 642 starters. But on the other hand I also know that I
missed the cut-off time at Planpraz (after 18.5km) by four and a half minutes and so was
officially disqualified at that point. It
might seem harsh, but those are the rules.
Just because I decided to continue on the course “unofficially”, and just because, for some reason, the marshal neglected to remove my electronic timing
tag, does that mean I should claim the finish?
I will leave you to make your own decision.
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| Trail des Aiguilles Rouges, worth it just for the scenery |
The Trail des
Aiguilles Rouges had been on my bucket list for some time. Being
set in my “mountain home” of Chamonix, I knew the scenery and trails would be
extraordinarily beautiful, and the very steep terrain is exactly the type that
I prefer. It is not a long race – listed
at 50km, although my GPS recorded 53km – but over 4,000m of vertical ascent is packed
into that short distance. The race is
arranged by the Chamonix Mont-Blanc Marathon association, and uses much the
same logistics as the UTMB races held a month previously – needless to say it
was brilliantly organised and managed.
I had managed to convince two friends –
James and Anthony – to join me in my attempt at the TAR, with the
plan being that our wives would come out for the weekend in Chamonix and that
the ladies would enter the 15km, 1,200m P’tit TAR on the same day. Sadly our team of six was reduced to four when James needed a major operation, and Sarah, my wife,
damaged her ankle ligaments whilst training in Chamonix earlier in the summer. As it turned out, Sarah and James made the
perfect support crew, and it would not have been possible without them.
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| 642 eager starters in Place de l'Eglise |
It was therefore with some relief that
Anthony and I stood at start line in the Place de l’Eglise, Chamonix, at
4.30am, fit and raring to go. Following
a short jog through the (mostly) sleeping town, the course then gave us a sharp taste of what was ahead with 11km of almost continuous climbing straight up 1,400m to the Lac Blanc in the Reserve Naturelle des Aiguilles Rouges. It was a slog that took us 2 hours 45
minutes, but with the sublime views of the sun rising over the Mont Blanc
Massif to distract us, the time actually seemed to pass quite quickly. I will never forget standing at Flegere, a
rosy pre-dawn glow rising over the mountains, a 4km long trace of headlights
clearly marking out the trail up to Lac Blanc ahead of us, and shooting stars
zipping overhead. And people ask me why
on earth I do this?
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| Chamonix wakes to the dawn sun on Mont Blanc |
So what went wrong and why did we miss the
cut-off time at Planpraz? First, with its steep
gradients and altitude, to compete well on this course I believe you need to be
comfortable climbing at pace. Anthony had certainly put in the work in training, but I think much
of his running had been comparatively flat. In contrast, my 75km race in The
Lake District in June, plus a week training in Chamonix in July, had put some
serious vertical into my legs. This made a massive difference.
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| The climb from Combe Lachenal to Col de Glière |
Second, we certainly misjudged the timing
of the section before the missed cut-off. Not only were we slow climbing but we
failed to make up time on the flat and downhill. We lost a lot of time on the
flat section between Col de Glière and Col de Lac Cornu. The recent snowfall
that remained on the north facing slopes had been polished hard and icy by the
600-plus pairs of feet that had passed ahead of us, making safe progress over
the large boulders in the scree slopes extremely slow.
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| Anthony at Col de Glière |
Third, we did not manage our pace well, and given that I knew the route better, I must take responsibility for this. I should
have realised that we were tight on the cut-off and pushed us on harder at an
earlier point. We only missed the cut-off by four and a half minutes – such a small amount of
time in the context of a 12 or 13 hour race – and I am sure that if Anthony
had got past Planpraz he would have made it to Servoz and probably even the
finish. I had the next 7 hours to contemplate and regret that oversight.
So whilst Anthony ran down from Planpraz to
Chamonix (a 5km, 1,000m descent in itself) where he was met by our efficient
"domestiques", Sarah and James, I decided to continue on the course
in an unofficial capacity.
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| Climb to the Refuge de Moëde-Anterne with the Rochers des Fiz as a backdrop |
Driven on by anger at our
"failure" and a desire to make the next check point at the Refuge de Moëde-Anterne ahead of the cut-off – thus ensuring that the marshals did not start
removing the markers and closing the course on me – I set off on the climb to the
Col du Brévent at a pace. I was soon overtaking many other competitors, all
of whom were still "in the race", and realised I was feeling pretty
strong. I raced down the other side to the Pont d'Arlevé, filling up water bottles from streams on
the way – the day was getting hot and I did not want to run dry – and launched myself on the climb to the Refuge, arriving 30 minutes ahead of the next cut-off time. In the space of 10km and 2 hours I had moved from 611th to
541st and was feeling great. Given this I decided I might as well carry on pushing
myself and see where I could get to.
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| Competitors race past the Lac de Pormenaz on the way to the descent into Servoz |
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| Climbing up past the Lac de Pormenaz |
Overtaking on the endless steep and narrow
switchback descent into Servoz was not easy. Many competitors were happy to
step aside when they heard a faster runner behind them, but getting past large
groups chatting away, or runners with headphones often required a gamble
with the footing on the precipitous edges of the track.
I reached the Servoz checkpoint at 8 hours
45 minutes having made up another 93 places. I had suffered blisters
from wet feet in a previous race, and after taking a shoe-full in one of the
boggier sections by the Lac de Pormenaz, I decided to take preventative action by
changing into dry socks at Servoz. Leaving the check point, I ran through the village and past the surreal sight of hundreds of cows waiting outside the church for their annual "Bataille des Reines", and headed to the last
hill of the day.
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| The long climb to Prarion |
The climb up to Prarion is steep and
unforgiving. With an average gradient of 30% and a height gain of 1,250m I knew
it was going to be tough. I was by now eying up my original schedule which targeted a finish time of 12 hours. If I were to make
that I would have to do the climb in two hours and run down to Les Houches on the
other side in one hour or less. It seemed an unlikely target but feeling strong
I decided it was worth a final push to see how close I could get. Fortunately
the trail though the trees shaded us from the warm sun, and I still had plenty
of other competitors ahead that I could use as targets to drag me up the field.
Reaching the peak of Prarion at 11 hours I had jumped another 68 places to 380th.
Now I knew that a sub-12 hour finish was possible and that knowledge spurred me on for
the run down into Les Houches. Arriving at the finish, I was met by the rest of the crew who had
dragged themselves out of their baths to see me over the line – great
support guys!
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| Looking up the Chamonix Valley from the top of Prarion |
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| Sally-Anne and Rachel finishing the P'tit TAR |
The girls – Sally-Anne and Rachel – completed the P'tit TAR in 3:59:53, seven seconds inside a very tough 4-hour cut-off time and they were absolutely delighted. Despite their prior
protestations that it was going to be just "a casual walk with friends,
certainly no running", when they reached the peak in two and a half hours,
their competitive instincts took over and they ran all the way down. Chapeau!
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| About to collapse over the finish line |
The statistics:
- I “finished” in 11 hours 57 minutes in 353rd place out of 642 starters and 529 finishers
- My time was just under twice that of the winner (Matthieu Brignon) won came home in an extraordinary 6 hours and 19 minutes
- I was ranked 40th in my class of males over 50 – the cheek, I was “only” 49 years and 363 days!
- My GPS recorded a distance of 53km, 4,022m of vertical ascent
- The equivalent flat distance was over 85km
- Strava tells me I burned 5,900 calories versus 1,600 consumed in gels and bounce balls
- Whilst the field was predominantly French, 12 countries were represented with good a showing from Switzerland and Belgium, and 18 Brits
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