Enduromum Roadtrip - Part II

12 Sept

Chamonix stole my heart! Thanks for the stunning photo, Mike

Biking fun achieved it was time for the main event – the UTMB. Unsurprisingly a mountain race of this scale is massively affected by the weather – with timings and even the course itself being changed as they go along. From the outset it was clear that we would all be relying on the text message updates that Dave’s wife, Nix, was receiving and also the UTMB app which gave us predicted timings and course updates. As Dave’s support team Nix, Den and Carole (Dave’s parents), Mike (his best mate), Henry and I sat down to work out who was going to meet Dave at which points and when. Between us we were hoping to meet him at as many of the 16 viewing and assistance points along the 170km course. We would be criss-crossing the borders of France, Italy and Switzerland to cheer him on and make sure he was functioning sufficiently to get through the race. Den and Mike would cover the night shifts, Henry and I would do the morning and afternoon ones in Italy the following day and Nix would swap between cars to do as many as possible. Carole and Dave & Nix’s daughters would be there for the main daytime stops too. This was going to be epic!

Support logistics

The UTMB starts late Friday afternoon and athletes have a time limit of just under two days in which to complete the course. After a two-hour delay, the runners eventually left Chamonix at 6.30pm following the same track that Henry and I had ridden that morning. The 2300+ runners quickly thinned out and settled into their paces. Our first view of them was as they streamed through Les Houches to cheers and the insistent clanging of cow bells. It was time to get into race mode ourselves and start the real work of supporting Dave!

Our first view of Dave - Les Houches

Just before 9pm that evening the first message came through on our Whatsapp group: Mike and Den had made it to the parking point for Les Contamines and were getting on the supporters’ bus, ready to head for the meeting point. Les Contamines was 31km into the route and was the first official assistance stop where a couple of designated people could see each runner, give them change of clothes, food and encouragement. Den and Mike grabbed a seat on the supporters’ bus for the last 4km to Les Contamines, not realising that relying on UTMB transport would cost time and mean that they nearly missed him at Les Chapieux.

Assistance stop at Les Contamines

At 3.40am we got an update to say they’d seen him through Les Chapieux and it was over to me and Henry for the first stop the next morning.

Les Chapieux

After a sleepless night, Henry and I set out for Italy at the crack of dawn. Dave wasn’t due to be at Lac Combal at 10am but we were aiming to be there for 8.30am. By this point Dave had been running for 12 hours so by comparison our task was easy! All we had to do was be there to cheer him on, and yet I was still terrified we would miss him. Had it not been for a chivalrous Italian mountain rescue driver giving us a lift to the lake, we would have – evidently long blonde hair and a flutter of the eyelashes works as currency in Italy! We spotted Dave amongst the runners streaming passed, I tumbled out of the landy, gave him a hug, got a selfie and he was gone. Incredibly, he was 2 hours ahead of schedule!

Thanks to this guy we found him!

First night done!

As soon as we had phone signal, I alerted Nix and then we hot footed it to Cormayeur for the next assistance stop. Dave rocked up in Cormayeur just as Nix and the others arrived. After a change of clothes and refuelling Dave continued his journey across Italy towards the border with Switzerland.

Serious cow bell envy in Courmayeur!

With the others heading back to France to catch up on sleep, Henry and I drove on to Plaimpincieux where we parked and hiked to Mountain Refuge Bonatti. After abandoning the car we raced up the mountainside, using the GPS tracker on Googlemaps to confirm our somewhat off-piste route was going the right way. As we crested the mountainside we spotted the runners ahead weaving up a beautiful piece of singletrack! Henry and I had been discussing line choices as we climbed and when another supporter appeared with a hardtail we truly regretted leaving the bikes at the apartment in Les Houches!

Forget the UTMB, look at that singletrack!!

Being part of the UTMB there are times when you step back and realise that it’s on a whole different plane to normal life: Dave had been going for 19hrs at this point, he had another 80km to go and yet we’d just heard that the first runners were finishing in Chamonix. Snowflakes were in the air as Dave left Refuge Bonatti and he looked knackered. It was the first time that we could see how much he was physically and mentally putting himself through.

Mountain Refuge Bonatti

After a few hours sleep Nix, Den and Mike headed to Champex-Lac, Switzerland to meet Dave at 9.30pm. By this point Dave was really struggling. He was soaking wet, exhausted and his body was at its limit. Mercifully Dave was so far ahead of schedule that he grabbed a 20minute sleep but it was clear that the next two stops were going to be critical for getting him through the night.

So, at midnight I left Henry in France and headed to Trient, Switzerland to collect Nix and bring her back, leaving Mike and Den to possibly the most surreal night of their lives. Catching up with Dave on Swiss mountainsides, surrounded by zombie-like trail runners and basking in the glow of a mammoth illuminated cross, it was like they’d stumbled onto a film set.

Sunrise eventually came and by 8am we were all reunited in Vallorcine, France to meet Dave for the final assistance stop. 20km from Chamonix we were all high on adrenaline – it was the start of the home straight.

Vallorcine

At 1.50pm on Sunday Dave crossed the line at Chamonix 43hours, 19minutes and 44seconds after he’d set off. A herculean effort and what’s more he still looked better than I do after a monster bike ride! Before long Dave and Mike’s song ‘Like a Mountain’ (BirdPen is the band's name) was playing over the town square. Inspired by Dave’s ascent of Mont Blanc a few years ago it was a fitting soundtrack to this latest adventure. Words can’t describe the pride and elation we felt at what Dave had achieved and what we’d done as a support team.