UTMB (173km, 10k D+)

I probably should have known in 2019 when I started ultra trail running that it would come to this. Still, despite over-commercialization, huge crowds that I'm typically not a big fan of and Dacia as main sponsor, UTMB's starting line had something magical. On September 1st, I joined almost 3000 participants who were setting out to run, hike and crawl anywhere between 19.37h and 46.30h around the Mont Blanc massif.

My brother P., my girlfriend and I had arrived in the area a couple of days earlier to get acclimatized in the Bauhaus skiing resort of Flaine that was closing down for the off-season. And they were serious about closing down, with no open supermarket, bakery or restaurant remaining on the last day. The weather was fairly cold and rainy, which created snowy conditions for the PTL and TDS that took place a couple of days before the UTMB.

The day before the start, we moved to a small flat just 100m from the finish line in Chamonix, which also turned out to be right across a night club that closed at about 5am. Fortunately, I did not have to sleep there most nights thanks to being out on the trail, unfortunately, my brother and girlfriend did. Bib collection went without hickups, but I misunderstood a guy taking a survey about how often one was planning to change shoes during the race, and said 5 times - don't trust any statistics coming out of 2023's UTMB.

Epic360° Cami de Cavalls Menorca (190km, 4400m D+)

During the build-up to the UTMB, my brother and I decided that we would likely want to escape Germany's dreary November weather and run a race on the Baleares isle of Menorca that both of us had not visited before. 190km and 4400m of climbing at sea level in 3 stages sounded manageable, but we were in for a surprise, particularly as my brother got diagnosed with a stress fracture only days after signing up and making all travel arrangements, which meant that he did virtually no training for the 4 months leading into this event. We definitely went into this event overconfident and under-prepared.

Transvulcania (72km, 4600m D+)

At long last, the time for the race that got me into trailrunning had come. I may have become a little sidetracked on the way, with about 20 races between thinking that running Transvulcania would be nice, and toeing the starting line, but at least I could consider myself well prepared. Transvulcania runs the length of La Palma and then some, starting at the lighthouse of Fuencaliente, crossing the highest peak called "Roque de los Muchachos", dropping down back to sea level and ending in the aptly named Los Llanos ("The plains"), a very hilly city on a very mountaineous island.

Trail du Petit Ballon, Rouffach, France (52km, 2200m D+)

For the first race in 2023, I combined a visit to my parents with a trip to the nearby French Alsace where I had managed to score a 4th place at the Trail du Grand Ballon. This time, my brother and I had signed up for the nearby Trail du Petit Ballon in March, which hosted 4000 starters across all distances and 900 runners in the 52k distance in Rouffach, making it one of the largest trail running events in France.

Mayrhofen Ultraks (51km, 3230m D+)

As a fan of the Zillertal ever since an autumn vacation in Mayrhofen, signing up for the Mayrhofen Ultraks as last race of 2022 was a no-brainer. The manageable distance of 51km also made a finish much more likely than at Courmayeur's TDS, ending the race year on a high note. As the race was part of Austria's National Golden Trail Series, plenty of almost-pro athletes were in the starter field, removing any unnecessary pressure to achieve any top rank. 

TDS (145km, 9100m D+)

This year's supposed running season highlight was the TDS, UTMB's less popular and more rugged redheaded step-brother. Not expecting to actually get a bib through the lottery, my brother and I had signed up just for shits and giggles (cannot let those precious running stones go to waste). But, probably due to a runner having died at the TDS last year, the number of entrants was so small that everybody who applied got in, so there was nothing else for us to do than to buckle up and face a UTMB-like challenge a couple of years ahead of schedule. The TDS starts in Courmayeur and then runs clockwise around the Mont Blanc massif back to Chamonix, with some overlap with the UTMB course in the beginning and the end. With race leaders finishing in about 18h, I thought that I was looking at roughly 27h on the course, which would mean finishing at 3am during the second night. 

KAT100 Marathon Trail, Fieberbrunn, Austria (49k, 2500m D+)

As a tune-up race for this year's main event in August (TDS), I revisited the KAT100 Marathon Trail in Fieberbrunn, near Kitzbühel. The course had been altered somewhat, now covering only 48km and going up the same mountain (Wildseeloder) twice, albeit from different directions. Having done some competitor research ahead of the race, it seemed like my ITRA score could put me on the podium this time, after missing it narrowly at the Trail Grand Ballon by about 2 minutes. I deviated from my normal race strategy of running my own race and rolling up the field from behind accordingly, which did not quite pay the dividends I expected.

Lavaredo Ultra Trail (120km, 5800m D+)

With too much luck in the 2022 draws, the Lavaredo Ultra Trail in Cortina D'Ampezzo was the second out of three 100k+ races me and my brother had foolishly signed up for this year. The course runs through a very scenic part of the Italian Dolomites mountain range, going around the famous Tre Cime di Lavaredo and passing several popular passes in the mountains close to Cortina. While the first half is righfully considered to be mostly runnable, the second part cranks up the difficulty particularly on the downhills. Motivated by missing my target time at the Transgrancanaria by about 4 hours and having to run in the dark twice, I was determined to finish the Lavaredo Ultra Trail way before nightfall within 18 hours which seemed a fair goal given the ITRA score of previous 18h finishers. During the tapering period ahead of the race, again various niggling injuries emerged, of which a tendonitis or inflamed ligament in the left foot was particularly annoying. Even when I was just hiking, I could virtually not do a single step without some level of discomfort. But this would be manageable for 18h, or so I thought.

Trail du Grand Ballon, Le Markstein, France (48km, 2100m D+)

My greatest failure, and yet my greatest triumph... As a break from 120k+ races, I entered the Trail du Grand Ballon 48k race in the Vosges mountains in May, located just about a 1.5h drive from my parent’s place in the Black Forest. With a 7am start (6am for my brother who did the 70k distance), we arrived the night before in an area looking exactly like how I imagined the old GDR to look – dilapidated houses, closed shops, dead dogs in the streets (almost). A pizza of questionable quality from the only local restaurant set us well up for disaster the next day. The next morning, a short drive took us to the starting line on the Markstein, a hilltop about 5k from the eponymous Grand Ballon. One peculiarity of the race is that it starts at almost the highest point, and sends runners into a downhill for about the first 8k. The trail was described as very runnable, which, after my experiences in Gran Canaria, would be a very welcome change of terrain. Seeing my brother off at 6am, I strolled around a bit, visited the excellent mobile toilets (France is decades ahead of Germany when it comes to mobile toilets), and then took a place pretty close to the front of the field.

Transgrancanaria Classic (126km, 6900m D+)

Una meta, un sueno - the motto of the Transgrancanaria translates roughly to "A goal, a nightmare". This race was supposed to be my annual excuse to escape the dark German winter for a sunny spring week on the Canary Islands. As preparation I had bought a training plan from Sage Canaday who was planning to participate as well, but pulled out on short notice (he may have had a dark premonition). This meant twelve 90km+ weeks, run mostly after dark in icy and snowy conditions, so exactly the opposite of what the Transgrancanaria required - or so I thought. The training regimen took its toll - on the last short run two days before flying to Gran Canaria, I had to limp back home as the left foot decided to quit, and various niggling knee and calf injuries appeared during the taper (never trust the taper), so everything was set for a peak performance.

Belfortrail, Giromagny, France (56km, 3000m D+)

Making the most of a week-long stay at my parent’s home in the Black Forest, I joined my brother in a short trip to run the Belfortrail, taking place in early November in the Alsatian’ Vosges near Belfort, just a 2h drive away. Belfortrail starts in the small town of Giromagny and makes a loop over the Ballon D’Alsace and, infamously, up a 400m-of-climbing-in-1k ski slope called Piste Schlumpf (translates to smurf).

Mozart 100, Salzburg, Austria (108km, 4750m D+)

Just 7 days after finishing the CCC in Chamonix, I was back at the starting line of a 100k ultra-race: The Mozart 100 in Salzburg, a 108km/4700m climb course in the scenic Wolfgangsee area. As I hadn’t expected to actually make it into the CCC and only got in through the 3^rd additional draw, my 2021 race planning had included the Mozart 100 as season highlight. After the CCC I was a bit skeptical of recovering quickly enough to have anything remotely resembling an enjoyable experience in Salzburg, but I ended up quite able to walk again after a few days, and the bragging rights for finishing two 100k ultras in 7 days are nothing to be scoffed at. I had run a shorter version of the same course in 2019 (Race report here) , so for more than half of the total distance I was on familiar terrain which I already found to help tremendously in terms of planning and motivation at the CCC. My brother also had signed up for this race, his first 100k after about 8 years.

UTMB CCC, Courmayeur (Italy) - Champex (Switzerland) - Chamonix (France) - (99km, 6200m D+)

And then, suddenly, it was the morning of the 27th of August and the race I had been looking forward to virtually ever since I started running anything longer than a half marathon was about to start. I had picked up a slot for the CCC a couple of months earlier in a first-come-first-served reassignment round, after getting unlucky in the lottery and online contests several times over the course of 2 years. Technically, the 100km Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix race which is part of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc race series came a couple of years ahead of schedule for me, but after two races just a bit short of 80km and 5000m climbing I felt fairly confident that the addition of a half-marathon and a Zugspitz ascent would not completely derail any race, mental or fueling strategy I had cooked up so far. Furthermore, except for the initial climb up the Tête de la Tronche, I already knew all of the course from a 4 day Trail du Mont Blanc speed-hike in 2020, and particularly the first 20km from a week of pre-race acclimatization hiking around Courmayeur.

KAT100 Marathon Trail, Fieberbrunn, Austria (61k, 3150m D+)

The KAT 100 Marathon trail is part of a larger trail running event in the Austrian Kitzbühl-Fieberbrunn area with the eponymous KAT100 100 mile run as headliner. Attracted by the relative proximity to Munich and never having been in this particular area of the Alps, my brother and I decided to give this race a shot. For me this early August race was supposed to serve as a preparation for the CCC in late August which I was fortunate to enter through a last minute first come first served signup process in June.

Dolomites Ultra Trail, Brixen, Italy (72k, 4100m D+)

I learned about the Brixen Dolomites Ultra Trail from a Facebook post in which a fellow runner was looking for a team partner as his original choice had deserted him. The race, which can only be run as a team, goes through areas I’m somewhat familiar with from previous vacations, so I thought that it was the right opportunity for me and my brother for a very extended and long 18h hike, getting back to Brixen in time for the award ceremony. However, my brother took the easy way out by rupturing a ligament for the third time in two years three weeks ahead of the race, so now I was the one looking for a running blind date in ultra-runner Facebook groups. Fortunately, I quickly found a former Iron Man triathlete who had started venturing into ultrarunning a couple of years ago, completing iconic races such as the UTMB and Tor Des Geants. Thus, I thought that if anybody needed carrying or convincing to finish, it was going to be me.

Chiemgau Trail Run, Übersee, Germany (56k, 2600m D+)

At long last, my first race in Germany (not counting a 10k in 2010), and on partly familiar trails as well. Located just a 1h train ride from Munich, I had visited the mountainous area South of the Chiemsee many times over the years, and ran parts of the route of the Chiemgau Trail only this summer, so I was starting with something what I considered to be a home turf advantage. Making it to the starting line at 5am in Übersee turned out to be trickier than expected, though, and fortunately bibs were sent by mail, rather than collected in a different town 10k from the start on the previous evening which would have required hours of additional transit. While the race was initially supposed to hit the Kampenwand peak and the Hochgern, snow and bad weather led the organizers to switch to a shorter, lower and less exposed route.

Innsbruck Alpine Trail Festival, Austria (61k, 1900m D+)

Although the Corona pandemic has put a stop to most trail running events, some smaller races in less affected (or cautious) places are still taking place in 2020. We had initially planned the Mozart 100 in Salzburg as our main event for the year, but its cancellation freed up time to hike the UTMB trail in 4 days in June (still images video). We also signed up on short notice for the Innsbruck Alpine Trail Run festival, offering several routes from 7km to 110km around Innbruck. IATF touts itself as the big trail running season opening, but postponement due to the pandemic has turned it into more of a season closer. While a fair amount of the courses are on asphalt and gravel forest roads, there is still a surprising amount of easy trails to be ran. Not feeling up for the maximum challenge, I opted for the 61k/1900m D+ medium distance, while my brother did the 42k/1700m D+ course.

Columbus Grand Trail, Santa Maria, Azores (77k, 3700m D+)

As we missed out on the S1 Trail Corsa della Bora in Trieste this year my brother and I decided to test the Winter climate on the Azores and signed up for the Columbus Grand Trail which takes you fully around the island of Santa Maria and to its highest peak (Pico Alto, 587m). Despite the onset of the Corona virus panic and plenty of stranded Chinese tourists in Portugal, we got to the starting point in Vila do Porto on Santa Maria without issues on the evening before the race (daily flights go from Lissabon to Ponta Delgada and from there to Santa Maria and other Azores islands).

Großglockner Trail, Kaprun, Austria (48k, 2100m D+)

After spending 2 weeks in Slovenia hiking the Triglav National Park as summer vacation, making a quick stop at the Großglockner Ultra Trail on the drive back to Germany seemed like the obvious thing to do. I had already collected the 6 ITRA points necessary for my (unsuccessful) 2020 CCC lottery entry, so I considered this as an opportunity to try my hand at a very scenic longer (75km) ultra with plenty of climb (4000m D+) on very difficult terrain, running through the Großglockner massif from Kals to Kaprun.

Mozart 100 Ultra, Salzburg, Austria (63k, 2000m D+)

After the Ultra Blue Island, I had tendon issues for several weeks and consulted a orthopedist who couldn't find anything wrong with me other than the known fallen arches, flat/kink foot and the idea of running more than 20km non-stop. By now, I had set my eyes on qualifying for the CCC in 2020 as I felt like I hadn't hit peak suffering yet, and needed 3 more ITRA points to enter the lottery. Thus, the Mozart 100 Ultra in Salzburg looked like an ideal opportunity given the proximity to Munich, the flat race profile (2000m of climb) and short distance (64km) for 3 ITRA points. The Mozart 100 race starts in Salzburg's downtown Kapitelplatz, then leads to Fuschl am See (the eponymous Fuschlsee), and around the lake and over the Nockstein back to Salzburg.