The streets of Chamonix are slowly turning blue, fashionable clothes have been exchanged for sweatpants, and shirts with trail run prints from all over the world. Prada and Gucci have made way for Hoka and Salomon. Barriers block roads full of cars with licence plates from all around Europe. Wherever you go, you hear the voice of the speaker echoing through the streets. There is no escape anymore, it is UTMB week.
Like a tornado, it’s building up slowly. This Monday you can still walk through the streets relatively unhindered. This is the day of the TDS (Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie – following the footprints of the Dukes of Savoie, the 148 kilometres race (9.300m+) that starts tonight in Courmayeur. This is the day of the start of the PTL (La Petite Trotte a Leon), the 300k (25.000m+) unmarked grand tour of Mont-Blanc. And this is the day of the MCC (Martigny-Combe to Chamonix), the 40k (2.350m+) race where the volunteers and locals can get a taste of the UTMB.
Little ones
But mainly this is the day for the little ones. The day the crowds are still limited, so they can stand alongside the trail to collect sweaty, muddy high fives. It’s a trail run thing. Tradition. This summer is a summer full of sport. I’ve watched the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. I didn’t see Tadej Pogačar, or Jonas Vingegaard turn around after a stage win to high five spectators. At the Olympics none of the gymnasts, hundred metre sprinters or synchronised swimmers gave high fives to the crowd. They waved, some smiled. That’s it.
I think it’s what makes trail running so unique. You can be like me, a runner who tries to beat the cut off times, instead of the course record, yet you stand side by side with the big names on the same start line. Imagine doing that at the Tour de France. Standing 10 metres behind Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel or Filippo Ganna to race alongside them.
No fans welcome
And I’m not even talking about football players. They are far away, somewhere on a pitch, doing their thing. Nowadays they even train, behind closed doors. No fans welcome. If you’re lucky after the match they will come and thank the crowd. Most of the time however, they just run inside.
A couple of years ago, Sara and I went to see Barcelona play. The stadium was packed. Around us were fans from Sweden, Germany, Asia and the Middle East. All for one man: Lionel Messi. And what did Messi do, at the end of the match? He ran inside. He didn’t even give the audience a second glance. Messi didn’t give a shit about fans who had travelled more than a day to see him play. Luis Suárez, Gerard Pique, they took the time to thank the fans. Messi made his only sprint of that evening; to the locker room. Away from those who one day wanted to be him.
Sharing the passion
That’s unthinkable in trail running. The ultra athletes run for twenty hours or more, spend the night in the rain in the mountains, but when they come in, they high five the crowd. Celebrate with them. Share their passion for the trails with them. They still know, once they were that little kid, standing close to the finish line, collecting sweaty high fives.
