Wildstrubel (Switzerland) has changed the routes of the Wild 70 and Wild 110 due to the difficult weather conditions on the initial courses. The new course of the UTMB World Series race will stay completely on the Valais side of the Wildstrubel mountain range. It also means that the Wild 110, officially a 100 miles race (110 kilometres, with 6.000 metres of elevation), will now be 72 kilometres long, with 3,700 metres of elevation. The same as the Wild 70.

Up to 40 centimetres of snow is expected at some altitudes, making several sections of the course hardly traversable and creating increased risks of falls and slips. Furthermore, a North-North-East facing head wind, with gusts of wind up to 45-50 kilometres per hour, combined with temperatures of minus five -5°C, feeling like -12°C to -15°C, are also forecasted.

Too dangerous

Several particularly difficult and technical sections of the initial course of the Wild 110 would thus become delicate to go through, notably the descent on Kandersteg and the one after Bunderchrinde pass. On top of that, there is a high chance of reduced visibility with possible presence of ground fog during Saturday morning, making any helicopter rescue impossible for high altitudes.

The highest ranked runner at the Wild 110 is Jérôme Vanderschaeghe (Belgium). The Belgium Asics runner was second last year at the Restonica Trail 100 miles race. Tristan Blanchard and Urs Jenzer (both Swiss) also have a UTMB Index score above 800.

Fiona Pascall favourite

Fiona Pascall (Great Britain) is the big favourite in the women’s race. She won the Mozart 100 in Austria, earlier this year. Her biggest competitor is Kristyna Cerna (Tsjech Republic), who starts with bib number one. The question is, is the Boa Trail runner recovered from the UTMB CCC, where she finished as number 23? That she can be fast, she proved at Lavaredo, by finishing third at the 79k race, and by winning Istria 100 (69,5k, 2,237m+).

Archive photo UTMB