GLORIOUS RESULT FOR CLIFTON AT UTMB 170KM

Kate Dzienis • Oct 01, 2022

Contributed by Lou Clifton, AURA member

UTMB 170km, CHAMONIX (FRANCE), 26 August 2022

UTMB is probably one of the best known trail races in the world. Started in 2003, its popularity quickly soared from 700 entrants to now over 2,500. This despite being regarded as one of the hardest mountain races, following the Tour du Mount Blanc walking track for 171km and with more than 10,000m of elevation (and descent) through France, Italy and Switzerland.

I’d never had UTMB high on my bucket list of races as I really like smaller, lower key and more quirky events. But in 2019 I had a couple of good race results in the Ultra Trail World Tour (1st female at Cappadocia Ultra Trail and 2nd at Ultra Trail Mount Fuji) and was offered an entry to UTMB in 2020. Of course COVID put a stop to that and by 2022 Ultra Trail World Tour had been replaced by the UTMB series, I still had my entry but also a knee injury following a year of hamstring tendon issues.

We planned a four month trip to encompass seeing my family in the UK, the Mozart 100 in Austria as a ‘warm up race’, training in Spain with friends and a lot of training on the UTMB. When my husband was hit by a car whilst cycling to the first aid station in the Austria race everything was up in the air. He spent a month in hospital with bad injuries and in between daily visits I carried on training in Salzburg on the city flats and mountainous surrounds. We decided to go to France (via Italy where we spent a few nights with my amazing coach and her family) and see how we felt. I carried on training, running all of the UTMB course over a couple of weeks. Then our amazing friends Annie and Matt came to help Steve crew, so we were on! The only issue now was my knee. Having had good training runs and really painful ones, I decided I had to start and be prepared to pull out if the pain was too bad.

Start lines are always nerve wracking but UTMB is next level. The crowds, music and energy was intense! I was able to start in a pen behind the faster runners’ pen so there was space and it wasn’t too crowded when we took off. There were plenty of women passing me in the first 20km but with a very long race ahead I focused on running my race at my pace. The route pretty much goes up and down mountains for 170km and I had done all the climbs, which helped although at night following the fluorescent markers up, some of the climbs seemed way longer than in training. My main outcome goal (other than finishing) was to podium in my age group (50-54) but I knew there were strong women in my category. I also hoped to run under 30hrs.

I could only see my crew for assistance at five of the 15 aid stations and had told them not to bother with the first two as they were hard to reach. So I first saw Steve, Annie and Matt at 80km, Courmayer. I spent a bit of time eating, changing socks and getting ready for the next leg. Later I saw I had spent 20 minutes which is 18 more minutes than I usually spend at aid stations! I was quite slow in the aid stations in this race as I rarely had crew to hurry me up, often sitting down for a few minutes to empty my pockets to see what I needed to still eat. If I did it again, I would definitely move through faster.

I had times in mind for some aid stations, both for my crew and for me to target sub30. I was a little way behind at Courmayer but by the time I got to Champex at 126.5km I had lost my ability to do basic maths and had no idea how I was tracking (I was about an hour behind my best case goal). The last climb (which I had done twice in training) was difficult in the dark and I wasn’t looking forward to the rocky technical section across the top and equally difficult descent with wrecked quads and a knee that had had hated every downhill from the start. I thought I was looking at 32 hours as my watch had stopped. When I finally reached the finish I was shocked to be told 30:21 but annoyed with myself for not being more on top of the timing and quicker at the aid stations! Seeing Steve, Annie and Matt there and celebrating together was one of the best moments of my life. Sharing the experience with amazing friends was an incredible motivation and with everything Steve had been through, picturing his face when I finished gave me such good energy throughout the race. I finished 17th female in a highly competitive field, first Aussie home and 1st in the 50-54 age category, so got to go on stage the next day to be given a huge metal cow bell, which was the cherry on top and fantastic for us all to experience together.

Pictured: Lou Clifton (2nd from left) with her crew at the finish line. Photograph – Supplied.

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