The Biggest Week in Trail & Ultra Running is here: This Week's Trail Tally

Runners on the first ascent at UTMB CCC © Sportograf

Chasing Trails: Week 35

Every year, the last week of August turns Chamonix, France, into the global trail and ultra running capital of the world. The Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, a loop of 110 miles and c. 10,000 m of ascent around the Mont Blanc, has captured the hearts of so many trail runners. It brings the world’s elite to Chamonix for multiple races, making it a fantastic event to watch all week long. This year, some runners have prioritised the World Championships instead, but we are still expecting some amazing stories by next week. In the meantime, we’re celebrating UK success at home in the Worlds trials and abroad in the Mountain Running World Cup. 

- Kate Parker, Director - Founder

Nancy Scott and Moray Pryde Claim Up-and-Down Victories

As we reported last week, British Athletics have been testing runners to make their final selection ahead of the World Trail and Mountain Running Championships, taking place in the Spanish Pyrenees at the end of September. 

The up-and-down race will be a classic mountain trial across 15 km with 820 m of ascent. In the UK, runners faced a similar route at Whinlatter Forest, with 14 km run in two laps (and 750 m of climbing). Moray Pryde won an amazing sprint finish over Jacob Adkin (who had won the uphill trial a couple of days before), taking the win in 57:11 (Jacob’s time was 57:12). Third was Felix McGrath (57:22), followed by Andy Douglas (57:49).

The women’s race was won convincingly by Nancy Scott in 69:07, ahead of Kate Maltby (70:38), Sara Willhoit (71:42), and Eve Pannone (72:03).

Start of the women’s up-and-down race © Anne Buckley (Athletics Weekly)

Additionally, in the junior races, runners completed one loop of 7.7 km and 400 m of ascent. Isla Paterson won in 37:12, ahead of Amelie Lane (38:31) and Hania Czebreszuk (38:39). In the men’s race, Thomas Hilton finished victorious in 30:59, followed by Ewan Busfield (31:08) and Jack Sanderson (31:14).

Team GB & NI Squad Confirmed for Worlds

With the uphill and up-and-down trials completed, British Athletics have now announced their full teams for the upcoming World Trail and Mountain Running Championships. A total of 22 athletes will be representing Britain across several disciplines, including some experienced internationals like Scout Adkin (back-to-back winner of the Mountain Running World Cup) and Kris Jones (multiple international selections, recently securing the men’s team silver medal at the European Off-Road Running Championships Up&Down race and the men’s team gold in the Uphill only race). 

For the Uphill race, the women’s team will be made up of Scout Adkin, Kirsty Dickson, Ruth Jones, and Eden O’Dea. The men’s numbers Jacob Adkin, Finlay Grant, Matthew Knowles, and Oscar Subuh-Symons. 

Scout is also anchoring the women’s Classic up-and-down team, where she is joined by Katherine Maltby, Nancy Scott, and Sara Willhoit. The men’s team features Jacob Adkin, Andy Douglas, Lawrence McCourt, and Felix McGrath.

For the juniors, Hania Czebreszuk, Amelie Lane, Isla Paterson, and Jessica Taylor will be competing in the Classic race. They’re joined by Ewan Busfield, Thomas Hilton, Jack Sanderson, and Rowan Taylor on the men’s side. 

The Long Trail event will be 82 km long with 5,700 m of ascent. The team announced earlier this year is only made up of one woman (Lizzie Richardson); the men’s squad numbers Hugh Chatfield, Alastair Graves, Luke Grenfell-Shaw, Jack Scott, Andy Symonds, and Keith Wigley. 

Finally, the Short Trail is a 45 km race with 3,657 m of ascent. It will be tackled by a team of three women: Naomi Lang, Emily Cowper-Coles, and Nichola Jackson. In the men’s team, we have: Bertie Houghton, Joe Wright, Grant Cunliffe, Ben Rothery, Thomas Roach, and Kris Jones. 

Jacob Adkin on his way to victory in the uphill trial © Anne Buckley (Athletics Weekly)

On Top of the Mountain Running World

For the second year in a row, Scout Adkin has claimed the women’s overall WMRA Mountain Running World Cup title. The competition came to a close this past weekend, with the final races taking place in Slovenia. With the best nine race results counting towards the final classification, Scout accumulated 388 points throughout the year in both classic up & down and uphill only events. This makes her the World Cup winner for the second year in a row, having claimed the crown last year as well. She is also the uphill only category winner, second in the classic up & down category, and third in the long distance category. What a series of results for Scout!

Kirsty Dickson, also recently selected to represent Team GB & NI at the World Championships along with Scout, claimed a fantastic third place in the uphill only race in Slovenia. With this result, she finishes fourth in the uphill World Cup. She is also tenth overall in the combined rankings. 

And that’s not everything: Elle Twentyman added to the female British success in the WMRA circuit, placing fifth in the classic up & down classification. And, on the men’s side, Jacob Adkin finishes tenth in the uphill classification. Amazing work from them all!

Kirsty Dickson at the finish of the Velika Planina uphill race © WMRA Instagram

Brit Watch at the UTMB

Looking ahead, all eyes will be on the UTMB World Series Finals, taking place this week in Chamonix, France. The series is made up of a multitude of races under the “by UTMB” banner, which give access to amateurs and elites to collect “running stones” and enter a lottery to participate in the extremely popular final races in Chamonix. The categories include the 50k, 100k, and 100-mile (with distances not always exactly aligned; instead, races are categorised under these three types based on degree of difficulty or amount of elevation, along with the distance). The top runners in each category, in races throughout the year, qualify for automatic entry into one of the finals (the rules are a little more complex, we will maybe do a separate post on that!).

The 50k final, the OCC, takes place on Thursday 28th August and will see runners go from Orsières in Switzerland to Chamonix, across a 57km route with 3,500 m of elevation. The British front runner here is Kris Jones, who returns to the race after finishing 6th last year. Kris is undefeated this year, having won three “by UTMB” 50k races in a row (Kullamannen in Sweden and Arc of Attrition and Ultra-Trail Snowdonia in the UK). Fellow GB international Bertie Houghton will also be on the start line, while in the women’s race, we’ll be watching Chelsea Creak (2023 UK & NL Golden Trail National Series champion). 

The 100k final, the CCC, starts in Courmayeur in Italy on Friday 29th August. It is 101 km long, with 6,050 m of elevation, and covers most of the final part of the full UTMB loop around Mont Blanc. We’ll be watching Luke Grenfell-Shaw and Harry Jones here, while Fiona Pascall enters the women’s race after a fantastic 5th place debut at the Western States 100-miler in June. Elsey Davis and Gemma Hillier Moses are other top ranked British women, fresh off wins at the Arc of Attrition 50-miler for Elsey and a brilliant victory at Chianti Ultra Trail for Gemma. 

And for the main event, the UTMB loops around Mont Blanc in 176 km and 10,000 m of elevation. The biggest names in ultra running line up here and this year is no different. Tom Evans, previous winner of the Western States 100-miler and 3rd at the UTMB in 2022, is a favourite after wins at the Arc of Attrition 50-miler and Tenerife Bluetrail 110k this year. He’ll be challenged by Jonathan Albon, a very experienced runner who has won both the OCC and CCC, stepping up to the 100-mile distance this year after winning the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100k in May. Fellow British elites Josh Wade, Tom Joly, Andy Berry, and Jack Chamberlain are also due to compete. And we’ll be watching top ranked British women Katie Wright, Nikki Arthur, and Rachel Fawcett, too.

Stay tuned for the full debrief next week, including exciting racing in the more junior races, too!

2022 UTMB Men’s Podium ft. Tom Evans © Irunfar.com