Top Contenders at CCC and UTMB in Chamonix

Published August 31, 2023 12:13PM

The two biggest events of the UTMB World Series Final—the CCC 100K and UTMB 170K—begin on Friday, September 1. Here’s a rundown of each race with course profiles, who to watch, how to track and expected finishing times.

CCC

The CCC starts in two waves deep in the valley of Courmayeur, Italy. Runners begin the race on winding roads through the city. They then start the first of seven steep climbs on the course, traversing a few zigzags into a forest to begin a massive, 3,500-foot climb on singletrack trails to Tete de la Trionche (8,408 feet) at the 10K point.

From there, it’s a long downhill then a long, flat, rolling section that leads to the moderate switchbacking climb up and over the Grand Col Ferret (8,287 feet) on the Italy/Switzerland border. After a rolling section through La Fouly and down to Praz de Fort (3,713 feet), runners begin the climb to the Champex Lac aid station (4,819 feet). After that, there are three big climbs left on the way through Trient, Vallorcine, and the La Flégère ski resort before the descent back onto the city streets of Chamonix.

Women

Top Contenders

The top three women in the field based on their UTMB Index rankings are Spain’s Azara Garcia (HG-Almsport), Sweden’s Ida Nilsson (Craft), and USA’s Addie Bracie (Nike). Azara won the Transgrancanaria 100K in the Canary Islands in February and the Val d’Aran by UTMB 100K in Spain in July. Nilsson won the Canyons 100K and placed seventh in the Western States 100-miler in Auburn, California, then, two weeks ago, won the Vasalopeet Ultravasan 100K in Sweden. Bracy, meanwhile, placed fifth at the Canyons 100K and took third at the Speedgoat 50K in Utah in late July.

“I’ve never done a race with this much climbing, so I’m excited about that,” Bracy says. “It’s going to be fucking hard. To race through three countries and race good people—there’s no room for error, which is cool.”

Unlike many of her competitors who spent much of the summer training in the Alps, Bracy stayed in Colorado where she put in big days around Leadville. Her performance will add another data point to the never-ending question for American athletes: do you have to train in the Alps to race well in the Alps?

Others to Watch

Other top runners include Priscilla Forgie (Canada), Emily Hawgood (South Africa), Emmiliese Von Avis (U.S.), Hannah Osowski (U.S.), Paulina Tracz (Poland), Yuri Yoshizumi (Japan), Helen Mino Faukner (U.S.), Rosansa Buchauer (Germany), and Erin Clark (U.S.).

Men

Top Contenders

The UK’s Jonathan Albon returns to the CCC after a runner-up finish last year and a win in 2022. Most recently, he was fifth in the 50K race at the world championships in Austria and second at the Fjällmaratonveckan Årefjällen 20K race in Finland, in late July. He’ll be challenged by China’s Jiasheng Shen, who was fourth at CCC last year and fourth at the Western States 100 this year. American Dakota Jones, who won the Transvulcania La Palma Island 100K in May, started strong but faded to 17th at the Western States 100 in June.

“It’s fun to be here,” Jones says. “I just came to the UTMB in 2011 when I dropped out. And then I came back in 2014 and I dropped out. I haven’t run one of these races since then. 100K for CCC is more of my sweet spot. It’s going to be incredibly competitive and incredibly hard. I’ll do my best.”

Others to Watch

Other top runners include Andreas Reiterer (Italy), Andreu Simon Aymerich (Spain), Seth Ruhling (U.S.), Longfei Yan (China), Janosch Kowalczyk (German), Drew Holmen (U.S.), Jonathan Rea (U.S.), David Laney (U.S.), Justin Grunewald (U.S.), and Eric LiPuma (U.S.).

UTMB

The biggest race of the year both in size and scope, the UTMB starts on the city streets of Chamonix’s pedestrian mall that’s lined with thousands of spectators. It runs on rolling roads through the valley to the ski town of Les Houches, where it begins the first of 10 significant climbs over Col de Voza (5,500 feet) down into St. Gervais and Les Contamines. There are four more climbs up and over 8,000 feet during the night, before the massive descent into the Courmayeur aid station (81K/50 miles) in the early morning hours.

After a steep climb out of Courmayeur, there’s a fast, mostly flat section through Italy that leads to the moderate switchbacking climb up and over the Grand Col Ferret (8,287 feet) on the Italy/Switzerland border. Then there’s a long rolling section through La Fouly and down to Praz de Fort (3,713 feet), where runners begin the climb to the Champex Lac aid station (4,819 feet). After that, there are three big climbs left on the way through Trient, Vallorcine, and the La Flégère ski resort before the descent back onto the city streets of Chamonix. History has shown that the UTMB men’s race is typically decided after Champex Lac, but the women’s race is often decided in Italy before Grand Col Ferret.

Women

Top Contenders

Courtney Dauwalter (U.S.) is attempting to add to her already amazing year that has included record-setting wins at the Western States 100 and Hardrock 100. Just six weeks after Hardrock, she’s still the presumptive favorite based on her back-to-back UTMB wins in 2019 and 2021. Hungary’s Eszter Csillag, who was fifth at UTMB last year and third at Western States this year, could one of the the top challengers, as well as Blandine L’Hirondel (France), a two-time trail running world champion, and Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth, who was second in the 78K at this year’s world championships.

After taking ninth at Western States this year, Leah Yingling (U.S.) is one of four from the top 10 at Western States 100 who will try and thread the needle of the Western States-UTMB double.

“I feel recovered and mentally ready to go, which I think is most important,” Yinglang says. “Months ago, I would have told you that I did not think it was a terribly competitive UTMB,” Yinglang says. “Now I think it’s really competitive. It’s evolved a lot, I think, since Western States.”

Others to Watch

Amanda Basham (U.S.), Sabrina Stanley (U.S.), Anna Carlson (Sweden), Claudia Tremps (Spain), Alisa Macdonald (Canada), Luzia Buehler (Switzerland), Manon Bohard Cailler (France), Taylor Nowlin (U.S.), Lucy Bartholomew (Australia), Fuzhou Xiang (China), Maite Maiora (Spain), and Martina Valmassoi (Italy).

Men

Top Contenders

Jim Walmsley (U.S.) is one of the leading contenders after a fourth-place finish last year and a win at the Istria 100, but Mathieu Blanchard (France) returns after his breakthrough second-place finish at UTMB last year. He struggled a bit in the heat at Western States 100 but still managed a solid sixth-place finish. Sweden’s Petter Engdahl, who lives in Norway but has spent the summer in France, won last year’s CCC 100K in course-record time and placed third in the 2021 OCC 50K. Now he’s running the 2023 UTMB as his first 100 miler. Germany’s Hannes Namberger was a DNF at UTMB last year, but he placed sixth in 2021 and 12th at CCC in 2019. Zach Miller (U.S.) has run strong at UTMB several times, most recently last year when he finished fifth. Tom Evans, this year’s Western States 100 champion, has been a force in recent years, winning CCC in 2018, placing third at UTMB last year, and winning the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 50K in Wales in May.

“I’m excited to race,” Evans says. When I got to UTMB last year, I was pretty mentally fatigued. This year I’m excited to spend time in the mountains.” While Evans acknowledges the Western States-UTMB double is difficult to prepare for, nailing the first one comes with the added bonus of the pressure being lifted off of UTMB.

Others to Watch

Jonas Russi (Switzerland), Jean-Philippe Tschumi (Switzerland), Ben Dhiman (U.S.), Miguel Heras (Spain), Adrian MacDonald (U.S.), Pau Capell (Spain), Jiaju Zhao (China), Tyler Green (U.S.), Benat Marmissolle (France), Thibault Garrivier (France), Ludovic Pommeret (France), Jason Schlarb (U.S.), and Tim Tollefson (U.S.).