Swiss Alps 100 race

My journey to the Swiss Alps 100 race started when I applied to enter UTMB through the lottery system. I didn’t get a place, but had pre-booked a hotel in Courmayeur, Italy just-in-case.

When it was clear I wasn’t doing UTMB, I looked for other similiar races, and found the Swiss Alps 100 race. I managed to change my hotel’s booking date, and get a larger room so that the whole family could come along with me. Our plan was to enjoy Courmayeur for a couple of weeks and then I would drive to Switzerland (about 2.5 hours to Fiesch, where the race was held from).

Race weekend soon came, and I set off in our family car, taking the Mont Blanc tunnel out of Courmayeur, through Chamonix, and across to Switzerland. I was headed to registration, the day before the race started.

Unfortunately shortly after passing the French-Swiss border, the car started to shudder going up hill right near the crest of a long uphill. I stopped to check things over but couldn’t see any obvious issue. The descent going down would take me to the town of Martigny.

On the drive down the problem became clear. Brakes. The front pads had completely broken down and the calipers were now touching the discs, metal-on-metal. Squeeling and heat eminating from the front wheels, I kept the car in low gear all the way down the 10km of switch-backs till I reached Martigny.

Thankfully I found a mechanic who helped book the vehicle in. He was even kind enough to drive me to a phone shop to get a new SIM card for my phone (apparently my provider in the UK, iD mobile thought it would be fine to charge me £15 per MB of data in Switzerland! (The rest of Europe was free).

After the SIM card, I got the quote to fix everything. Including brakes, I needed new front tyres too. £850 was the damage.

Next, I had no car, so I took the bus in Martigny-Combe to the main train station, where I caught a train to Fiesch. The trains were great! Perfectly on time, and efficient.

Swiss Alps 100 race registration

A little exhausted, I made it to registration with some time to still spare. Thankfully I had left earlier enough from Italy that morning.

At registration I checked in my drop bags and made sure I had everything I needed. I also met Jeff Pelletier and his partner Audrée. Jeff was also running the 100 mile race.

Next up, to the hotel. I took the train (2 minutes) to Fiesch main town along with my bag and checked into my hotel. There was nobody there yet, but there were notes saying to wait around for reception to re-open and help myself to food/drinks in the main eating area, and to just note down what I owed.

After check-in, I walked back into town and had an early evening meal. Trying to get an early night, I struggled to sleep that evening, but did eventually get some sleep. The hotel prepared a pre-packed breakfast for myself and a few other runners who were staying. We were all up at about 4am eating breakfast together.

One couple offered me a lift so I wouldn’t have to walk to the race (1.5 miles). He was doing the 100 mile, and his partner was doing the VK (Vertical K race). Thank you Rasmus and partner!

Swiss Alps 100 race start

Finally, the race start! I met up Gareth Jones, another runner from Wales whom I had met once before when we raced the OTT Ultra last year.

Soon we headed off. A short section of tarmac, and then into the first long climb (about 1000 meters of elevation gain in the first 7km or so).

Partnering up and increasing beauty on the trail

I met with fellow runner Brian, also from the UK. We got along really well and as it would turn out, spent at least 12 to 16 hours running together that day and into the night.

The beauty of the course kept ratcheting up notches as we went on, but so did the heat as the sun reached it’s apex.

The trails were technical, but we made good forward progress, and enjoyed the first suspension bridge of the race too!

I was excited to see some traditional houses along this part of the course. They’re built on big foundations of rock and stone, with the wooden part above.

Belalp and the out-and-back

We reached Belalp aid station, where the course sent us on an out-and-back loop which would take a few hours, reaching the highest point on the course (at about 2800 meters above sea level).

We passed a few still-frozen sections, and stopped every now and then to fill our hats with water from the rivers to dunk our heads and cool us off.

On the way down we saw Valais Blacknose sheep, which I had never seen before.

Onward toward the Aletsch glacier

Soon we had our first proper glimpse of the Aletsch glacier.

There was still a lot of distance to cover before we could run alongside the glacier though.

Next up I remember we ran to the Stausee Gibidum resevoir. A massive dam in canton of Valais.

The climb back up and out of the reservoir was brutal. It was short distance-wise, but extremely steep, with about 700-800 meters of vertical gain. There was little to no wind here too, and the sweat was literally pouring off of me as I made my way up the switchbacks.

An aid station and many more miles later we were finally enjoying the Aletsch glacier.

Brian stopped for a rest or short nap, and I continued on for a bit. Another runner Johannes, had also stopped for a short nap before the sun went down (he had not had much sleep the night before).

I enjoyed the technical trails alongside the glacier. The sun was getting very low, and the temperature started to drop rapidly.

Into the night

The next aid station came soon after branching away from the glacier. An American family (I think from New York as I recall speaking with them) were looking after things at this aid station. They were very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately their gas supply had run out, so the soup was cold at the aid-station, just as it was getting cold outside!

However, I helped myself to crisps and sweets and set off just behind two American guys (who lived were living in the UK). The next section had a steep and technical downhill which went on for a long time. The three of us ran together making good progress. Half way down we had to put head torches on as the sun finally disappeared.

We ran many hours together through the night. Some sections were cold, some were hot, depending on how sheltered the areas were from the wind. We took on more brutal climbs after the suspension bridge.

The rest of the night section is a real blur for me. It was a case of just making forward progress. It was tough. My body was pretty exhausted, and my right-calf issue I had going into the race was still lingering and making itself known with tightness in the area.

I remember passing various aid stations through the night, seeing water fountains in random villages we passed through, and having a section at one point that was extra wet and slippery with horrible camber. I rolled my ankle twice within 2 minutes at one stage.

At one point the three of us passed a tree-mounted motion detecting camera that took our pictures. I was completely startled and blinded by the sudden flash. I thought the photo that I received showing my startled expression was hilarious.

At another point my Garmin watch completely lost it’s GPS signal, and the arrow on the map face just went on in a straight line with the GPX line drifting further away. It didn’t matter too much though as I had the backup map / tracking app on my phone and via my shoulder mounted GPS device sending updates, I could see I was on the right path.

There was eventually a cross-over point where the race crossed paths with another section of the course. It was not clear at all which way to go, and there was no sign indicating the correct point to take. I guessed the general direction to go, and had to check the map tracker again after 1km to make sure I had picked correctly. Thankfully I had! (Many others at the next checkpoint complained about having the same indecisive point!)

Morning again

In the early hours of the morning the sun finally illuminated the mountains in the distance.

Another brutal climb was dealt with, and I found myself at the Chäserstatt aid station. The volunteers here were great, and were cooking hot chips (and optional eggs) for all the runners.

Onward to Binn

The next section of the race had a diversion in place due to previous months’ bad rain and washed away trail. The diversion took us through a valley and up yes, another brutal climb to the top of Eggerhorn.

At the top of Eggerhorn I had to take off my warm clothes and get back into a t-shirt. The sun was baking hot already.

The long downhill section was constant switch-backs, with an initial steep and very slippery technical trail section. The worn-in trail was very narrow singletrack and consisted of dry, dusty dirt and small rounded gravel. Very easy to slip on.

I had to take this bit slowly, as well as the switch backs, however as I got lower down and closer to Binn I was able to speed up. By the time I reached the bottom I was at about 110km of distance run so far, with around 7000m of elevation (both up and down). Another 50km to go, with 3000m more elevation.

Binn aid station and retiring from the race

Entering Binn aid station, I was hot and exhausted. I hadn’t slept yet, and my plan had been to find a quiet corner here to sleep for 20 minutes.

Unfortunately the aid station was not conducive to rest. There was loud music blasting from the speakers outside the aid station, and tons of people not actually racing (volunteers and perhaps a mix of others related to the volunteers). The aid station was hot, messy, and crowded inside.

The lead medical person/aid station hand came up to me and started said something to the effect of ‘make sure you’re 100% ok to go on from here because the next section is very technical and you need your focus etc…’

I got angry (inside). He had immediately put a dent in my ‘shield’ by saying this. When we’re pushing through hard challenges like this, we need every ounce of self-confidence we can get. It’s a tough thing to do, and the mind tries to use every excuse in the book to get you to stop and DNF.

Besides what he had said, I could not find anywhere to nap. He suggested finding a bench somewhere in the village, but I found nowhere quiet or suitable. Additionally, a bunch of the volunteers outside the aid station were smoking, and the smoke was blowing inside the building which was really annoying me (along with the mess and loud music).

I started running to the next aid station (named Tunnel) where I hoped to find a place to rest on the trail.

Finishing

Combined issues and with dented confidence I made the (incorrect in hindsight) impulse decision to pull out of the race just before I got to the tunnel checkpoint. I ran back to Binn, and handed in my tracker.

I found a bus back to Fiesch and managed to collect one of my drop bags.

From there I had to then go fetch my luggage from the hotel where I had stayed (they let me store it there even though I was not booked in). I couldn’t find any accomodation in Fiesch either – everything was fully booked.

So it was back on the train for me, where I headed to Martigny. I booked a hotel for the night on the way there. Thankfully, I was also able to contact the mechanic with my vehicle, and he was happy to meet me on Sunday morning to hand over our fixed car.

£850 later (which in itself was a mission to find as the mechanic preferred cash payment!) I got the vehicle back. The mechanic drove me around town to various ATMs where I withdrew money – they were limited in how much they could deal out, so we had to visit 2 different ones.

Final stats from Strava were 113km covered with 7000m of climbing and descending. I had moved a little slower than I would have liked, but had to be careful with my previous calf strain. I wasn’t sure if it had fully recovered or not, and it had been tight the whole race. Turns out the calf healed up fine and a month or so later (as I’m writing this post) it is now feeling normal again.

Back to Courmayeur

Thankfully the car drove beautifully, and the brakes were sound. I drove back the 2-3 hours from Martigny to Courmayeur. Along the way I picked up two hitchikers (at 2 x different points). They were clearly hikers with backpacks, so I was happy to help them out.

Arriving back at our hotel in Courmayeur, I was very happy to see my family and relax. We spent the next couple of days enjoying the mountains and activities before beginning our journey back to Wales.

Hindsight

In hindsight I should not have given up at Binn/Tunnel aid station. I should have ignored the guy who dented my confidence too. I’ve dealth with much more technical challenges than what was still to come (I’m looking at you Crib Goch!)

Additionally, Brian, whom I had spent many hours running with, came rolling through Binn aid station as I was handing back my tracker. He tried to convince me to join along with him at that point, but my mind had already been set.

He did amazingly well to go on to finish the race later on.

Overall, the race was well organised, and the aid stations were great (except for Binn, in my opinion). The race director was very responsive and helpful leading up to the race, and the volunteers were all super friendly and helpful. (I just wish they didn’t smoke at the aid stations!)

If I can I will go back and finish the 100 mile Swiss Alps 100 race next year, however I have just been invited to do the Tour du Mont Blanc over 5 days in July with two other friends, so I’m not sure I’ll have the funds/capacity to do the Swiss Alps race again so soon in August. It’s a lot of money for entry, so I need to be strategic with race and event entries. At least the TMB is free to do, and accomodation should be reasonable!