We protect what we love

FRIDAY . 30. 09. 22.

Good morning and happy Friday folks!

This week’s newsletter is hosted by friend of FWP and ultra-runner Lou Clifton. Lou has recently returned from Europe, where she competed in one of the best-known trail races in the world - UTMB. Lou completed the 171 km course, with 10,000m elevation gain, in 30 hours and 21 minutes (I don’t think I’ve ever stayed up that long - not doing anything 😂) placing 1st in her age group (50-54), 17th female and 1st Australian.

Here is Lou’s race report and Q&A. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

🏃🏻‍♀️ ⛰ 🏃🏻‍♀️ ⛰

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 is despite being regarded as one of the hardest mountain races, following the Tour de Mount Blanc walking track for 171km and with more than 10,000m or elevation (and descent) through France, Italy and Switzerland.

I’d never had UTMB high on my bucket list of races as I'm a fan of smaller, lower-key, quirky events. But in 2019 I had a couple of good race results in the Ultra Trail World Tour 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 Of course, COVID put a stop to that and by 2022 Ultra Trail World Tour had been replaced by the UTMB series, I still had my entry but didn’t qualify for a free entry.

An early climb

We planned a four-month trip to encompass seeing my family in the UK (my last visit being 2019), the Mozart race in Austria as a ‘warm-up race’, training in Spain with friends and a lot of training on the course.

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. Some friends came to help crew so we were on!

The only issue now was my knee, which had been causing me problems for close to a year. 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.

Startlines are always nerve-wracking but UTMB is something else. The crowds, music and energy were intense! I was able to start in a pen behind the top runners, so there was plenty of 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. 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 goal was to podium in my age group (50-54) and knew there were strong women in that category. I also hoped to run under 30hrs. Somehow through the race, I moved from around 27th to under 20. I passed a few women but many dropped out. I could only see my crew for assistance at 5 of the 15 aid stations and had told them not to bother with the first two at 20km and 30km as they were too hard to get to with the crowds and road closures. So I first saw them at the 80km mark. 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, often sitting down for a few minutes to empty my pockets to see what I needed to still eat.

Champex aid station at 126kms.

Q&A WITH LOU CLIFTON

How do you train for the elevation and altitude in Australia (without the use of acclimatisation chambers)? Is it even possible?

I did most of my specific training overseas but I have trained for many races with a lot of elevation in Australia. It is hard to get the very long climbs eg 1000m+ here so I would usually be aiming for a certain amount of elevation in a long training run which would then mean more ups and downs if the climbs are shorter. Luckily, I haven't had any issues with altitude luckily. I live at 1000m already which helps. In a previous race in Switzerland, I stayed at 2000m for a few days to try to acclimatise. In UTMB the highest point was around 2,500m but once you get up there you come down again so you are not at altitude for long periods of time.

Vallorcine aid station with Steve - only 28kms to go.

What did your race nutrition look like? Did you have a specific plan and how well did you stick to it?

I aim for a certain amount of carbs per hour and get that from a mix of sports drinks, gels, dried fruit and bars, In UTMB I didn't have any gels and ate more bars as I have had some crippling nausea in a few races and was trying to avoid that by eating more 'real' food. I couldn't have crew until 80km in so I carried food for 50km and then used the aid stations. I stuck to my plan pretty well for about 100km then I couldn't really think straight so I tried to empty my pockets at the aid stations and eat as much as I had in them as was hard to eat whilst climbing with poles. I didn't eat as much as planned.

Approaching that finish line.

How do you think races like UTMB and UTA can foster greater equality and inclusion, such as encouraging more women or minority groups (such as people of colour, disability, LGBTQI+), to participate?

UTMB 100-mile race still has a very low percentage of female runners compared with men. I guess generally increasing the profile of different minority groups and women, by featuring their stories, would help. Showing that it is achievable for many people, not just elite male runners and showcasing how different people have trained for and achieved their goals inspires others to give it a go. 

Lou’s amazing crew.

How do you balance managing an injury with an upcoming deadline of a race? And when do you make the difficult call to not start?

A tricky question as there are many factors to consider. I had a knee injury and it was painful in almost all my training runs. If I was in Australia perhaps I would not have raced - last year when I had ongoing hamstring tendinopathy I pulled out of several races. With the tendon injuries, I had lost fitness and had pain so there was no point in trying to race. For UTMB I felt fit again but had pain, which was frustrating but I knew if the pain was manageable I had the fitness to race, even if it was impacted by the pain (which it was). .We were overseas to see my family and for UTMB so in this case, I had to start and try, knowing I may have to pull out if the pain was too bad. The other consideration is the longer-term consequences of racing on an injury and with my knee issue, I was confident I wouldn't remake it any worse. If that wasn't the case I would not have raced.

🏃🏻‍♀️ ⛰ 🏃🏻‍♀️ ⛰

And that's it for another week! Today is your last chance to become a FWP Founding Member before 1st October when we will be winding up the 'Founding' part!

As always, thank you for your continued support. We hope you have a great weekend exploring and celebrating wild places.

Lou, Elanor & the For Wild Places team

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UPCOMING EVENTS

16/10 TRS Silvan | event info

20/11 Great Forest Trail Marathon, Healsville | register

11/02 Trail First Aid Course, Arthurs Seat | register

25/02 takyana Trail, Waratah, Tasmania | register



We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This email was written on Gagigal lands. To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.