The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® 's big week is here

Race news: The North Face® Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc® - Chamonix, August 26 - September 1, 2013

The The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® 's big week is here. It starts is on Monday, August 26 with the the Petite Trotte à Léon™. France, Italy and Switzerland will be transformed in to the world capital of trail running around Mont-Blanc!

In total more than 50,000 people follow the races: runners, accompanying persons, organisers and volunteers gather along the routes which cross 19 different communes. Friday sees the start of the queen of the races the UTMB®. After the start of the TDS™ and the CCC®, it remains the race which trail-runners the world over dream of running, it is the race which one must finish. And for the elite, the one to win!

An exceptional line-up

6,000 runners are coming to participate in one of the four The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® events, among them 1000 elite runners who are aiming for an honourable position. This 11th year sees, once again, an exceptional list of the best runners from around the globe. This year the race is particularly hard to predict!

The International Trail-Running Association's (ITRA) ranking allows the listing of the potential « top 5 ». A performance index, calculated by Didier Curdy, member of the ITRA, and ranking has been available on the new ITRA web-site since August 15th: i-tra.org.

For the UTMB® 73 high calibre athletes of 23 different nationalities could reach the podium

Amongst them: Dakota Jones (USA), Anton Krupicka (USA), Tim Olson (USA), Mike Wolfe (USA), Michaël Foote (USA), Adam Campbell (CAN), Miguel Heras Hernandez (SP), Zigor Iturrieta Ruiz (SP), Jezz Brag GB), Tsuyoshi Kaburaki (JAP), Jonas Budd (SWE), Sébastien Chaigneau (FRA), Julien Chorrier (FRA), Manu Gault (FRA), Sa Carlos (Portugal).

And for the women: Francesca Canepa (IT), Rory Bosio (USA), Lizzy Hawker (GB), Nuria Picas Albets (SP).

On the TDS™, 18 athletes from 9 countries are favourites for the podium

Antoine Guillon (FRA), Pere Aurell Bove (SP), Nicolas Martin (FRA), Stefano Trisconi (IT), Arnaud Julia Bonmati (SP), Christophe Meier (CH), Sébastien Talotti (FRA), Franck Buissière (FRA), Nathalie Mauclair (FRA), Lisa Borzani (IT).

For the CCC®, 17 athletes from 11 countries could reach the podium 

Thomas Lorblanchet (FRA), Sylvain Camus (FRA), Jesus Maria Romon Martinez (SP), Clément Petitjean (FRA), Sébastien Camus(FRA), Jordi Bes (SP), Fridleifsson Fridleifur (ISL), Nicola Giovenelli (IT), Yeray Duran Lopez (SP), Fernanda Maciel (BRA), Sandrine Motto Ros (FRA), Anne Valero (FRA), Kim Barger (USA).

Follow the races in the heart of The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®

This year again the live-coverage of each of the 4 events was studied so that supporters from world-wide will be able to follow their favourites or family: via a computer, smartphone or tablet...log on!

Follow the race with LiveTrailtm :

Visualise the route, follow the runners, follow the race leader, and know when they are expected to pass through the next control point...it is all possible.

• Know when a runner is going to pass in front of one of the webcams.
• Identify and follow a group of runners or the race leader.
• Know the list of achievements of friends or top runners.
• See the list of all the race favourites and follow them...

Want to be personally alerted by text message (SMS) at the passage through the control points of one or more runners? It is also possible by subscription from ultratrailmb.com.

Each person will then receive free of charge the information sent to runners and volunteers by the organisation. In particular the weather alerts, the last advice given to the runners before the start of the race, modifications to the route,  modifications to the time barriers, the state of road traffic...

The payable text message (SMS) service, which allows you to follow the runners has been simplified and improved for those registered as accompanying persons: the information about the runner's passage through a control point is completed with an estimation of the arrival time at the following village.

Following the race with neXXtep Sport :

To follow the race by geo-localisation GPS, the organisation is in collaboration with its partner neXXtep Sport. Some runners are equipped with a GPS tag which allows their progression to be followed live:

each PTLtm  team, the race leader (men and women) as from La Fouly for the UTMB® and CCC® and as from the  col du Joly for the TDS™, as well as all runners who have rented a tag. For rental and reservation click here and to follow the runners click there.

Follow the race through images: ultratrail.tv

The 2nd year of existence for this WEB TV promises to be bi-lingual: English and French.

On the welcome page there is the choice for the language. Journalists and sports' experts will follow the  TDS™,  CCC® and UTMB® so as to share the highlights of each of these races.

A screen in the centre of Chamonix will broadcast continuously and permanently reports, live moments and interviews...

Webcams along the route:

The runners will find 4 web-cams along their route: in Les Contamines, at the entrance to the welcome base in Courmayeur, at the entry of that in Champex and one just at the exit of the arrival melee (Family Zone). Friends and families may therefore 'target' the right moment to connect to a webcam by checking their estimated time of arrival at the relevant point on LiveTrail™.

The Family Zone, is situated just after the arrival zone so that each may share the moment of joy at being a finisher with their friends or family.

Social networks

Throughout the event, all up to date news is posted as and when, like a news thread on Facebook and Twitter !
For those runners who want to have a personal following on their Facebook wall: the passage through control points will be automatically posted due to an application developed by The North Face® and LiveTrailtm.

In situe: Follow by bus

An exceptional organisation of communal transport has been planned for the runners and those accompanying them so as to reduce the emission of particles and greenhouse gases while allowing spectators the chance to go and see their runners in all the villages crossed by the races without using their personal vehicles.

For accompanying persons, the Ultra-Trail® pass is particularly useful in facilitating all journeys! For more information click here.

The Ultra-Trail® Salon: The rendezvous for all players of open country races

Tuesday August 27th, the Ultra-Trail® Salon opens to the general public on the place du Mont-Blanc. Partners of the The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®, numerous suppliers of equipment, organisers of the largest international trail races...they will all be there.

On the  programme :

• 120 exhibitors gathered in a village of 2,000 m² of wooden exhibition chalets giving the ambiance of mountain chalets (see the list of exhibitors)
• 4 days in which to share the trail-running philosophy with the 6 000 runners from the 5 continents (73 countries) and numerous members of the public from the Chamonix Mont-Blanc valley.
• An area for exchange: themed conferences, public debates, the presentation of films...
• A convivial fast food area
• The official Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® boutiques
• Multiple animations : tombolas, treasure hunts, quizzes , animation for the children

Events

The mini races

To share the grown-ups' passion, almost 800 children are also going to run on the champ du Savoy, on Thursday August 29th between 11:00 and 14:00! High calibre athletes and the The North Face®    team will be present for these non-timed and non-ranked races!

• Micro CCC® : Route of 400m, for  3/5 yrs
• Mini CCC® : Route of 600m for 6/7 yrs
• Mini TDS™ : Route of 1 200m for 8/9 yrs
• Mini UTMB® : Route of 1 800m for 10/11 yrs
• Mini PTLtm : Orienteering race of around 3km on paths with a map supplied by the organisation for children of 12/13 yrs

Events are planned night and day in all the communities and villages to support the runners and those accompanying them.

More information at : www.ultratrailmb.com/page/54/Animations.html
 

For further information check out www.ultratrailmb.com and ultratrail.tv 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UltraTrailMontBlanc - Twitter: twitter.com/TNFUTMB