Written by Grant Fulton - https://grantfulton.wordpress.com
55km, 4100m D+
Sunday 30th September, 2018
Waiting in the start pen outside the town hall, the runners shuffle nervously as dramatic classical music blares from the speakers and the countdown begins. 3…..2…….1…ALLEZ! Watches beep into life and the pack sprint off the line and race through the streets of Chamonix, jostling for good positions before the narrow trails begin. It’s a classic spectacle of the trail running world that we’re all familiar with, we’ve seen the videos, read the magazine articles and wished we could be there. The spectators lining the street go wild, who knew 10 people could make so much noise…wait…what?! UTMB? No, the circus left town a month ago. It’s 4am on the last Sunday in September and 650 runners are just setting off on the Trail des Aiguilles Rouges (TAR) with me lucky enough to be amongst them.
The TAR and UTMB share a start line but the similarities end there. The TAR is run over one day, hence the early start, on a 54km course through the Aiguilles Rouges, the range on the opposite side of Chamonix to Mont Blanc. The course may be short in comparison but crams in 4100m of elevation gain and some knee crunchingly technical trails. The route changes annually, cycling through 3 slightly different loops of the Aiguilles Rouges, this year starting in Chamonix and finishing down the valley in Les Houches. But to start we head in the opposite direction, left, up Chamonix high street before leaving the roads and joining the trails for the first climb towards the mid-station of La Flegere lift.
After a fast few minutes I pick a nice spot in the pack as the climb starts, aiming to get in behind somebody who looks like they know what they’re doing. With 1680m of steep climbing to come it’s straight to power hiking, letting a few excited runners spring by and hoovering them up when they run out of steam. At the Buvette Floria the trail narrows to single track with some good runnable sections if you can squeeze by others. An exciting section before you are spat out onto the wide pistes climbing to La Flegere. Here it is easy to overtake and easy underfoot but definitely the least inspiring part of the day. I dim my light to save some battery and get on with the grind.
My mind switches off and I suddenly realise how sleepy I am. A 2.30am alarm coupled with a busy day yesterday has tired me out. A full day of work, finishing and 10pm, and having to dash out on my break for bib collection and kit check. The bib collection was a low key affair and the kit check non-existent. Just a quick show of the ID and collect your number and a goody bag. A lovely La Sportiva T-shirt and a few energy products that look a bit too scary for me to try. No mega-sponsor-product-village full of shiny shoes and compression equipment for things you didn’t know could be compressed here so to distract me, so thankfully I get back to work on time.
Once we pass Flegere my tiredness is forgotten, the trail has become more technical and I’m absorbed in the climb. I’m glad of my choice not to bring poles as I scrabble up rocks and occasionally pull along a section of fixed metal work on the climb up to the Col de la Gliere. Finally the top of the long climb after 2hours of hard work. I’m rewarded with a brilliant spectacle as I look back and see an unbroken chain of headlights marking the route from the tree line all the way up to me. On the exposed col the wind is cold, I pull on my gloves and continue on.
A undulating traverse leads back to the Chamonix side of the mountains via the Col du Lac Cornu. The trail is technical, hopping between boulders; some glazed in a thin layer of ice, and sliding down steep srcee once over the col. This is the most difficult part of the course, not helped by the fact that it’s still completely dark. After more loose, blocky trails gradually descending from the col I find more runnable ground. A wide piste gradually descending toward light and the sound of cowbells, the first aid station at Planpraz (16km). The friendly staff fill my bottles for me so I can browse the buffet for some food. I start the day right with a nutritious breakfast; a chunk of cake, an almond bar and half a litre of coke. There’s a short climb straight out of the check point, I’ll take it easy while my food settles and be ready to run the long descent that follows.
I reach the Col du Brevent feeling ready for the long descent, I’ve run the trail a few times before and know I can go fast on this technical descent. I immediately fall over. The runner in front shouts up to check I’m okay- “Ca va?” I hop to my feet, everything seems to work fine. The runner in front then takes a huge spill too. The rock slabs underfoot are coated in a layer of semi frozen mist making each step insecure. I start moving again with a little more caution until the trail leaves the rocky upper section, once back on dirt I speed up and over take a few people. I’m enjoying myself, apart from a a weirdly wet feeling arm…. Looking down I realize my hand is pouring blood from a nasty hole under my little finger. I pop a glove on hoping it will stop the bleeding and stop my bloody hand scaring people.
Despite the hand I feel good, the sun is starting to come up which cheers me up and gives me a little boost of energy. The long descent finishes at the Pont d’Arleve, a beautiful spot in the bottom of a secluded valley. It feels a world away from the bustle of Chamonix just on the other side of the hills, just the sound of cowbells and the odd bleat of a sheep punctuate the silence here.
A few kilometres later and it’s a different story as I approach the second checkpoint at Les Ayeres to cheers and shouts of some keen spectators. I’m usually one to browse the buffet and take my time at an aid station but I see the runners before me pass through in seconds. Not wanting to lose places I follow suit, washing down some salty crackers with half a litre of coke and racing after them as quickly as possible. I think we’ll be in Servoz soon, I’ll try to eat more there. The route profile just looks like a short climb and a long descent and I’ll be there. The short climb turns out to be the steepest of the day, I’m glad I don’t have poles as I need both hands to haul up a series of ladders and chains. It’s a draining full body work for 300m to gain the flatter balcony trail on the Pormenaz. The running here is magnificent, the morning is starting to warm up from the sun finally fully emerging from behind Mont Blanc. I take in the views and enjoy the easier ground before the descent becomes steep and drops into the woods.
After a thigh battering 1000+m of descent I emerge into the streets of Servoz and into the next checkpoint. I fill my bottles from the barrels of energy drink, down some more coke and grab a handful of cake. My legs are really feeling battered now and I have to gently break them into running as I leave the checkpoint. One more climb, one more climb.
It’s truly a monster of a climb, 1200m apparently but for all I know it could have been twice that. It goes on forever. I wish I had my poles now as I push my hands into my knees, trying to power my legs up the hill. The legs are truly abandoning me now. I sit on a rock sulking at the side of the trail for a few seconds. I swig some of the energy drink I picked up in Servoz and immediately spit it back out. Oh god, what the hell is that?! I’m sure it’s washing up soap, its frothy, even worse it’s the only drink I have! The climb grind on and on, the sun gets hotter and my mouth gets drier…I feel horrible and lose a couple of places just before the summit. Thankfully it’s all down hill now, I can hear the announcer at the finish line 1000m below. The descent isn’t pleasant, loose gravel 4×4 tracks, but the legs always get a new lease of life when the end is in sight. I pass a couple of people and start to feel pleased with myself, a little prematurely. Around 1km from the end and suddenly a wave of people start passing me at great speed. Where are they coming from? How do they have so much energy left?! I’m shocked and demoralized as they bound past me, I’ve lost so many places!
I emerge onto the street in Les Houches and my girlfriend Charlie appears running at my side to cheer me on to the finish. I stagger across the line and am delighted and a little confused that I’ve come in 22nd place. Turns out the hoards passing me were the first finishers of the 15km P’tit TAR!
Now I can reap the rewards of such an early start, almost 8 hours of racing done and it’s not even midday. This gives me plenty of time to enjoy brunch at the free finishers buffet before heading home to squeeze in lunch and a pint. For those wanting to stick around the finishing area has a bar and a food stall serving up lots of cheese heavy savoyarde cuisine.
I’ll definitely be coming back to race the TAR again, hopefully in the next couple of years to enjoy a different variant of the course. From this years experience I can recommend it to anybody who wants to experience the world class trails around Chamonix, in a shorter and more low key affair than the main events of the Summer.