CCC Profile

The CCC race is one of the five races that form the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc and at 100km is often referred to as the ‘little sister’ of the main UTMB race. I had entered the CCC around December-time last year and when I heard I had been successful in the draw in the New Year, the excitement began to build from then on. We planned that this would be our summer holiday. You can always tell a dedicated runner when summer holiday plans revolve around a race. We were in Chamonix last year a week before the UTMB, when the atmosphere was beginning to build so I knew it was going to be an incredible experience and I wasn’t let down.

The start of the Petite Trotte de Leon (PTL)

We watched the start of the ‘Petite Trotte a Leon’ (PTL) race on the Monday. These guys are awesome. They had 5 days to trot around the mountains and complete the 300km route. They were in teams of 2 or 3 and had to be self-sufficient, carrying a full kit and navigating their own route between the checkpoints. The music was loud, the crowds were deafening, shouting, cheering, and ringing cow bells as they set off on their journey. An inspirational site.

The Expo opened on Tuesday and so did the heavens. It rained constantly all day. We went into Chamonix after lunch and as the expo was outside, each stand a wooden hut much like the Christmas markets, we dashed from stall to stall to avoid the rain. The river in Chamonix was in spate and was frighteningly high and fast flowing and had breached in several places causing flooding to a number of properties. This weather didn’t bode well for the race.

A busy but wet Expo

On Wednesday, it was a completely different day, beautifully warm and sunny. It was time for me to collect my race number or ‘bib’ as they call it in France. At the same time we also had to go through kit check and collect our final details and goody bag. We got to the leisure centre early where this was being held but there was a large queue out of the door. Never mind, it was sunny and the queue was moving quite swiftly so it didn’t seem to take too long. It was dawning on me the race was now becoming a reality and I was getting nervous.

Mont Blanc

Following kit check we had a meal in Chamonix. It was now time for the carbo loading to begin. Following my main course of veggie pasta, I took the opportunity to have a huge dessert, 2 crepes with chocolate sauce, banana, ice cream and cream, yummy!

Thursday, was a day of relaxation and eating. We went into Chamonix to watch the finish of the TDS and OCC race, clapping and cheering on the runners as they completed the race. It was great to see them running into the finish line hand-in-hand with their loved ones. It was a lovely surprise to bump into friends who were supporting too. A large lunch of pasta ensued followed later by pizza. After getting all my gear organised; gear for Darren to carry, gear for my drop bag and then sorting my own bag, it was time for an early night.

The alarm rudely went off at 4.30am on Friday morning and it was another 15 minutes before I could drag myself out of bed. There was plenty of time as the taxi wasn’t picking us up until 6am. Surprisingly, how fast this went though.

At Chamonix we had a short wait for the Shuttle bus to Courmayeur and it was still dark but pleasantly warm. The journey took about 45 minutes much of which was taken up by driving through the Mont Blanc tunnel, an experience in itself. Once we arrived on the other side of the tunnel in Italy, the views were once again, stunning. We were dropped off at a leisure centre where everybody seemed to head for the toilets. Unusually, the ladies toilet queue was much smaller than the men’s. I guess this is understandable when only 13% of the field is female, so a few men had cheekily joined in the ladies queue.

We then made our way to the start which was about a 10 minute walk away and met up with another friend who was running. It was now beginning to bustle, the music was loud and the atmosphere was friendly. Runners posed for photos, had last minute bites to eat and were wished on the their way by friends and relatives. I said my goodbyes to Darren as he wanted to get a good place in front of the start line. Soon everyone was in the starting pens and getting ready. There was a lot of cheering, clapping and waving as the atmosphere was intensified by the comperes. Then it was the count down in Italian and the first wave of runners were on their way to Vangelis’ Conquest of Paradise.

Just before the start of the CCC

After another 10 minutes and following the French Marseillaise, and with the count down in French this time, wave 2, which I was in was on its way. The crowd was deafening, cow bells ringing, people whooping and cheering. I spotted Darren filming using my pink iPad quite easily in the crowd. The start was easily en par with any of the big city marathons that I’d run. A fabulous experience, one that I’ll truly remember.

As we left the town we started to climb almost immediately, first on the road then on tracks and eventually on woodland trails. As the path narrowed and steepened, the pace slowed and there was a lot of hanging around and taking it in turns to move forward. Many people had got their trekking poles out from the beginning but mine were tucked away in my bag, which was an advantage at this point as it meant I was able to duck and dive quite flexibly around others. Soon we approached a steep drop, where again the path was very narrow, slippy, rocky and steep. The build up of people here was a little frustrating and others started to try and find alternative routes but it wasn’t easy with the steep ground and trees. We continued to climb and eventually the trees started to thin and we came out onto steep open ground. Above the tree line, you could see the field of runners ahead winding their way up to the top. This was the biggest single climb of the day from Courmayeur at an altitude of 1210m to the top of the Tete de la tronche at 2500m.

I didn’t stop at the mobile drinks station at the Tete but continued the steady, grassy and uneven descent to the first major checkpoint at Refuge Bertone. I had a swift couple of diluted cokes and a slice of a flapjacky-bar and continued on my way.

The next section headed steadily up the valley until a short, sharp climb to reach Checkpoint 2 at Refuge Bonatti. I had a toilet stop here and some more coke, flapjacky bar and a quick chat, before I headed on my way, once again heading up the valley. The views were stunning but at times the clouds seemed a little menacing, luckily after a few spit-spots of rain, it brightened up again as we headed to Arnuva.

I headed into the marquee checkpoint, I had some cheese and pulled the bread out of the centre of four small pieces of baguette (the crust was too tough!). I left the checkpoint, crossed the river and headed up the valley where I knew the next big climb was about to start. I pulled my poles out of my bag, little beknown to me, Darren was sat on a boulder higher up watching me start the next climb. Just at that moment, he sneakily ran past and surprised me by taking my photo. A quick kiss, another photo and I continued on my way. I felt strong on this climb, which passed really quickly to the Col de la Ferrat. At the top there was a small drinks and rest station, I didn’t stop and continued on straight through. I folded my poles as the descent looked good and I knew it would be an opportunity for some faster running on a narrow but well trodden path.

Starting the climb from Arnuva up to the Grand Col Ferrat

At the La Fouly checkpoint, I changed my top, to a long sleeved one as I felt it was getting cooler, filled my water bladder, had some food and then continued on my way again. As I left the marquee I noticed it was spitting with rain but then a 100m further up the road it got much heavier so I stopped under a shop canopy to put my waterproof jacket on.

Further on I caught up with a friend and we chatted and ran together for a short while. I was looking forward to the next checkpoint at Champex-Lac but didn’t realise there was a 500m ascent beforehand. This seemed to take a while and during the ascent a wave of nausea came over me. I knew I needed to eat some food and had been snacking on bars in my pocket all the way round but now I felt lacking in energy, thirsty and sick.

Upon arrival at Champex, the checkpoint was in a big marquee and was heaving with runners and supporters. It felt very hot, which didn’t help with the nausea. I tried to find a table to sit down at and had to push my way through the crowded tent to find a small space in the supporters area. I couldn’t see Darren and because I was not feeling great, I felt a little dispondent and low. I got a text from him to say he’d be there soon. I knew I needed to eat and went to get some pasta. I asked what the vegetarian option was but was looked at like I was an alien and given a plain bowl of pasta minus the sauce so I added some cheese onto it and a little salt and made my way back to the table.

The pasta made me feel much better and I got myself ready to go. Darren had now arrived and was very supportive. I changed my top again back to short sleeve as I had felt too hot with both the long sleeve top and waterproof jacket and felt this had contributed to my nauseous feeling. I was actually an hour at this checkpoint, which I wasn’t happy with but it was the first sit-down that I’d had and it helped me to regain my composure.

Leaving the Champex-Lac Checkpoint

I left the checkpoint and it was now dark and rainy. Another big climb ensued through woodland then out into the open, I was in a steady stream of other runners all in single file and at one point I struck up a conversation with an English guy. The going under foot was like a quagmire through the mud and a lot of the other runners were slipping and sliding but I found it ok with the support of my poles and being used to these conditions from back home. We skirted above the town on Martingny, which was lovely to look down on with its orange twinkly lights and eventually descended back through woodland. This was the longest section between checkpoints at 17km so it was a good feeling to arrive at Trient.

Darren was here to support me and I had a cup of tea and some more bread (without the crust) and cheese and was soon on my way again. It was straight out of the checkpoint and into a very steep climb of approx. 1000m. I took an energy gel about half way up and then on the descent I was feeling peckish so tried to eat a Nakd bar. This was awful, I couldn’t swallow. I mushed each bite in my mouth and with every attempt to swallow I was gagging and making horrible sounds. God knows what the other runners around me must have thought! I consumed 3/4 of the bar and that was as much as I could manage but it did sustain me to Vallorcine.

It was a short run in the dark through the village at Vallorcine, where there was music playing and people were cheering as I arrived at the Checkpoint. Two more cups of tea, some bread and I waited to use the wooden compostable port-a-loos but people seemed to be enthroned on these so I decided not to wait any longer as I could stop behind a tree further on. I was nauseous still, but felt positive here, knowing I could finish and was happy to be get on my way and out into the night.

The path made it’s way adjacent to a roaring river and then beside the railway line gently ascending to a road, where there was a intermediate checkpoint and our numbers were checked. We were guided across the road, not that it was busy at this unearthly time and we started the steep, rocky ascent almost immediately. The line of head torches snaking there way up the mountain was a sight I will never forget but at the same time quite scary as I could see the distance and height of the torches so knew the amount of climbing that was required on this final ascent. ‘Come on Clare’, I said to myself, ‘get on with it!’ …and off I went. I felt strong again and overtook a few other runners.

Towards the top it was misty and the light was bouncing back from my headtorch but then I noticed that it was starting to get lighter. As it dawned, I was going at the same pace as a French guy and almost simultaneously we took our eyes off the path and looked to the left. We both said wow! We were in awe of the beautiful mountainscape in the morning haze. The sharp rocky peaks were protruding through the clouds of the temperature inversion in the valley below. It was truly stunning.

Eventually, I arrived at La Flagere, the final checkpoint. The marquee was quiet. A few runners were sat down on chairs but I wanted to pass through relatively quickly. I had a quick cup of diluted coke and most of a chocolatey-cereal bar before heading out and past the ski lifts to start the long descent down to Chamonix.

When I say long descent, I mean long, it literally seemed to go on forever. It was quite tricky in places with rocks and trees roots trying to catch you out. I stopped briefly to remove my waterproof jacket as it was getting warmer the lower I got. Swiftly on my way again, it was nice to get off the trail and onto the tarmaced road of Chamonix. Not that I like tarmac, it was that I knew I hadn’t got much further to go to the finish then. I arrived at the familiar site of the leisure centre and turned right at the barrier. The piece of tape that Darren had tied to the barrier was still in place. Whilst we were watching the OCC race earlier in the week at this spot we noticed a few runners were a little uncertain of the direction at this point and the additional tape helped them. There was now only 1km left as I ran along the path beside the river. It was around 9.30am and people had come out to watch and support. There was cheers of support, clapping, shouting of ‘bravo’ and occasionally I heard a ‘well done’ as the Union Jack on my race number was spotted.

I was now running at a brisk and consistent pace. There was no other runners in front that I could see and as I came into the town centre and rounded the barriers and onto the finishing straight, I noticed that Darren was filming from the sidelines. The finish line was in sight and my eyes were focused on getting there, no time for frivolity until right at the end as I raised my arms as I crossed the line. I had finished. I was happy.

Positives

The wonderful scenery
Headtorches snaking across the mountains in the dark
Using trekking poles
No chaffing or blisters
The fabulous atmosphere
Having support around the route from Darren
The temperature
The selection of food available at checkpoints
Not feeling sleepy at all

Negatives

Feeling nauseous several times
Mud and rain
Busy checkpoints
Other peoples carelessness with trekking poles
Grit in my shoes (ankle gaiters would have proved invaluable)

Gear worn or used

MountainKing trail blaze trekking poles
Inov8 Trailroc 246 trainers
Skins 200 shorts
Nike Dry fit t-shirt/More Mile long sleeve top/Odlo ‘Run for your life’ t-shirt
Running Bear woollen socks
OMM Kamleika waterproof smock
Quechua 10 litre running rucksack
Sea-to-summit foldable beaker
Saloman baseball cap
Thin pair of gloves
Led Lenser SR7 headtorch
Buff
Asics sweatband on my wrist

Gear carried

North Face packable fleece top
Saloman waterproof over trousers
Adidas climafit long tights
Spare thin gloves
Lowe alpine powerstretch hat
Sealskins waterproof gloves
Emergency foil bivi
Emergency food
Petzl Tikka headtorch and spare batteries