Written by Danny Kendall - http://dannykendall.wordpress.com
The CCC (Courmayeur – Champex – Chamonix) is the little sister of the more famous 168km UTMB but with a distance of 101.1km, 6,092m of lung-busting ascent and 6,268m of quad trashing descent on the trails around Mont Blanc it’s not to be underestimated . It is a big race in it’s own right with a competitive field, qualifying points requirement and a lottery to select the 1,900+ “lucky” runners and takes place the last weekend of August in Italy, Switzerland and France as part of the UTMB week.
This was to be my first time at the CCC although I had finished the UTMB three times before with mixed success. In both 2009 and 2011 after inadequate training (not enough mileage but more importantly not enough vertical) I struggled round in 40 hours plus. In 2013, I actually trained on a few hills in the build up and ended up finishing in a respectable 30:14. This year, I arrived in Chamonix having trained harder and more specifically and felt the shorter distance was better suited to me so was hopeful I would do well…
The race begins in Courmayeur,Italy on the Friday at 9am and like most other runners I was based in Chamonix, so it meant a 5am wake up for breakfast and a short walk from the hotel to the coach pick up point for the journey through the Mont Blanc Tunnel to the Courmayeur sports hall where we could hang around for a bit until we were ready to head off to the start line.
On the start line I bumped into a few familiar faces including my Centurion team mate Paul Navesey and tried to stay relaxed until the fun kicked off. I was probably a bit further back than I wanted to be but decided against trying to force my way to the front as it was too crowded and figured it would sort itself out fairly quickly once we started. Just before the off, the national anthems of the 3 countries we were to pass through were played and without a doubt the Italian anthem is the best national anthem there is!
Finally, the race starts and we head through the crowded town on the roads at a fast pace and as a fairly quick road runner I decided to find my way to the front as my plan was to get into the top 20 early on, wait for runners in front to bonk and work my way up the field with a top 10 finish as the target if everything went right (does it ever?). Once we are out of town the route gets steep and I was at the back of the front group of around 20 and could see one other Brit, Lee Kemp just ahead who I had run with 5 weeks earlier at the Lakeland 50.
The first section up to Tete de la Tronche is the only section that is different from the UTMB route and is pretty brutal with 1,435m of ascent over the first 10.4km of the race which gives you the perfect opportunity to mess up your race nice and early! With this in mind I tried to stay at a comfortable pace and once we left the roads and got on to the trails I was happy to let a few eager beavers pass. I arrived at the first CP in 24th just outside the pace I was hoping for and glad the biggest ascent of the race was out of the way!
The next 17km is either flat or down and a section where I expected to do well as I’m a much better runner than I am a hiker which isn’t surprising considering I’m based in London and the biggest hill I train on regularly is in Greenwich Park and a massive 30m ascent! The short 4.3km drop down to CP2 at Bertone wasn’t what I was hoping as things just didn’t feel right and I realised a toilet stop would be needed at some point! At Bertone I asked for directions to the toilet and they point down a hill to another hut maybe 100m off the route which in a split second I decide is way too far and stupidly carry on…
From Bertone to Arnuva, there is a 12km flat section where I should have been passing people but instead I was struggling along due to stomach issues. Eventually, I had no choice but to jump of the track to the most private spot I could find at very short notice, which wasn’t private at all and take care of business. This was the low point of the race in more ways than one as quite a few runners pass and I dropped down to my lowest position of the day of 39th by Arnuva, which was disappointing as pre-race I was sure that section would be my strongest section of the race.
From Arnuva we head up the tough climb to Grand Col Ferret and the Swiss border where I was now over the stomach issues but still not really enjoying the climbs. I briefly chatted to another Brit (Dan Gay) who was looking strong despite saying something about a possible torn muscle and lots of Ibuprofen. I arrived at the top still in 39th.
From Grand Col Ferret down to La Fouly, we drop 900m and finally things start to click and I begin to pass people. Just outside La Fouly I lose focus for a second and trip on a fairly non technical section and go down hard taking most of the impact on the ribs, which then really hurt for the rest of the race (and a few days after) but luckily didn’t affect my running too much. A bigger issue from a racing point of view was forming at around this point on the heels of my feet in the form of large blisters. I don’t usually have much of an issue with blisters even at the MdS (which is notorious for blister issues) and have never suffered from heel blisters before and think was down to the schoolboy error of wearing brand new unwashed socks that seemed to be slipping back and forth as I ran.
Just before La Fouly, I saw James and Drew from Centurion who were out on the route to give some encouragement to me, Paul and Drew’s other half Claire. James was upbeat and told me I was looking strong and a lot of guys ahead looked in a far worse shape although he may have just been saying this! I arrived in La Fouly which is almost the marathon point being at 41.5km (+2,803m) in 5:13 and 34th with my legs in good shape but my mind less so as I was feeling stressed about my blisters and ribs.
From La Fouly to Champex, it is a long section of around 14km which is quite runnable on a gentle downhill before you finish with a decent climb up to the main CP of the race at Champex at 55.5km. Although slightly more than halfway in terms of distance I was expecting my time to Champex to be around half of my total time so mentally it sort of feels like halfway. I was hoping for 6:30 but I arrived in 6:46 in 28th place which I was happy with considering the earlier stomach issues.
Just before Champex on the last bit of trail before the road leading to the CP, my wife Rems and kids were waiting for me which for some reason I found a bit emotional (no tears though!), it was really nice seeing how excited the kids were to see me and I lost a bit of time giving them a cuddle here before carrying on to the CP where Maj Backhausen (who was crewing for me) was waiting with some extra food and changes of kit etc. I picked up some extra Shot Bloks which I realised I had been struggling to get down, ate a 9Bar and some noodles from the CP. I then downed a load of Coke which I’d been doing at each CP and seemed to be doing a good job of keeping my energy levels up without making me feel sick. I changed socks here which isn’t something I would normally do but was worth the faffing as the replacements didn’t slip and stopped the blisters getting any worse (although the damage had been done).
After Champex there is a nice runnable bit before the hard climb up Bovine which is the fourth of the sixth climbs in the race and this was my strongest section overall and I really enjoyed pushing myself on this part of the race and passed 8 runners to move into 20th by the top of the climb. It may have been the Coke or seeing the family but I found some of this hilly section runnable when everyone around me was hiking which was a good mental boost.
On the way down from Bovine to Trient despite feeling good I only passed 1 person due due to my heel blisters causing me to hold back on the descents as I tried to alter my running style to almost tiptoe my way down (this technique could also be described as mincing!).
From Trient there is a big climb up Catogne followed to a big descent straight back down to Vallorcine and I think I was still going well but only passed 1 runner on the way up (now 18th) and none on the down. The downhill had some sections where I could have gone much quicker if I was running more naturally. On the plus side, my slower descending may have been saving my quads as I wasn’t suffering the same kind of soreness I have experienced in the previous visits to the Alps although this may have been down to better preparation.
Vallorcine is the last big CP and Maj was here and I must have been looking a bit worse for wear as he seemed a bit concerned and reminded me to take my time and sort myself out properly before leaving. Up to this point we had been fairly lucky with the weather with just a couple of light showers but on leaving Vallorcine the rain started to get heavier so I reluctantly put my rain jacket on despite feeling too hot even though it was approaching 8pm and cooling down a bit.
The first bit out of Vallorcine is a runners section and I moved up 3 places into 15th before the start of the final big ascent up Le Tete aux Vents which I began in the light but finished in the dark. The last climb was physically tough but mentally quite good as you know it’s the last one.
The section across to Flegere is pretty technical for a city boy and with the darkness, heavy rain and fog it was pretty slow going and I was glad to have a good powerful head torch for this bit (my trusty Petzl Nao) as the path isn’t always obvious and it was sometimes difficult to spot the next bit of reflective tape in the bad weather. The race splits say I passed one person on this section to move into 14th but I never saw them so can only assume they had gone off course!
As I arrived into the Flegere CP, I took a quick glance behind and wasn’t best pleased to see 2 headlights right behind me as the 8km/800m descent back into Chamonix is one of the most technical sections of the race even without the bad conditions! At some point on the way down a French runner sped past me on a particularly technical bit at a pace I wasn’t willing to even attempt to match! This was the only time in the last 70km that I was passed and I was back in 15th.
Once the path improved as we got closer to town I picked the pace up and just before we hit the road, maybe 1 mile from the end I passed an Italian runner to move back into 14th, a sprint finish didn’t really appeal so I put the hammer down to run a fast last mile (probably just under 7 mins) and it felt good to run through Chamonix on a busy Friday night with lots of support from the bars and restaurants.
I had planned to meet Rems and the kids just before the finish line to do the Cheesey Euro style finish with the kids, but as I knew there was someone on my tail I decided to make a compromise and quickly grabbed Ben (my 3 year old son) but harshly left Nina (my 1 year old daughter) behind and carried on at a quick pace for the last 20m or so which Ben seemed to be loving and I don’t think Nina was bothered either way!
It was a great feeling to be done after a long day of running and nice to see James and Paul at the end (unfortunately Paul had to drop out at la Fouly due to injury). I also caught up with Maj and thanked him for crewing me.
My finishing time was 13:37:19 for 14th place. I missed both my arbitrary pre-race targets of sub 13 hours and a Top 10 finish (10th finished in 13:02 so a good guess of what was needed) but I’m satisfied with the result as it was still a big improvement on my previous races in the Alps. It was a good day for the Brits with Lee Kemp 11th, Dan Gay 18th and Nicol Boyd 20th. The race was won by Spaniard Pau Bartolo in an amazing 11:21. In total, 73% of the 1,945 starters finished.
Race details from my Ambit. http://www.movescount.com/moves/move39495555
