UTMB Ultra Trail Mont-Blanc starts in 5 days & 3 hours- predictions etc

Dear Hardrock,

Screw you.

Sincerely,

X.

yeah. wrote:

elephino wrote:

I can understand how he was pissed and stopped when he got DQed, but he should have kept going and then said "so I didn't get the official win, but we all know who won. screw you".

Totally agree. Sounded like he was was given the option to finish anyway and at 10 miles out with a big enough lead that he could've walked it in. I'd guess in hindsight he probably thinks the same thing, but in the heat of the moment you do what you do. I'm glad he won UTMB again today. Good on him.

Xavier for sure put on a clinic. Got to wonder, is it the hometown advantage or are the Europeans doing something different in training that the Americans just don't do as well. I honestly have no idea, but it makes for a good conversation. Bummer to see so many big name drops though, but ya know what, it comes with the territory. I was pumped to see Tim Olson run consistent throughout and made a big surge at the end to finish 28th. He never really faded and appears to have ran pretty smart towards the end.

1.5 cents wrote:

Got to wonder, is it the hometown advantage or are the Europeans doing something different in training that the Americans just don't do as well. I honestly have no idea, but it makes for a good conversation. Bummer to see so many big name drops though, but ya know what, it comes with the territory. I was pumped to see Tim Olson run consistent throughout and made a big surge at the end to finish 28th. He never really faded and appears to have ran pretty smart towards the end.

I think most Americans focus too much on the running part. UTMB is not like Western States where the best runner has the highest win probability. It's in the Alps, so you have to be a good general alpinist/mountain guy. Know your weather, how to dress, how it influences the trails and rocks. Jim Walmsley could possibly have spent 10 hours per week with specific preparation (experimenting with food, learning from climbers about weather changes, put on some fat and/or muscle to be more stable in terrible conditions etc.) instead of running and would have performed better today.

it's not just Americans that dropped out. look at the top ten from the early part of the race and at least half of them dropped, Americans and Euros both.

plus, there are ten europeans for every american in the race (talking about elites only), so it's no wonder they win more often.

1.5 cents wrote: Got to wonder, is it the hometown advantage or are the Europeans doing something different in training that the Americans just don't do as well.

For starters Europeans don't mouth off as much as the Americans! :-)

yeah. wrote:

bearer of bad news wrote:

No course is brutal with no competition.

Now that is just dumb. Nolan's 14ers is brutal. No competition. There is an endless list of brutal courses that are only run as FKTs.

FKT is competition dumbo

Have you guys seen Xavier's resume? Absolutely trumps Kilian and Francois -

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Th%C3%A9venard

What sorts the winners from the droppers is what happens in the last 3rd of the race. We can all train for 0-12 hours, going out hiking strong, running fast on the downs. But the race lasts longer than that. You can't really go out training for 20+ hours on your own, so you can only really get the experience for this type of race by doing, well, this type of race.

Experience counts for everything. Look at the Palmares for all the guys in the top 50, 100, 150, etc. Loads of long runs allied with great training races. Even when Kilian turned up aged 20 in 2008 and blew away the field, he still had a lifetime of long distance mountain running behind him.

What I don't see from the Americans is much in the way of long distance mountain races on their resumés (Western States doesn't count, and Hardrock isn't that competitive. Rather than spend the summer running round and round the UTMB course one day at a time, they should really enter some of the other similar length races for perfect prep. There are loads of them too, and you rarely see American names on the start list.

reed wrote:

Xavier and Zach aren't as together as the splits make them seem. Xavier is stronger on downhills and Zach on uphills. interesting!

This is what marathons need wrote:

That was some of the most enthralling coverage I've ever watched. The cameraman chasing them down that mountain singletrack. I've never seen anything like it and more exciting.

I missed all of that. Are there replays posted anywhere?

That's a serous resume...

reed wrote:

Xavier was never a dark horse for UTMB, he was probably more likely to win than anybody but Kilian. Isn't this his 3rd win?

Yes, I know that, but he was discounted by most American reporting.

After seeing his interview, I had a pretty strong feeling that he was going to win it, and was rooting for him.

The Hardrock thing was a total fiasco.

Mizuno fanboy wrote:

Dear Hardrock,

Screw you.

Sincerely,

X.

+ + +

elephino wrote:

Ultra running fan wrote:

So happy that X-Man won. Home field advantage :) I don't think he should return to Hardrock. Not to take away from Jeff Browning but we know who really won Hardrock 2K18.

I can understand how he was pissed and stopped when he got DQed, but he should have kept going and then said "so I didn't get the official win, but we all know who won. screw you".

A win there doesn't mean much due to lack of competition. Not a knock against it they want to keep it that way for us regular runners but its improper to call it a competition if better runners who are willing are purposely kept out.

lkjlk wrote:

Have you guys seen Xavier's resume? Absolutely trumps Kilian and Francois -

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Th%C3%A9venard

The reason I overlooked him is mainly because of Kilian. But yeah you can't deny him now. He's got some major scalps with this win. Maybe its a passing of the torch.

lkjlk wrote:

Have you guys seen Xavier's resume? Absolutely trumps Kilian and Francois -

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Th%C3%A9venard

Come on dude really? Trumps Kilian? I mean I'm so happy Xavier won this year, he deserved it after hardrock but you cant touch Kilians resume.

If you dont want to navigate that long list of races on Kilians Wiki, here is the highlights.

2008: UTMB at age 20

2009: UTMB again

2010: 3rd at western, 1st at Sierra Zinal

2011: UTMB and Western

2012: Pikes Peak Marathon (seems like he took a rest year here)

2013: Transvulcania, Zegama, Marathon Mont Blanc

2014: Zegama, Hardrock, MMB, Sierra Zinal, Trofeo Kima

2015: Hardrock, Ultra Pirineu, Sierra Zinal

2016: Zegama, Hardrock

2017: MMB, Hardrock, Sierra Zinal, 2nd UTMB, Glencoe skyline

All of those are his 1st place finishes unless otherwise noted. This list doesnt include countless skyrace wins and even more Skimo victories all across the board in many distances.

I'm not going to sit here and say that Xavier isn't talented but please do your research before you start saying stuff like Xavi is better or its a changing of the guard.

They are both amazingly talented Euro athletes with massive wins against stacked fields year after year.

I really wanted to get this off my chest but I know Irunfar wont be the place so I'll do it here.

In this picture we can see on the far right a guy in a black jacket stretching. His bib number is 2907, so he isnt seeded to run well but hes right up on the FRONT of the starting line. Ready to blast off to victory, or so it seems...

Looking up his bib number will show hes slow, thats fine hes not elite but than why is he up front? This kind of stuff annoys me, why does he need to be front and center if hes going to run a time of like 36 hours. After all this live streaming, helicopters, gps tracking, and the like can UTMB really not separate people like him from starting in the elite field.

Alex Nichols tripped in the first 20 meters of the sprint, it could have been his fault or another elites. Or it could have been some schmuck like Bib #2907. Dont be like him, start in your seeded wave or where you think you'll place. You don't need to bunch up buddy buddy with Xavier and Kilian just to cause a traffic jam while you are blown over by the womens field.

Not Irunfar Media wrote:

https://www.facebook.com/iRunFar/photos/a.10151784013707114/10156582223487114/?type=3&theater

Wrong link, maybe this will work.

Wow, are you saying Kilian hasn't been able to win UTMB since 2011?

Dude has not been able to put it together at the major of majors.