50k

Race: OCC by UTMB

Runner: Julie Urbanski

Race Date: August 29th, 2024

Location: Chamonix, France (point to point race, starts in Orsiers, Switzerland and finishes in Chamonix, France)

Results: 11:52? In the second half of 1500+ runers? I stopped caring once I starting puking in the last 12k!

Strava Activity Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/12275295079

3 Bests – What aspects of the race did you like the most?

1. The Course – Absolutely stunning views throughout. Plenty of climbing and descending to make you work for it, but there were moments where I paused to look out into a valley from a high point and just soaked it all in.
2. The Wave Start – It seems like a silly thing to put in my top 3, but when I did the first year of the Nice 50k, there were no waves and 1500+ people had to narrow down to a single staircase in the first mile, and it was clogged up for 10+ miles. They started us in 3 waves with 15 minutes between each wave and I never felt super crowded. The most crowded was the first climb up to Champex Lac, then it was spread out enough to where I felt like I could run my own pace.
3. The Finish – Chamonix knows how to celebrate its runners, whether it’s the 1st or the last, or like me, a total mid-packer who’s just trying to run a respectable race for what my mind and body are capable of. That last kilometer through town was pretty magical, with strangers cheering me on, giving me high fives, and making me feel celebrated all the way until the finish under that iconic arch.

Not so much – Aspects of the race that didn’t do it for you

Starting line bathrooms – they just need more of them. When we got off the buses, there were about 10 flushing toilets before we walked about a half mile into town, to the starting line, so I used those bathrooms after the 90 minute shuttle ride and there wasn’t a line for them.

Once in town, there were 4 porta potties for 1500+ runners and portable urinals for men, with a long line snaking through town. I found a bathroom in a tea/coffee shop near the start that only a few runners had found, so score one for me!

Weird factor – What’s the weirdest thing about this race?

Maybe not weird, but I’m not sure why UTMB doesn’t list a couple of the aid stations along the course as actual aid stations. On the course profile, it shows no water between km 7.6 and 24.3, so over 16km (10 miles) without water. I carried 3 bottles out of Champex Lac at 7.6km, but there was a clear aid station at La Giete at 12km. I just wish I’d known about it so I didn’t carry so much water! At least I saved time and walked right through it.

Also a little weird, a little funny, is that there are cows grazing all along spots along the course, with their cow bells tolling all day long, so it sounds like you’re coming up on an aid station, which is always a little boost in morale. I fell for the cow bells a couple times, thinking I was close to a secret aid station or a group of people cheering us on, only to round the bend or pop out of the woods and see…a group of cows, hahaha.

Highlights of your race – What did you do well and enjoy about your race in particular?

I felt like I conserved my energy well enough that I still had legs for the climb up Flegere. Unfortunately my stomach was having none of it, so my legs didn’t quite have as much fun as they wanted up that climb.

Lessons for others – Share your pro-tips on the race to help the next runner

• Have a snack for sitting around before the start. We got there at 6:30am with an 8:15 start, plenty of time to eat a snack and hit up a toilet!
• Try to be near the front of your wave start, it’s way less clogged on the climbs.
• There are water “troughs”/fountains near all the towns. Use them – dip your arms, head, hat, anything you can to stay cool.
• The first 7.6km to Champex Lac go fairly fast, as the first 4km are mainly roads heading out of town and/or wide paths. You can run most of that 4k, so don’t take the polls out just yet and quickly walk the steep stuff and run the rest.
• Champex Lac typically has flushing toilets right after exiting the aid station, so if you need to go, that’s the place!
• It’s super runnable for a few miles heading out of Champex Lac, either on the road or a nice wide path. Enjoy!
• We had lots of water crossings on the climb up to the Giete aid station. Use them if it’s hot. I put my hat in each one and kept trying to cool my core on the climb. The morning sun was heating up at that point.
• Lots of day hikers and/or TMBers in this section who didn’t look super pleased for a race to be happening. Be sure to thank them for letting you run by!
• Be sure to take care of any needs at Trient. It felt like the majority of people starting feeling some effects of the miles, the elevation change, and the heat at that point. The section from Trient to Col de Balme is 10k and it’s a looooong 10k. Flushing toilets here too just before the aid station.
• The first part of the climb out of Trient is tucked into dense vegetation, it was hot and muggy and people started showing wear and tear at that point. The more you can just keep moving, the better. It has some of the steepest stuff on the course.
• There’s a medical station just over halfway in this section, then it’s a more gradual up, BUT, quite a bit more rocky at first, so be patient, as it gets more runnable as you head into the final kilometer to the aid station.
• You can see and hear the Col de Balme aid station for a long time before you get there, try to have patience and just focus on making forward progress. Despair was palpable in this section from Trient to Col de Balme.
• Enjoy the smooth, runnable downhill from Col to Chalets de Balme before a little bump up, then a bombing, steep downhill into Le Tour. It felt steeper than it looked on paper.
• There is no aid at Le Tour, but it’s a great crew spot to give you a boost in morale with cheering and seeing family/friends.
• If you still have legs, you can run much of the trail between Le Tour and Argentiere. There are small rollers here.
• Like Trient, take care of necessary business in Argentiere before heading up to Flegere, the climb will feel longer than you expect.
• For the climb up and down Flegere, it’s longer and harder than you think it will be and than it looks on paper. Just keep moving, keep eating, and don’t look ahead too much once you’re out in the open, close to the aid station. It will still feel forever away once you pop out of the trees near the top.
• Most of the downhill from Flegere is very runnable but a few runners around me fell, so don’t lose focus on the rooty bits.
• Enjoy that last kilometer through town, it feels like you’re floating on the crowd’s energy as it takes you onto the famous carpet under the finish arch.
• Don’t forget your finisher’s vest in the finisher’s tent! I was so scared of puking on everyone at the end that I just wanted to go home and completely forgot mine. They had it the next day but it wasn’t easy to get.

Lessons you learned that will help you next time around

• Have a better eating plan. I started out with 19 gels and 3 pre-filled bottles of Decathlon’s drink mix and that was the plan. I finished having eaten just 8 of the gels in 12 hours, and 6 of them were eaten in the first 3 hours, so it was a struggle to eat, to say the least. No backup plan, no thoughts about aid station food, just gels and drink mix. In hindsight, not my best planning.
• I don’t think I’ll wear the long-sleeve sun shirt again, it felt hot on an already hot day and could have contributed to my overheating.

Most important course specific knowledge to know about the race

• Be ready to change gears often, from runnable to technical, to douche grade to steep, lean into your poles grade.
• Train for long ascents and descents with some steep sections.
• The terrain that was the least runnable was in sections from Champex Lac to Trient and then Trient to Col de Balme, especially the second half to Col de Balme, where on paper it looks really runnable.
• I found it hard to get a rhythm in those last several kilometers heading into Col de Balme, and I imagine a lot of people expected to be faster in that section.
• If it’s hot, use all the water sources you can to cool off and use all the water fountains/troughs on the way into/out of town to cool off.

Aesthetics – Is it a pretty course?

• One of the prettiest in the world. There’s a reason they have to keep coming up with different ways for people to get into this, because it’s a gorgeous place to run.
• The picture below is near the spot where you come down from Col de Balme.

Difficulty – Is it a tough course?

• Very difficult. They say it’s 55km with 3,425 meters of gain, so 34 miles with over 11,200 feet of gain, equating to over 325 feet per mile. I found it hard to simulate that in training even with repeating 1500 foot climbs over and over again.
• I didn’t think the terrain itself was crazy. The trails I train on in Portugal are made for mountain bikes, so they have lots of jumps, not much “flow” or consistency, lots of rocks and roots, and I found the OCC trails much more “predictable” because they’re hiking trails. There were sections that were a bit crazy, yes, but those were small sections in the entire race.
• If you’re good at uphill power hiking, you can rock these climbs.

Organized and well run – Did it feel like a well-oiled machine or were they flying by the seat of their pants?

• I know UTMB has some issues with its qualifier races, but this week is dialed in. Shuttles were easy, on time, and while they were early (5am), it wasn’t crazy.
• Packet pickup was quick and easy, you book a time slot. Book the earliest possible to avoid crowds.
• The runners village is jam packed with gear and races, you could blow $1000s of dollars there, but they do it really well. Definitely worth a walk through your first time there!
• Tracking was fantastic, family and friends can easily follow you online.
• Pictures were plenty and available afterwards.
• Tons of volunteers, medical staff, aid station helpers, etc.

Competition – Is there a strong field?

• The best in the world.

Logistics – Does it require a special handshake, registration a year in advance, hotels all booked? Give us the low down on the nuts and bolts of making the race happen.

• This could be another blog post. Yes, you run a qualifier race to collect stones and use those stones in a lottery. The more stones you collect, the higher your odds, and you need an ITRA index score to enter, which I believe you can get from running tons of races, not just a UTMB qualifier race.
• For lodging, Chamonix Sud area is slightly cheaper and it’s easier to walk to the Grepon bus parking lot for the shuttle.
• Book Chamonix lodging as soon as you are in via the lottery, or even before, then cancel if you don’t get in.
• Grocery stores are small throughout town and packed to the brim with people. If you have a car, the Carrefour in Sallanches is massive and has everything you need #protip
• Most grocery stores are closed on Sunday or only open a few hours. Plan for that!
• You don’t need a car here. If you fly into Geneva, book a shuttle and then it’s easy to get around the valley for free on the bus/train with a card that your lodging is supposed to give you.

Aid Stations – Standard fare or anything special to know about the aid stations in terms of what’s available or when?

• Naak products, drink mix and waffles. I had wanted to try the waffles but my stomach went south before I tried anything.
• Standard fare + cheeses! I didn’t try them but I loved that they had cheese.
• I was also impressed how many medical people were available at aid stations and at the smaller, unmarked aid stations along the way.

Weather and typical race conditions

• Late August in Chamonix is fairly unpredictable. Last year it snowed on the Monday of race week, so PTL and MCC started in the snow and TDS had a bitch of a start in the cold and mud as well at midnight Monday night. By Friday it was hot and sunny again for UTMB runners.
• Be prepared with both the hot and cold kit.
• This year was hot and we had to carry the hot weather kit, which is basically extra bottles.
• While I was running, I didn’t think the heat was getting to me, but I think I was cooking without realizing it and my stomach had enough of it by 45k!

Gear – Did you need anything special or is there anything you’d recommend for the next runner?

• There’s a required gear list and for OCC, it’s pretty tame compared to CCC and UTMB, who have to carry 2 headlamps + 2 backup batteries and a whole lot of other gear.
• Hot weather kit is also pretty tame, extra bottles and a saharan cap, which I saw maybe 1 person wearing.

Spectators – Is this a friendly course for your friends?

• It is! There isn’t an official spot they can crew you, but they can see you at Champex Lac (7.6km), Trient (24.3km), Le Tour (40km), Argentiere (45km) and obviously the finish. They can drive to all these locations, parking is limited but can be done.
• I wouldn’t recommend them going to Champex Lac because it’s so early on and parking is very limited.
• If they’re going to pick two spots, Trient and Le Tour or Trient and Argentiere. Le Tour doesn’t have any aid, it’s just a spot where you hit a gondola parking lot and have to cross over to the Balcon Nord trail before heading into Argentiere.

How’s the Swag?

• UTMB hands out finisher’s vests to OCC, CCC and UTMB finishers, and they’re usually quite nice.
• Before I ran this I always thought it was a little silly to walk around Chamonix the day after each race and see all the finishers in their vests, their chests puffed out a little prouder, but now that I have worked my ass off to finish one of these races, I can see why it’s so special to earn that vest. Even if you’re wearing it in 80 degree weather the next day.
• The t-shirts are hit or miss each year in terms of colors and design, last year was a nice blue one for celebrating 20 years and this year was a dull orange, not my favorite but I’ll still wear it! Hoka branded.

The Overall Score – How many stars do you give this race and do you recommend that others run it?

• 5 out of 5. Absolutely worth the effort to earn the stones, put in the lottery, make the trip to Chamonix, pay up for lodging, and work your ass off around the mountain.