Race: Chianti 46k by UTMB (CMT)
Runner: Julie Urbanski
Race Date: March 23, 2025
Location: Radda, Chianti Region, Italy
Results: 5:43:06, 25th Female, huzzah! 252 out of 918 finishers. That’s a lot of men that I beat, not that I’m counting 🙂
Strava Activity Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/12275295079
3 Bests – What aspects of the race did you like the most?
- The Course (without the mud) – It’s a really runnable course and definitely more along the lines of my strengths vs. tons of vert and technical trail.
- Different Races – I love that the races are on different days so couples with kids can each race and still have childcare covered. Matt ran the 120k on Saturday and I ran the 46k on Saturday. UTMB week is like this too but for some reason it felt more doable to both race these races since they didn’t require quite as much heavy training as the verty, more technical trails of Chamonix require. One could get away with mainly road training and some trail training and still run this race really well. I only trained on trails 1 day a week for my weekly long run.
- Smaller – As much as I love UTMB week in Chamonix, it’s A LOT, like too much hype, too many people, just over-the-top for the main event, and it was nice doing a smaller UTMB event that wasn’t so hyped up.
Not so much – Aspects of the race that didn’t do it for you
Starting line bathrooms – they just need more of them. They had about 16 total, 8 in one area and 8 in another, for over 1000 starters, and as a woman (and therefore only about 25% of the racing field) we were actually lucky with the gender specific bathrooms, since that meant a higher ratio of bathrooms to female runners. For once the men’s bathroom line was longer than the women’s!
The mud – not something the race can control but holy hell, it was sooooo muddy, as it had rained for the days leading up to the race, and given the 120k and 73k had already run on much of the worst sections, it was like Slip & Slide meets downhill skiing, but also out of control.
Weird factor – What’s the weirdest thing about this race?
That MUD! The picture below was one of the “lighter” mud sections. I also find it weird when runners avoid puddles, like, “Um, do you see this course? Ain’t no way those shoes are staying dry.” Just bite the bullet, run through the puddles, and embrace the wet feet and move forward as fast as possible.
Highlights of your race – What did you do well and enjoy about your race in particular?
About 15k in my hamstrings started cramping, like balling up and everything, I never experience cramping. I figured it had to do with so much stabilizing in the mud, as it was a fight to stay upright, let alone run fast on the muddy sections. I had this feeling of doom, like, “OMG, my race is ruined if I don’t get a hold of this situation.”
Instead of getting super negative I turned to humor to get through the mud and some other jedi mind tricks and race adjustments to get through the hamstring cramping, and overall I felt like I just enjoyed the hell out of my time out there. That was such a big highlight for me.
At one point I looked up as I slid sideways, to see one guy up ahead slide on his ass, another besides me staggering forward as he dug his poles in the mud to stay upright, and another behind me yelping as he went down in the mud. I suddenly started giggling and couldn’t stop, then I was doubled over laughing, which only caused me to laugh even more. Like, hysterically. I felt like Charlie in Willy Wonka’s factory, having had some kind of laughing fizzy, and I looked over to see the guy next to me and he at least had a smile on his face, though no one else seemed to find it funny.
Like Russell Crowe in Gladiator, when no one seemed to find it as funny as me that there we were, grown adults, paying good money to slip slop around in the mud in order to get to the finish line as fast as possible, I wanted to raise my arms and ask, “Are you not entertained?!?!”
Lessons for others – Share your pro-tips on the race to help the next runner
- Have some baby wipes on you for the pre-race bathrooms, all of them were out of toilet paper.
- Book a room either in Radda right away or somewhere the race shuttles go. We booked at the Orlando Glamping, totally overpriced, but worth that free shuttle to/from the race.
- Tank up on water at the aid stations, 3 within 46k is actually not much, and we had a fairly chilly day, so I can’t imagine how thirsty I would have gotten had it been hot and sunny.
- The course is fairly exposed, so I bet it gets HOT in the sun. If you don’t carry the water, at least drink a lot at each aid station before taking off.
Lessons you learned that will help you next time around
- I would have drank a bit more water at each aid station, as I came in empty and thirsty each time and had just two bottles.
Most important course specific knowledge to know about the race
- A lot of the uphills are runnable – train on that grade that you’d rather walk but in reality is actually runnable. I found myself pulling away from a lot of runners that walked every single uphill, no matter the grade, when in actuality a lot of the grade was very runnable.
- Train on bombing both technical downhills and gravel roads. The race had both and while I sucked at the technical trails, as there were at least two distinct downhill technical sections, there were a few dirt roads that I let loose on because I had trained running hard downhill on gravel roads and I loved those bits.
Aesthetics – Is it a pretty course?
- Yes and no, it’s lots of sweeping vineyard views, though we had a lot of cloud cover until we neared the end, so I’m not the best judge of that. It’s nothing like Chamonix, but I also didn’t have to work as hard for the views, so…tradeoffs 🙂
Difficulty – Is it a tough course?
- Light/Medium. If it hadn’t been so muddy, it would have definitely been easier, then again, I would have pushed the pace more. 1700 meters of gain in 46k, a vert/km ratio that’s totally doable to train for without having big mountains to train in. The mud was the most difficult factor, but that’s something impossible to prepare for!
Organized and well run – Did it feel like a well-oiled machine or were they flying by the seat of their pants?
- I thought it went well, plenty of volunteers at each aid station, at each road crossing, and at the expo. For how many races they had to put on in such shit conditions, I thought they did really well.
Competition – Is there a strong field?
- The main competition was in the 120k the day before, Killian and Jim Walmsley, for a golden ticket into Western States, so YES, but like all UTMB races, the fast runners seem to always show up. I was absolutely glowing about being 25th female and 4th in my age group.
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.
- Extremely minimal lodging in Radda, so we stayed at the Orlando Glamping. Overpriced but there was stuff available within 2 weeks of the race, so not bad!
- Use the race shuttle, parking in town is a bitch!
- The coop grocery store in Radda was surprisingly well stocked, though we stocked up on groceries in Florence beforehand.
- We flew in/out of Florence and rented a car, it was about an hour drive. Renting a car in Italy is a bit of a pain, and we looked at booking a shuttle, but it was ridiculously expensive. Taking a bus is maybe an option, albeit a pain in the ass one.
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 only used the drink mix.
- Standard fare for UTMB races – meat and cheeses!
- I think they could use 1 more aid station in addition to the aid at 12k, 24k, and 39k. I was sooooo thirsty by 39k.
Weather and typical race conditions
- I’m guessing mid/late March in Italy is unpredictable, so have your typical cold and warm weather kits for you normally would for UTMB Chamonix races.
- Our race started out cloudy and cold, then warmed up throughout.
Gear – Did you need anything special or is there anything you’d recommend for the next runner?
- There’s a required gear list and it seems nearly non-existent compared to the Chamonix races and compared to what the 120k runners had to carry. In other words, it was super minimal!
- Have some grippy shoes in case of mud.
Spectators – Is this a friendly course for your friends?
- Not at all, only start and finish, though there were clumps of people out on the race course, cheering people on. Not having looked at a map ahead of time, I had no idea where they accessed the course!
How’s the Swag?
- Lots of swag to purchase at the race expo
- T-shirt included and finisher’s medal, so typical and a bit meh for me!
- 120k runners got a bottle of chianti, so I was a little jealous we didn’t get much of a wine-themed swag.
The Overall Score – How many stars do you give this race and do you recommend that others run it?
- 3 out of 5 – For a race that’s fairly easy to access, fairly “easy” to run when it comes to vert/technical trails, and for collecting stones in a pretty location, totally worth it! I would maaaybe do this again, only if I could guarantee there wasn’t so much mud!
