TDG

Race: Tor des Geants

Runner: Joel T

Race Date: 09/08/2019

Location: Courmayeur

Results: 129h 33m

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

All the volunteers were absolutely amazing. There must have been thousands of them and they were all friendly and supportive. No one gets behind mountain running like the Italians. The scenery of the course is unbeatable. The level of support e.g. food, massages, medical were far beyond anything I expected.

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

None.

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

Arriving at an aid station built from stone high in the mountains for a dawn breakfast of a selection of delicious cheeses, cold meats and pasta washed down with beer or coffee, and cow bells ringing. It was a weird and surreal experience.

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

After the third night, going through a period of despair over the enormity of the race I came to a new understanding that this is now life and I’m happy with that, despite the discomfort.

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

Eating as much as possible is critical. Eat at every single opportunity, regardless of how you feel.

Lessons you learned that will help you next time around

Foot care needs to be about prevention, not aid. I don’t normally get blisters so I ignored the prevention and paid dearly for it. Sleep more often than you planned to. It makes you go faster and enjoy the experience more.

Most important course specific knowledge to know about the race

The first half is super hard and technical. Take time to get through this in good shape and you should be ok for the second half.

Aesthetics – Is it a pretty course?

If you like mountains, there’s probably no better course.

Difficulty – Is it a tough course?

One of the toughest races there is.

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

Organisation appeared perfect. The only thing they could do better is send out the informational emails sooner.

Competition – Is there a strong field?

I don’t recognise any of the elite runners, but this is a class of event I’m not used to so can’t really say.

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.

There is a lottery that anyone can enter.

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

Italian food. Almost always pasta, cheese, prosciutto and various other high energy foods. Some places they will cook from a menu. The menu items sound basic but the Italians manage to make it taste amazing.

Weather and typical race conditions

Started with snow and went through all seasons to finish in baking sunshine.

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

Sleeping at Refugio’s is generally a lot more comfortable than the life bases.

Spectators – Is this a friendly course for your friends?

There are roads and trails everywhere so if you have an enthusiastic crew, it’s perfect.

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

5 stars

Race: Tor Des Geants -Finisher 2018. 340km with 31.000m+ elev. (211 miles with 101.706 feet+).

Runner: Anouk B

Results: 900 starters. 20th Lady. 212 Overall.

Date: September 2018

Location: Aosta Valley- start/finish: Courmayeur. A loop.

To be able to say you are a ‘Geant’ is a very prestigious title in the ultra-running community and after I did this race I completely understand. To me, whether you arrived first or the last person before the cut off, you deserve this title double and square. This race is insanity on steroids. There is nothing like it out there, this is about setting your pain cave limits to another level you didn’t even know existed in your wildest dreams. A combination of physical and mental strength that have to work together.

But this too is a race, were people around you close and far play the biggest role in getting the job done. Never have I felt so much love and support and realized that a finisher result would absolutely not have been possible without their support both close and from afar. The volunteers were just amazing, nothing was too much and their enthusiasm was contagious, the support back home with the million messages and voice messages to keep spurring me on was needed in the many low moments you have to fight through, and then with the fellow runners you share the route and journey with and to feel each others respect makes you not want to quit. You want to be a Geant. You owe it to yourself and the big training but also to all those around you who have given up something for you to participate with you on this journey.

I say that but still I had some extreme dark moments.

The scenery is beautiful, but also very diverse in the sense that you end up going from a village in the valley to all the way to the top, tag a couple of peaks there and then go all the way back down. so you end up passing a few villages, some farms, grasslands and then back to the peaks with relative technical, screetchy loose rocks, or boulder hopping fields.

I wouldn’t say the trails are technical, of course here and there some nasty bits, but the hard part is mainly how relentlessly steep it is both up and down. From 150km-200km there is a very difficult section- 24hrs in the average for the 50km, so go figure! and a lot of people will drop out after that but the good news is that although of course the elevation remains, the trails improve for the last 100km and that did really help – I would say this is the most important knowledge to know about this race.

What I liked:

1. I most liked the amount of people participated: 859 starters and about 450 finishers. It made that the you always saw someone out there but it still was a very spread out field so you could feel the space of the mountains and be there on your own.
2. The volunteers at all the aid stations, ringing cow bells and making noise every time you walked into their aid station. You can tell that each it’s year a group of friends that take over that aid station and they look forward to managing it.
3. The high peaks scenery was just spectacular

Aspects I didn’t like as much:

1. The tracking!!! The live tracking is rubbish and that gets very frustrating when it’s such a long race – also I wanted to know how far in front or behind my competition was and that was difficult to find out.
2. The aid station’s food. Every aid station had the exact same – so 5/6 day non-stop the same food is very boring, plus the one hot meal they had was just plain pasta with tomato sauce. Also the drink choice was very limited to coke, tea, coffee, sparkling water and water. Anyway, at the end of the day you are so spaced out that it is just about putting in calories – who cares what it is; when looking at the table I only saw calories counting and that’s what went into my mouth.

Lesson I learned:

1. The classic, I should have looked after my blisters from the very beginning. My feet became practically a case study for the medics. It gave me the most pain I ever felt those blisters, and I am sure I won’t be able to wear shoes for at least two weeks.
2. I am so impressed by people I was with during day 2 and who finished 20 hrs in front of me – and so too I have seen a lot of people I was with and who finished 20 hrs after me. Consistency is key and it’s not about gunning it out of the start line.

The weather

It can be anything and everything. We were lucky and had good weather, almost a bit too hot, so I had to carry a lot of water, but equally in your mandatory equipment you have to carry ice crampons!

Swag

Just a nice finisher jumper- but that is worth gold ????

Recommend it?

I recommend of course doing it, but I honestly would only recommend it if you know what you are putting your name in for…. you want to be a finisher, it’s a lot of time and money commitment if you just wanna see how far you are going to get. There are plenty of other amazing races out there that are as tough but shorter.

But that feeling crossing that finish line; there is nothing, absolutely nothing like it.

Let it TOR!