Bäcksjön by UTMB

Like almost everything else, this year’s edition of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) has been cancelled due to the pandemic. Ever since I first learned about it, the UTMB has held a particular sway over my imagination even if it so far beyond my present abilities.

With the real-world race cancelled, UTMB is organizing a virtual race where you can register to run different distances including the full 170 km. Since the original has ten thousand meters of elevation gain, there is an elevation offset mechanism by which you add another km for every 100 meter of elevation missing, up to a grand total of 270 km. Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to first register for the 100k race (or 145 km with the elevation offset) so now I have 415 km of running to look forward to. Unlike the real thing though, I have 50 days to finish this so I am fairly confident that I will be able to complete both the 100k and the 170k run in time. If I succeed, I will take part in a lottery with a chance of winning entry into the CCC race of the 2021 UTMB week.

To kick-off my dual UTMB challenge, I took the rental car up to Bäcksjön for 9.45 km of trail running in my Salomon Speedcross 4. While I have other shoes for longer distances, these are really good for shorter runs like today, plus they remind me of South Devon Ultra which always makes me smile.