North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc Video, Chamonix 2008
A look at the races in the 2008 UTMB
The North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is the last major event in the Chamonix summer calendar.
An endurance race, which attracts runners from all over the world, the Ultra Trail is a gruelling 166km run around the Mont Blanc Massif which crosses through three different countries and climbs over 9000 vertical metres, starting and finishing in Chamonix town centre.
The Ultra Trail is the main race of the week but there are two other large races too. The Courmayer, Champex, Chamonix (CCC) which is the 98km half course and the enormous Petit Trot du Léon which is a 220km, non-competitive run around the massif. The runners in each race have to run through the night in an effort to be the first to cross the finish line and distance and altitude gain mean that many are unable to finish. But for those who do membership of an elite club awaits, for it is not everyone who can claim to have finished this incredible race.
