Jan
02
2019
Damian Hall, journalist and elite runner, is signed up for the 2019 170 km Ultra Tour. With an impressive 5th place at the 2018 UTMB in 22:35:13, and having recently set an FKT (fastest known time) for the Cape Wrath Trail with Beth Pascall, he is no stranger to the long and hard. We look forward to hearing what he thinks of UTMR!
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I love a good 100, me. The lumpier and hurtier the better.
Lizzy Hawker is a huge inspiration me and when I heard first heard talk about the inaugural Ultra Tour Monte Rosa, I wanted in right away.
There are a lot of appealing races towards the end of summer though and I had a bit of a UTMB obsession I needed to shake first.
In the meantime, friends of mine – especially Tim Laney, Nicky Spinks, Philip Haylett – did UTMR and raved about it. Race photos just looked sensational.
I’m done with UTMB for now and UTMR seems like the perfect replacement. Not only is it only one letter different, but it’s the same distance and also in the Alps.
However UTMR also seems very different to UTMB in some ways. It looks wilder and remoter, more technical and spectacular than UTMB. It goes higher (above 3,200m) and there’s 1,300m more ascent (gulp). It’ll obviously be more low-key, but that’ll make a nice change. (Cowbells can get a bit irksome after 20 hours or so.)
I can’t wait to get out there. I can’t wait for it to get hurty.