2013 will continue to see the international success of the four events of the The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®! Yet again this year trail-runners from the world over will be at the rendezvous, keen to attend to face the challenge, and despite the increase in the number of qualification points necessary this year (7 instead of 5 for the UTMB®, 2 instead of 1 for the CCC®).

As in 2012, 3 600 candidates were unable to validate their registration this year due to lack of places.

UTMB® [Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®] : 3 countries – 168 km and 9 600 meters of vertical gain in semi-autonomy. 2300 runners at the start on Friday at 16:30 from Chamonix to Chamonix in 46 hours max.

CCC® [Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix] : countries – 100 km and 5 950 meters of vertical gain in semi-autonomy.    1 900 runners at the start on Friday at 9:00 from Courmayeur to Chamonix in 26 hours max.

TDS® [sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie] : 119 km and 7 250 meters of vertical gain in semiautonomy. 1400 runners at the start on Wednesay at 7:00am from Courmayeur to Chamonix in 33 hours max.

PTL® [la Petite Trotte à Léon] : 3 countries – 300 km and 24 000 meters of vertical gain in complete autonomy. A non-stop adventure race without rankings open to 80 teams Start on Monday at 22:00 from Chamonix to Chamonix in 138 hours

Registration figures

Pre-registration was closed on the January 8th with a record number of 10 105 candidates (of whom 10.3% were women) for the 4 events of the The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®.

The UTMB® and the CCC® were over subscribed. It is obvious that the organisation are proud of the popularity and success of the event but a serious draw was necessary and will mean that numerous trail-runners will have to postpone their dream for at least another year.

It is worth remembering that those who were unlucky in the 2012 draw were able to register without going through the draw this year. The limit of numbers for each event meant that there was a draw for the UTMB® and the CCC®. 2 500 requests for registration for the UTMB® and 1 100 for the CCC® were not able to be accepted this year.

The TDSTM registers a score in permanent progression, with more than 1 300 requests. It may, taking into account over-booking, accept round 500 runners form the more than 3 600 unlucky in the draw for the UTMB® or the CCC®.

Full card equally for the PTLTM for which registration closed on January 3rd, with 88 teams registered.

A reminder that each race is limited to the number of participants possible in order to respect the quality of the race for the runners, the security, the environment and the quality of the organisation.

The The North Face® Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc® races are welcoming 74 nations:

A record number in the field of open country races!

International participation is as always important with a record level of 49.6% who are not French.

In the lead France with only 50.4%. Then there is Spain with (9.5%) and Italy (8.9%). It is worth noting that Japan is in 5th position with 3.6% of the participants.

The nations represented are : Albania / Algeria / Andorra / Argentina / Australia / Austria / Belgium / Belarus / Bolivia / Brazil / Bulgaria / Canada / Chile / China / Colombia / Costa Rica / Croatia / Czech Republic / Denmark /  Ecuador / England / Estonia / Finland / France / Gabon / Germany / Greece / Hungary / Iceland / Indonesia / Iran / Ireland / Israel / Italy / Japan / Jordan / Latvia / Lithuania / Luxembourg / Malaysia / Malta / Mexico / Moldavia / Monaco / Morocco / Netherlands / New Zealand / Niger / Northern Ireland / Norway / Peru / Philippines / Poland /  Portugal / Rumania / Russia / Scotland / Serbia / Singapore / Slovakia / Slovenia / South Africa / South Korea / Spain / Sweden / Switzerland / Thailand / Turkey / Ukraine / Uruguay / Venezuela / United States of America / Wales / Zimbabwe

A world-wide success which confirms the The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc® as a trail-running event which has become a dream for trail runners from all over the world.