❤️ What UTMR 2024 volunteering taught me

It was an insightful edition. I realized how the weather can make the things really difficult to make a race happen. Heavy rains, closed trails and an isolated valley made a special edition with some modifications in stage 1 and 3, cancellation of the stage 2, an alternative loop for the stage 4 connected with 3 big buses 🚌 🚌 🚌 to make all of this happen.

It would have been “easy” to cancel all races given the conditions and difficulties but I felt all the options where exhausted to try to make the most of it with the conditions that where given.

I felt grateful 🙏 that I had the opportunity to do the loop in previous years and felt happy for any section that I could do in this edition given the conditions. However I wondered what the runners thought 💭 about this “special” edition.

My curiosity made ma ask questions like:

❓How did you like the stage?
❓What do you think about this edition of UTMR?

I was positively surprised by the general acceptance of participants of Stage race. I might have asked more than 40 participants and they agreed with organization decision and appreciated that means were put in place to try to do the next stages. Weather cannot be controlled and security is the highest priority of the organization.

“Crossing the hanging bridge has been a highlight.”

</aside>

“I’m happy that the organization decided to cancel stage 2. Conditions are not for running up on a glacier with no options to get out of it if something goes wrong.”

</aside>

“The stage 3 was the best running day I’ve ever had in my life. The landscape is absolutely stunning. I could die today.”

</aside>