Overview
- The UTMB race week began on Monday with the Petite Trotte à Léon (PTL) and other races starting from Chamonix, Courmayeur and Martigny-Combe, and the main 174 km UTMB loop is scheduled to depart Friday evening.
- The PTL is a team event of two or three runners covering about 300 km and 25,000 m of ascent on an unmarked route that must be completed within 151 hours.
- Residents and some businesses complain of severe crowding and traffic in the town of about 9,000 people as roughly 10,000 runners and an estimated 100,000 spectators attend the week.
- Organizers have introduced tight environmental rules including a ban on walking poles in protected zones, mandatory red lights on headlamps to limit wildlife disturbance, and say about 60% of runners pledged to arrive without cars.
- The competitive field is reshaped by withdrawals from stars such as Killian Jornet, Tom Evans and Jim Walmsley, while organizers highlight an estimated €45 million local economic impact and expanded broadcasts on the UTMB YouTube channel and L'Equipe.