This past September 27th-29th 2300 trailers met in Chamonix to participate in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, the world summit trailrunning race.

Vibram was official sponsor of the event for the third time.

The race

At 6 pm in the afternoon of September 27th all the athletes were ready to start the race and the crowd was there to support them. Unfortunately, the very bad weather conditions but the bad weather conditions (hard rain, snow, strong wind and cold temperatures) brought the race to a stop after just 4 hours.

A forced stop even for the TDS and the CCC, the two minor races linked to the UTMB.

The UTMB started again at 10 o’ clock in the morning on September 28th with a reduced track (88 km) and the athletes participating reduced to 1239.
The winner of the race was the English Jez Bragg (10h:30’), followed by Mike Wolfe from US (10h:37’) and the Spanish Zigor Iturrieta Ruiz (10h:49’).

In the female category, the English runner Lizzy Hawker won the UTMB for the third time.

Vibram on the filed

Vibram managed to place 4 runners wearing its soles in the top ten: Antoine Guillon, Jerome Challier Pascal Blanc (in the photo, all wearing Lafuma shoes) and Cyril Cointre (Saucony shoes). Vibram soles confirms this way to be the best performing sole in hard race conditions (mud, wet terrains, slippery rocks).

Jerome Bernard, Vibram Marketing Director, reports “for Vibram being once again an official sponsor of the race is a very important chance to play a leading rule in the mountain field at he runners’ side and to confirm itself as a benchmark brand in the outdoor sports”.

Vibram also gave the first ten athletes a pair of Vibram® fivefingers®, the revolutionary footglove on show at the UTMB village during the race.