Mountain X Race – France

Until a week before this race I’d actually written off any chance of getting there. With no luck finding a sponsor to cover expenses for any international racing this year Elina and I were having a nice relax at her parents place in Finland when we got an email inviting us to race with one of Scandinavia’s top Multi-sport racers Martin Flinta. Never one to pass up a free trip and after mentioning also that all I’d been doing for 3 weeks since the ARWC in Scotland was drinking beer, eating cake and sleeping it was settled that it was off to France in a matter of days.

We were given the option of flying then driving (27.5 hours) or flying (3.5 hours) and chose the latter. Luckily we did as Martin had packed enough spares to cover 3 teams and any breakages from the rest of the field so when they arrived to pick us up in Geneva it was a car packing competition just to try and fit everything in, us included. We had an old Van Martin had purchased especially for the race and for 1000 Euro seemed to go well. 10 minutes later while caught in a traffic jam round the shores of Lake Geneva the trusty van decided to blow a sprocket and steam and water came pouring out from under the bonnet. Not speaking French was probably a good thing and after holding up the already impatient Swiss drivers we managed to get the van to the side of the road and let it cool down a bit. After limping to a service station and adding around 3 litres of coolant we were off with heater blasting, windows down and the temperature gauge reading critical every time the wind blew in the opposite direction or we went up a rise.

A few days to relax in the town of Morzine and we managed a few nice MTB rides, organised the usual plethora of gear and tracked down the requirements of medical kit – most of which you can only get in France without a prescription and all of which we had no idea what they would do seeing as all the labels were in French.

The Mountain x Race was a new format of race put on by the previous organisers of the Raid Adventure races. The idea was each day you would do a different activity as a team, MTB, Ropes, Water etc and then each day there would be a trail run, that you competed in as an individual. The trail runs for each team also counted towards a team’s overall ranking. With no one ever having done the race before there was plenty of guessing as to what would happen and how it would all turn out. There were also categories for Men’s, Mixed and Women’s teams.

DAY 0 – Check in was nothing new and for anyone that has ever been to an AR check in they will know what a time consuming and frustrating process this can be. We got through without needing to buy anything new which was a first for the medical kit at least. Following check in the warm sunny weather we’d been experiencing disappeared and was replaced by torrential rain. Our first assignment for the race was an 8 km trail run from Morzine to Les Gets with a 500m vertical climb. It was evident from the start the lack of hill running in Finland (plus the lack of running full-stop) was going to make this week’s trail runs more of a challenge than they already were. After struggling through in the mud and rain we rinsed off in the local fountains and headed for the tent sites.

DAY 1 – MTB. A Mass start for the day and after failing to secure a front row berth for the gun we found ourselves following a huge line of bikes through the initial few kilometres before a long climb allowed us to start moving through the field. Things were going well and we latched on to a group which included the Les Arc’s and Lafuma mixed teams with Nike just up the road. Things were going well until we took a small detour, I think everyone was following everyone else but luckily we picked up on it and reverted to the proper course without too much time lost; we were later to find out 5 teams in front including Nike and overall leaders Saab Salomon had made the same mistake but continued for more than 20 minutes in the wrong direction. Towards the end of the ride some navigation started to sort the teams out and on the last climb we again moved through the field to secure first in the mixed teams for the section.

That afternoon in the pouring rain the second part of the MTB day was the Downhill. After having experienced some of the trails in our rides before the race it seemed a high chance the course would be almost unrideable on x-country bikes and the call was made to hire Downhill bikes. Due to the rain we only got to reckkie the course and then 1 timed run. What a blast though and we got to catch the gondola back to the top each time. With good efforts all round we managed to secure the day as top mixed team much to our surprise. We also managed to find some radiator stop leak to help get the car to the next transition and almost lost one of the rental bikes as it ejected off the roof after someone neglecting to lock it in the rack. That’s another story altogether but luckily a team travelling behind saw the bike get ejected off the roof and picked it up.

That night in more torrential rain we discovered our tepee wasn’t very waterproof (it was raining inside)

DAY 2 – Mountaineering, or what should have been. Due to large quantities of snow the organisation was forced to cancel the section and the day was reversed with a trail run in the morning and a team Adventure run in the afternoon. The run was looking pretty brutal with 900m of vertical gain and then descending back to the start in around 11km. The usual suspects took off like rabbits and the rest of us slogged our way up the hill. The downhill was fast and furious and the shattered legs at the finish promised a tough afternoon on the team run.

The team's Adventure run was only 13 km but with 1200m of vertical ascending no one was expecting an easy run. The weather was again atrocious and well before the top it started snowing. By the top we were in a full on thunder and lightning storm with gale force winds blowing snow sideways at us. I’d been feeling somewhat flat after chowing down on a large plate of ravioli so to get to the top and start down was somewhat of a relief, even if I couldn’t feel any of my extremities. After a long slippery descent we finally reached the finish where support crew retold harrowing tales of having to drive over several passes covered in snow to reach us.

After a quick relocation to Borg Saint Maurice by car we found Martin had brought a spare tent and we found it to be much more waterproof (although it had stopped raining now) and had much more room for sorting our gear out.

DAY 3 – White water. The day started well enough for us with a 6th overall in the canoe section. Only problem was we were the 4th mixed team with all our competitors going well here. There was only seconds separating us and we rued the fact we had emptied the canoe for the second time unaware the finish was only a couple of hundred metres downstream.

Next was white water swimming with Hydro speeds. We were all dressed up like penguins with super thick wetsuits to combat the frigid water temperature. The organisers had warned this section was tough and among the many sceptical of completing the section was Elina. She gave it a go but had some issues and when she got sucked into a hole and recirculated a few times that was her que to call it quits. With the points system it meant you could abandon sections and not lose your chance of a good result which meant a number of teams did the same. Martin and I continued on what I thought was great fun but evidently there was only a few of us who enjoyed the experience.

Last activity for the day was a 3 min burst around a slalom course in flat water on sit on tops. The whole team paddled well and we were the first mixed team once again to claw back a few points from the white water swimming.

The run to top the day off proved to be the hardest yet.  Over 1300 metres of climbing in around 10 km took us up to a new village – Arc 1950. The first 2 km were flat and everyone flogged themselves like it was a flat race then plodded up the hill for the best part of an hour. It was a relief to finally make the top but the views were spectacular. I’m only glad we didn’t drive up before hand as the drive down seemed to take forever. Sometimes it’s best not to know what you’re in for!

DAY 4 – Ropes/Climbing. This was to prove another challenging day for us. We started with a trail run in the morning where Elina managed 3rd in the women’s race and she moved into 3rd overall in the women’s standings. I think we managed top mixed team overall for this run and maybe some others which was helping keep us in the race for a top 5 spot and some prize money.

Second activity for the day was rock climbing. We found out only a few days before that it would actually be proper climbing with climbing shoes etc required. We managed to borrow some shoes but our lack of climbing experience was shown with none of us managing to plug within the 6 min time slot. By comparison the fastest team took a combined 3 min 25 seconds to complete all 3 climbs. Was pretty amazing to see the good climbers racing up the rock faces, and it made our efforts look pretty poor.

Next was a short caving section before on to a Via Ferrata and a route in the les Bauges Park called the Jules Carrett. It is apparently one of the hardest Via Ferrata’s in the world and the entire 4.5 km is almost vertical and there are also several overhanging sections. There was only a short timed section on this and then we were able to take a bit more time, and caution to complete the reminder of the section. Was another great section to experience but not so good for us for points. After the day we had slipped to 6th in the mixed standings after the French teams showed their skills for climbing etc. At least we didn’t get lost or lose a team mate as happened to several teams on the walk out of the Via Ferrata.

DAY 5 – Adventure Running. We had transferred to La Cluza the following evening and the next morning started on a 40 km trail run with 3500 metres of vertical gain. On looking at the route it looked as though it would be tough to make the cut offs for the full course so that was our first goal. The second was to make up the 36 point deficit we had to the team in 4th place.

The run started well and we quickly pulled in several teams in front. The navigation was easy and when we passed through a saddle at the top of the first major climb the full Mount Blanc Massif came into view. Was a stunning day and we spent it traversing ridges, trekking on snow fields and racing down endless descents. Towards the end of the run we started catching some more teams but by the end of the run we were still a few points shy of the 4th placed team.

It was all down to the final team relay run. We’d been consistently faster than the team in 4th in the trail runs but could we get them by enough. Martin put in a stellar effort in the first leg to get us up the field and on the last leg Elina held out most of the men’s teams for a great finish. At the end of the day we snuck home for 4th place by 3 points (1 place).

For us it was a fun trip, sprung at lat notice we weren’t as well prepared as you like to be for such hard races but the team got a long well and we had some good performance mixed in there as well. The organisation of the race was top notch and the concept is a real winner. The format meant teams had a lot of time to mix and the addition of French wine at each meal was a real bonus. A great race to go to, and I’m sure with a few small teaks in the scoring system it will be even better next year – just make sure to practise your rock climbing skills before you go.