The Easy Way to Qualify for the UTMB
So you’ve decided you need to run the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc but you want to take the least amount of running time to do so. Well stay right there, don’t run the calculations because we’ve already done it for you!
To run the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB), the 171 km behemoth through France, Italy and Switzerland, you need to have:
- At least 1 running stone (1 ballot chance); and
- A valid UTMB index for running a 100km category event or greater.
Click here to see what I’ll need to do to Run the UTMB.
The easiest way for you to qualify for the UTMB may be to run a UTMB World Series Event which satisfies BOTH the running stones and UTMB index requirements. Alternatively, it may be easiest to run two separate events – 1 UTMB World Series event to gain a running stone and 1 UTMB Index Race to get the UTMB Index. The combination of both of these races would need to be easier than the 1 single UTMB world series event.
Yes but how do you know which race(s) is the easiest to run?
Aha! I’ve already worked that out for you!
I dove deep into how best to determine how long it will take to complete a walk/hike/run and reviewed each of Naismiths Rule / Munter Method / Difficulty Rating Scale – all of which didn’t satisfy what I needed. So, I created my own rule.
Introducing the David King Difficulty Rating Scale!
Add 4 min 56 sec for every km and 7 min 42 sec every 100m of ascent
The way that this was determined was by using two of my previously completed races, the Ultra-Trail Australia and Surf Coast Century 100. I was able to plug in the distance and ascent of both of these courses using my Strava data and solve these simultaneous equations.
For those of you thinking “yeah but how do I compare with your ability?” Some of my current PBs are as follows so you can see how much better you are than me the difference between the two of us:
5 km 17:17 / HM 1:22:19 / Marathon 3:00:14 / Ultra Trail Australia 100 13:37:44
The next step was to review all UTMB World Series Events and UTMB Index Races and input the distances and ascent totals of these courses into the David King Difficulty Rating Scale. I was then able to determine how quickly I would be able to finish the event based on my ability to finish a similar race.
Just for total transparency, I have disregarded temperature and climate that the races are run in as well as travel times to the events themselves (or multiple events). These considerations may be addressed in future, but the calculations were already getting too complicated! Desert heat, jungle humidity and snowy alpine conditions should all be considered in addition to these calculations which may impact your overall finish time.
So, let’s get into it. Here are the easiest events (or combination of events) that you need to do to qualify for the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, based on where you are in the world.
RS Running Stone Event UI UTMB Index Race *As per the David King Difficulty Rating Scale
1. Europe
It’s no surprise that Europe is the easiest continent to qualify from. You host the UTMB race for goodness sake! Not only do they have the easiest event, they have 3 of the top 4 easiest events that can be used to qualify for the UTMB*. Not only that, but it’s probably a short cruisy drive into Chamonix for you guys. No $3,000 airfare for you (unless you’re flying first class)!
Easiest: Kullamannen by UTMB – Sprint Ultra 100 km (Sweden)
104 km / 1045m Elevation
Time to Complete: 9 hrs 54 mins
The Kullamannen by UTMB will only take 9 hours 54 mins of running to get you qualified for the UTMB. It may as well be a parkrun!
Runner Up: Trail du Saint-Jacques by UTMB® – Grand Trail (France)
75 km / 3100m Elevation
Time to Complete: 10 hrs 9 min
2. South America
This one was more of a surprise. I didn’t expect the next easiest continent to qualify after Europe to be South America! Once you’ve qualified, it’s just the price of the airfares to Chamonix that’ll be the biggest mountain to climb!
Easiest: Valhöll Argentina by UTMB® – Advance 80K
81 km / 2800m Elevation
Time to Complete: 10 hrs 16 mins
Runner Up: 12 KILÓMETROS EL SUNSET (Colombia)RS and ULTRA DO IMPERADOR 85K (Brazil)UI
12 km / 825m Elevation and 85 km / 1917m Elevation
Time to Complete: 11 hrs 30 mins Total
Although the Valhöll Argentina event is the easiest one in South America, the combination of these other two events will also get you the result you need to run in Europe.
3. North America
Next we head to North America where the Desert Rats events offer up some tasty options to qualify for the UTMB. Both of these options yielded the exact same running time! We gave the “Easiest” label to the single event but just ever so narrowly. I should mention again that the temperature of the event is not taken into account in my calculations…
Easiest: Desert Rats by UTMB – 100K (USA)
99.7 km / 1891 m Elevation
Time to Complete: 10 hrs 38 mins
Runner Up: Desert Rats by UTMB – 21K (USA)RS and Brazos Bend 100 (USA)UI
21 km / 469m Elevation and 100 km / 50 m Elevation
Time to Complete: 10 hrs 38 mins Total
4. Oceania
Up next is my homeland, Oceania (and more specifically Australia!). As I am much more familiar with the races in Oceania, I guessed Tarawera in New Zealand would be one of the easiest on this continent. I was correct.
The Ultra-Trail Australia 100 that I recently completed, is among the toughest events in the Oceania region that can be used to qualify for the UTMB!
Easiest: Ultra-Trail Australia – UTA22RS and LAKES100 (Australia)UI
18.2 km / 660m Elevation and 100 km / 422m Elevation
Time to Complete: 11 hrs 7 mins Total
Runner Up: Tarawera Ultramarathon By UTMB® – TUM102 (New Zealand)
102.3 km / 3089m Elevation
Time to Complete: 12 hrs 27 mins
5. (Equal) Asia
The equal 5th easiest (or 2nd hardest!) continent to qualify from is Asia. There have been many more UTMB events that have sprung up in Asia in recent years, offering lots more flexibility.
Asia is the first continent to have both the first and second easiest options to run multiple events instead of a single UTMB World Series event. The Trans Jeju by UTMB – Jeju100K is the easiest World Series event in Asia, likely to take almost 2 hours longer than our easiest options!
Easiest: Amazean Jungle Thailand by UTMB – Betong 10RS and ULTRA 70KM (Son La, Vietnam)UI
15.8 km / 470m Elevation and 70.3 km / 2970m Elevation
Time to Complete: 11 hrs 30 mins Total
Runner Up: Trans Jeju By UTMB® – Jeju20K (South Korea)RS and ULTRA 70KM (Thanh Hoa, Vietnam)UI
20 km / 420m Elevation and 67.7 km /3250m Elevation
Time to Complete: 11 hrs 56 mins Total
5. (Equal) Africa
Africa is the equal second hardest continent to qualify from. If you live in the South of Africa, we’ve got a few options below; however, they really are the only qualifying options for African runners unless you head to a neighbouring continent.
If you live in Northern Africa, I’d suggest heading to the Trail du Saint-Jacques by UTMB® – Grand Trail (France). Hopefully there’ll be a few more events coming to you soon!
Easiest: Mountain Ultra Trail by UTMB® – MUT Challenge (South Africa)RS and SALT PANS ULTRA 100KM (Botswana)UI
24.5 km / 910m Elevation and 100 km / 70m Elevation
Time to Complete: 11 hrs 30 mins
Runner Up: Mountain Ultra Trail by UTMB® – MUT 100 (South Africa)
98 km / 4855m Elevation
Time to Complete: 14 hrs 18 mins
7. Antarctica
So there’s no UTMB qualifying events in Antarctica… yet. That automatically makes it the hardest continent to qualify from. If you live amongst the penguins and are still keen to compete in the greatest trail running event ever (the UTMB), I’d suggest the following:
Easiest: Valhöll Argentina by UTMB® – Advance 80K
81 km / 2800m Elevation
Time to Complete: 10 hrs 16 mins
Runner Up: Tarawera Ultramarathon By UTMB® – TUM102 (New Zealand)
102.3 km / 3089m Elevation
Time to Complete: 12 hrs 27 mins
We just went with single events for this one with the closest countries considered. Either way, it’s gonna be tough to train and qualify!
Just out of curiosity, I used the David King Difficulty Rating Scale to estimate what my UTMB finishing time would be. I ended up with 26:51:53. Not too shabby! Not sure if i even need to run it now!
If I actually did finish the 2022 UTMB in this proposed time, I would have finished 72nd of 1789 runners. This is a little (a long way) ahead of what I think I’m capable of at the moment. As I run more longer distance events (which is where the rating scale becomes less accurate), I’ll be able to fine tune this Rating Scale to hone in more accurate finishing times. But for the moment, this is the best I’ve got to work with!
Looking forward to seeing you all there on the start line in Chamonix!
Great work on the “David King Difficulty Rating Scale” but I think it needs some work 😉
For the Kullamannen Sprint Ultra this would have you finishing in the top 10 – with an index above 700. That would be great as it would include automatic qualification for UTMB and no need to go in the lottery -but certainly way above my level!
Thanks Bruce. Definitely still a work in progress 😉 I believe it works well for determining which races are more difficult but as per my UTMB example at the end, specific race times needs some work! Check out the article on how long it will take you to finish the UTMB/Western States for a more accurate run time in each of those events. Happy running!