Menton has been a favourite family holiday destination for over 25 years. So much so that Mum & Dad purchased a time share some years ago. Since Dad passed away in 2009, Menton has become even more special. September in particular. A few reasons for this, Dads birthday is on the 18th, Mums on the 24th and most importantly it where Mum and myself spread Dads ashes. It was his request.
In 2010 I was with Mum for ‘our week’. An opportunity for some sun, an opportunity to reminisce and an opportunity to be with Dad on his birthday. Not in a sad way, but in a way that I am sure you can all understand.
I digress. It was in 2010 that I noticed a race called the ‘Trail du Mercantour’. To be honest, I couldn’t miss it as race registration was almost outside our hotel on the beach. Of course I hadn’t planned to race, firstly I didn’t know about it and secondly some seven days later I was running Millau 100k in Provence. But it was just too tempting….. With three races on offer, 17k, 29k and 53k I made the sensible option and picked the 17k. I loved it. I raced hard and got 4th place. I swore I would come back for the long one!

So, 2011 came around. Niandi and myself entered the 53k and headed over to France for a long weekend. Menton is the last place on the south coast of France. In fact it is almost Italian. Everyone speaks both languages and the restaurants seem to split themselves evenly between both cuisines. It has a beautiful old town and has a pace on the slower side in comparison to Nice, Cannes and St Tropez. With about an hours travel time from Nice airport it is a perfect place for a relaxing break or a race!

THE RACE

The race is a point to point race staring at the Col du Turini some 50+kms away from Menton. The race retraces a route back to the coast and sea level by trail along mountain passes. After 24k it passes through the village of Sospel, here the 29k and 17k races start. The 29k race is the same route as the remainder of the 54k route, the 17k race veers off for a shorter more direct route to the coast after a few km’s. Having done the 17k race I thought I knew what the course would be like! No! I could not have been more wrong…… To put it bluntly, it is one of the toughest races I have done and without doubt the hardest 50k race. To put things into perspective, my PB for a trail 50k is 3:46. This race took 7:45 and the winning time was 6 hours!

AN EARLY START

Niandi and myself were up at 4:30am to eat, have some coffee and then make our way to the race bus that would transport us to the race start in the mountains. Leaving on time at 6am we arrived at the Col at 7:30am. We immediately rushed to the hotel that was open. Keep warm, drink more coffee and then get ready. We ventured outside with 10mins to spare before the off.
It started to rain. It started to thunder. It started lightning. Oh my goodness we thought! The Trail du Mercantour is infamous for the death of 3 runners a few years ago. They got stranded on the course in bad weather, got hyperthermia and died. It was this set of circumstances that caused the French to review the whole procedures and kit requirements that go into a race. Makes sense. So if in future you are racing in France And think they are being a little too particular on ‘required kit’, think back to this, it may give some perspective.

Niandi and myself made our goodbyes and we headed off in torrential rain. Immediately going up to the top of the Col. In no time we where heading down, and down, and down. It was tough. The trail was slippery, technical and mentally you needed to be very focused. I was in a good place holding a position in the top 10. I felt pretty good but it was apparent that my decending skills did not match the French and Italians. I was better than most but nowhere near as good as the front runners. You really need to be running on terrain this technical on a regular basis to feel confident and at ease with it. I was working much harder than I needed to or should have been doing to keep in touch. I found it mentally exhausting having to watch for each foot placement and plan my route down.

The course was marked by orange and green ribbons and I must say the route was marked brilliantly. Two major check points were supplemented with smaller check points, it was necessary to ‘dib in’ with a timing chip. As I ran I was thinking of Niandi. She loves trail but she doesn’t love technical trail. In fact she hates it. Pre race we had discussed the option of her pulling out at Sospel, 24k into the race if she was having problems. Alternatively, she could make her race shorter by taking the 17k route back to Menton.

I soon found that I was alone on the trail. The effort of trying to keep with the front five was too much and when I lost my footing and face planted the trail. Caution was always going to take over! Although the route was well marked, several runners went off course. On two occasions I shouted to a few runners as they headed off in the wrong direction.

When not running down we where going up. Technical twisty trail, slippery in places but in general it was just the gradient and length of climbs that made them hard. Pretty much everyone was using poles and those that didn’t have them searched in the woodland for sticks to help them. After 24k I arrived at Sospel in 2:30hrs which I was happy with. I was still up at the front end of the field but some way off the ‘goats’ at the very front. At Sospel we were greeted by all the runners who would be doing the 17k race. They had a start time of 10:30am. I stopped, dibbled in, filled my two bottles, grabbed some pretzels and moved on. I would now be climbing out of Sospel for quite some time. Initially we had a short road section before branching off on to single track. Suddenly I was surprised by runners around me. The 17k race had started. Of course, they only had 17k to run and they were as fresh as daisies. I was conscious that I was going to be in the way. I was working hard running when I could, power walking when I couldn’t. Funny because I soon realised that I was going no slower than everyone else. The trail soon split with the 53 and 29k route going to the left and the 17k going to the right. I was now alone again.

I know had a section of wooded trail. It was muddy and pretty slippery but very runnable. I started to catch the tail end of the 29k race that had started earlier. Moving past them I pushed on as best I could and then we hit the major climb. Starting at about 1,000m we would now climb to 4500m (over 0,000ft). This climb was hard. Pace was slow and it was a matter of gritting your teeth and getting on with it. I reckon it was taking 30 minutes to cover a mile here. Although raining it was warm. I suddenly felt flat. Lacking energy and feeling thirsty. I had been so preoccupied with keeping up right and maintaining my effort that I had neglected to eat. Certainly I hadn’t eaten enough. I take salt tablets every hour to keep my electrolytes balanced but I was also feeling dehydrated. I took time out to eat an energy bar and push on. After 4:30hrs I was out of liquid and desperate for a feed station. Of course, I was in the middle of nowhere so the only option was to keep going. After hours of climbing I reached a plateau and waiting at the top was a car with a couple of Italians. They had water and ice tea. Desperate for liquid I filled both my bottles with ice tea, immediately drank one and then refilled it. The Italian lady was shaking hands at me and making gestures. I smiled and nodded and in French asked if I needed to ‘dib in’ my timing chip. In true fashion she threw both arms in the air and told me it was ahead. I left now running down some good trail.

After a short distance I arrived at a feed station and check point. Funny that these two had been so close! It later turned out that I had taken some Italian couples picnic…. Well at least their ice tea!!! No wonder she was so vocal. Funny when I think back but I was so in need of liquid that I just didn’t think or question. At this feed I now moved to Coke. I had been thinking for the mlast few miles about having a nice cold Coke with ice and lemon. Of course I had no ice or lemon but the coke would more than suffice. I filled both bottles and was off.

More climbing now and this time it was like being in a quarry. Rocky hard terrain that was tough on the legs, quads, ankles and knees. I was so glad to be wearing the Hoka One One. The cushioning really helped to remove the harshness from the terrain. After a long climb we reached a plateau, crested and then had a very long technical decent to Menton in the distance.

Going down these rocky trails now was even harder. Tired legs, tired mind and it was easy to slip. I seemed to have a lack of connection between my thought process and action. I would be thinking one thing only to find my legs didn’t follow the thought process. I was loosing time when I should have been making it up but I had little choice. I lost 4/5 places over the final 90 minutes.

I was really thinking of Niandi here. I knew that this would be way beyond her comfort zone. She loves to run and she is bloody good at it. She loves the mountains and she loves trail but rocky and technical is just not her thing!

Finally I crossed under the autoroute and was running in the outskirts of Menton. I was looking for the cemetery that would give me the route back down to sea level and the beach finish. It finally came.

Within 10 minutes I was at the finish. It had taken me 7:44 to cover the 53k. I had climbed 10,000ft and decended 15,000ft. Although I had run the 17k race last year, the 53k race had been a surprise. I hadn’t anticipated it to be so difficult. The finish times and dnf’s reflect the severity. I WS 20th overall and although not disappointed I do feel it is a case of what might have been. I certainly couldn’t have been at the front with the winner in 5:53 but I do feel as though 6:30 to 6:45 is a realistic target.

At the finish I waited for Niandi. I was worried. I knew she would be hating being out on that mountain. My phone went and I had a message saying that she couldn’t keep upright and that her spirit was broken! I phoned, no answer. I was trying to decide if I should head back on the course and retrace. It wasn’t that I could do much but I could at least offer moral support. I decided against it. I was worried that Niandi may take a different route or that I may miss her. I headed to the old town and waited. She finally arrived. I could see the fatigue, the frustration and the desire for the finish in her face. I stopped the traffic, she ran across the road to the beach front, I ran at her side and then branched left to wait at the finish line. She crossed in 10:30hrs. Big hug and then the tears came! She was broken. Mentally and physically.

Post race Niandi was frustrated by what she considered to be a poor performance. No bad performance at all. She had achieved something in that race that so few people would even contemplate. We started in thunder, lightning and rain. We had climbed 10,000 ft, decended 15,000ft and had covered 33 very tough miles. No failure. No failure at all.

Sometimes it’s the taking part that is actually the achievement. To finish is enough and I have to say at the ‘Trail du Mercantour’ to finish was enough. It’s a great race, I thoroughly recommend it. It’s a beautiful and tough course in a great part of the world. Would I do it again? Absolutely! Would Niandi do it again? Mmmmmmm, what do you think?

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Location:Menton, South of France