Keeping my tradition of abusing family holiday time going, I saw that (coincidentally) the Verbier Marathon was on whilst we were in Switzerland. The Marathon (43km) is one of four races in the Trail Verbier St-Bernard series, the other distances being 29km, 78km, and 111km, but being the selfless person I am, I chose the 43km to keep time away from family to the (almost) minimum.
The race started in Liddes at 11am, with temperatures forecast to reach a maximum of 29C I was hoping the intermittent cloud would save me from the heat of the direct sun.
The route immediately starts with a 1,160m climb to the Cabane de Mille at 2,480m, initially through the forest before reaching the 2,000m tree line, and I had finished my obligatory 1 litre of water way before the aid station. Drenched in sweat, I paused only briefly at the cabane to refill my bottles, as the last time I was here in, I had blocked the shower with my shaven pubes (see 2016 PTL race report).
The next section was a fantastic trail round the northern side of Mont Rogneux (PTL took us directly over the summit), with views across to the next valley, with Verbier up on the hillside. I overtook a few runners on the fast descent sections, hoping my legs wouldn’t pay the price later on.
Once past the second aid station at Brunet, we rejoined the PTL route for the climb to the highest point on the race, Col Avouillons at 2,649m, where there was a helicopter rescue in place (a 5,000CHF taxi ride if you don’t have insurance). From the col the route descended steeply to the fast retreating Galcier de Corbassiere, and across the 210m long pedestrian suspension bridge hanging 70m above the glacial moraines. From the other side we climbed to the Panossierre Refuge at 2,641m, before beginning the long descent down to Lourtier at 1,074m.
I was running by myself at this point, having overtaken a few more runners as the trail steepened down to the shade of the valley. We had been warned to save some energy and take plenty of water for the final climb, locally called “The Wall”, so I hydrated well at the penultimate aid station, and grabbed a few items of food for the climb. Once out of the shade, the full heat of the day hit me, and I felt my core temperature rising. I regretted not carrying my poles to assist with the climb, and had soon emptied by bottles. Nothing for it, but to get the head down, and move slowly on.
Eventually I reached the final aid station at Le Chaux before starting the descent down to Verbier. I was conscious of time, as the last bus out of Verbier down to Le Châble to catch the train connections back to Champex Lac, where we were staying, was 18.19.
Sprinting through the town centre, I crossed the finish line at 18.09 – and walked straight onto the bus. 7 hours 9 mins for a marathon, maybe my slowest, but easily the best ever.
Looking at the results later, I had finished in 9th place out of 602 starters, and first Vet50, although I’ll never know what my prize was.
Info here http://www.trailvsb.com/en/Races/Verbier-Marathon-43/
Results here https://tvsb.livetrail.net/classement.php
Graham Nash