Provisioning and nutrition during the UTMB®
Among the refreshment and assistance services offered by the organisation of the UTMB®, the nutritional refreshment stations are among the most important and they should enable you to respect the food you have planned for the race. Here is an overview of how they are organised and what you can find there.
Locating the feed stations
Once you have registered for a UTMB® race, you will receive a runner's guide which is a comprehensive booklet that reminds you of the rules, the course and gives you a lot of information about the event. Each of the races is detailed and you will find the locations of the feed points as well as all the sites on the course such as the control points and the time barriers. The aid stations are indicated on the course map but also indicated according to the kilometre point of the event. Only runners wearing a visible number on their chest or stomach, their chip on their backpack and their bracelet can access the aid stations.
What type of refreshment stations?
There are two main types of feed stations on the UTMB® events. There are refreshment stations that provide drinks only and others that combine drinks and solid food, which can be called full refreshment stations. Finally, a third type of exceptional feed exists on three events, namely the UTMB®, the CCC® and the TDS® : these are feed stations with hot food. For the UTMB® and the CCC®, there are two: at Les Chapieux and at Courmayeur. For the TDS, there is a hot meal station at Cormet de Roselend.
Details of the refreshment points on offer
There are quite a few refreshment points on the course. They offer :
- still water
- sparkling water
- colas
- coffee
- tea
- energy drinks
- noodle soup
- vegetable soup
- rice
Only still water and energy drinks can be consumed on site or used to fill water containers and water bags. The other products are to be consumed on site only. For the full supplies, you will find everything that is present in the drink supplies as well as :
- energy bars
- cereal bars
- sweet cakes
- chocolate
- dried apricots
- dried figs
- bananas
- oranges
- watermelon
- lemon
- salted biscuits
- local cheese
- local sausage and cold cuts
- bread
These refreshments are not to be neglected. They are an opportunity to take a break, to relax and to regain strength. They also supplement your diet with gels and energy bars throughout the course. It may be tempting to skip feed stations to maintain performance but this is rarely a good calculation and will pay off later. It is better to be careful with your walking schedule and to take real breaks (even if they are short) and eat healthily to better cope with the kilometres to come. Calorie consumption is important in a race of this type!