POSTED: Monday August 23rd 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Annecy 2018: Thousands to take part in unique sporting adventure

The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® is the only trail running event of its kind in the world.

From the 24th to the 29th August 2010, Mont Blanc, the emblem for the Annecy 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games bid, will be the setting for the 8th edition of the North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®, the only trail running event of its kind in the world. Trail running lovers, top level athletes and amateurs alike are invited to take part in this incredible sporting exploit, a non-stop individual race around the "rooftop of Europe".

The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® takes participants into 3 different countries (France, Switzerland and Italy), across 7 valleys, 71 glaciers and 400 summits. The adventure is widely recognised as the benchmark for trail running races, set in one of the world's most famous tourist sites. The event offers 4 different races, each one a supreme challenge with its own unique charm and demands.

Chamonix, one of the two sites named in the Annecy 2018 bid, is the focal point for these races, as each race starts and/or finishes in the town. The host resort of the very first Winter Olympic Games in 1924, the town today welcomes almost 7,000 runners from 55 nations to take part in this mythic race, as well as 1,700 volunteers, all passionate about sport, the mountains and nature. This region is a real playground for mountain lovers and the ideal site to host sporting events..

"The North-Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® illustrates the region's sporting attributes, our wide experience with regards to organising large-scale events, our volunteers' enthusiasm and the locals' passion for mountain and outdoor sports," states Edgar Grospiron, Chief Executive of Annecy 2018.

To respect this exceptional natural setting, the Ultra-Trail conforms to all of the environmental and technological requirements in place, such as the closure of certain roads to prioritise public transport, selective recycling, reusable cups (7,300 fewer plastic bottles used in 2009; 90,000 fewer disposable cups), 368kg reduction in paper waste, etc. The event has also become a "life-sized" testing area, combining transmission technology, geotracking and computer programming to create a powerful runner tracking system. This system reinforces rescue operations, as well as providing the participants' entourages with regular updates.

Key figures:

>25,000 people do the Mont Blanc circuit every summer, 10% of which are top level athletes.
>The UTMB is run in a maximum of 46 hours non-stop, a distance of 166km with 9,500m of positive altitude change
>The PTL (Petite Trotte à Léon) is a 245km race with 19,000m of positive altitude change, run in a maximum of 110 hours.

Reminder:
Annecy 2018 is bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympic and
Paralympic Games with Munich (Germany) and PyeongChang (South Korea. More information on http://www.annecy2018.com

# # #

---

Keywords · Annecy 2018 · Olympic Bidding · Edgar Grospiron · North Face Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc

---

Name: Alexandra Carraz
Organization: Annecy 2018
Email:
Phone: + 33 (0)6 22 86 73 12
URL: http://www.annecy2018.com/fr/

---

Please refer all questions to the company listed above issuing the press release. SFC will not be able to assist you with any inquiries and disclaims any content in these press releases.