The race that never was ...

I was well geared up for it after a few days in Chamonix, all the gear shops and of course its stunning mountain scenery. We had a few brilliant days with blue skies and sunshine, I had picked up my race number and was going to start the CCC. I could not wait to see all those fantastic views along the route.
But it was all over after only an hour or so. Even before we set off from our appartment we had received a text from the organizers warning us about bad weather. So I packed another layer and changed my rain trousers to better ones. We were bussed to the start in Italy, Courmayeur and the little town was buzzing with hundreds of runners. The atmosphere was electric and I was getting rather nervous. It was still dry and we were hanging about. At one point I said to Thomas maybe I'll just go back to Chamonix and support you instead as I was feeling so inadequate amongst these super fit people who had trained for months for this event. But he said I should just start running and my nerves would calm down. So we said our good-byes as he wanted to be near the front runners to escape the pole swinging majority and to avoid any early queues. I settled into the middle and everyone gathered 30min before the start. But by then the heavens had opened and it was pouring down. Goretex out already but the majority were soaking wet even before the start. Then the music and the countdown and off we were. I had planned to walk all the inclines but found myself perched into the middle and everyone was running uphill through the little streets. Eventually the road narrowed and everyone had to walk and even wait to pass the narrower parts. Thunder and pouring rain, the streets turned into streams. I was getting into the swing of using my poles when I received my first text from Thomas. Where was I and should he wait? I said no and he texted again that this was not what we came for and he was already completely wet and cold and thought it would in fact be rather risky to continue as this was just the valley and higher up at 2500m there would be snow and no visibility. He would wait for me. When I reached him he suggested we should stop and go back to Courmayeur while it was still easy to get transport back. I was happy to agree as we had always said we wanted to do the CCC to get to know the route and enjoy the stunning scenery. This would not happen today. So we told one of the marhals and waited for the official guy to cut off our timing chips and talk to someone on his walkie talkie to announce the "first quitters"! It felt strange but right at the time and we were given a lift back to the village where we would wait for the bus bringing us back to Chamonix. After 90min and a few coffees we had warmed up and suddenly the sun came out again. We did feel a bit awkward then but were still in good spirits.
As the day went on we were getting excited for the start of the UTMB. We would watch everyone coming through Les Houches. But again the heavens opened this time after the start. We felt sorry for them all and once everyone was through had dinner with Sharon and the Consani-Clan. When we got back we heard the news that the race had been called off and the TDS had not been started at all. We also learned this morning that the CCC was stopped at Vallorcine in the early morning hours due to ongoing terrible weather conditions for all those that had not passed through. I would certainly not have passed by that time so am rather glad that Thomas decided for both of us shortly after the start. We felt terribly sorry for all those that had come here for the UTMB and TDS and had trained hard. They must have been so disappointed. The decision was taken out of their hands by the organizers who had to consider the well being of all these hundreds of runners. We had taken the decision to stop ourselves so did not feel too bad about it - just disappointed that we would not see the route in all its glory.

Will we be back? Certainly to explore the route maybe over a few days. For the race I'm not sure right now. Though when I was walking through Chamonix today and saw those few CCC finishers (500 from 1800 starters) walking about in their nice finisher windstopper gillets I said to Debs I think I would like one of those ...