An Ultra Runner's Guide to UTMB

With UTMB in Chamonix just around the corner, this isn't just a race; it's 100+ miles of epic trails trekking around the Mont Blanc massif, and every hour out there asks something different of your body. Big climbs, technical descents, long and exposed ridgelines. Cold nights. All while your legs are working harder than they ever have before.

Getting round in one piece, and enjoying it, comes down to preparation as much as fitness. Josh Beaumont, OTE-fuelled athlete, shares what it takes to fuel and run an event like UTMB.

1. Get out and run the course beforehand

If you can, recce as much of the course as possible. There's no substitute for knowing what's coming. Which climbs are runnable and which need power-hiking. Where the technical, ankle-testing descents are. Where you'll want to push on and where you'll want to hold something back.

Course knowledge takes the guesswork out of pacing. When you know a brutal climb is coming at kilometre 60, you can plan around it rather than being blindsided by it.

2. Don't go off too hard

Start lines are electric. Everyone's fresh, the crowd's cheering, and it's tempting to go out at a pace that feels easy in the moment. Resist it.

Settle into your effort early and race the distance you've actually signed up for, not the first climb out of Chamonix. Ultra racing rewards patience. The runners who are still moving well in the final hours are almost always the ones who held something back at the start.

3. Set a fuel reminder

Don't wait until you feel tired or hungry to start fuelling, by then you're already behind. Set a reminder on your watch every 30 minutes so fuelling becomes automatic rather than something you have to remember when you're deep in effort and your brain isn't working as sharply.

This is where having a reliable, high-carb gel matters. OTE Super Gels pack 40g of carbohydrate into a single gel, roughly double a standard gel, so you can hit your carb targets with fewer gels to carry and fewer wrappers to fumble with when your hands are cold or you're mid-climb. They're formulated with a blend of maltodextrin and fructose (using multiple carb sources helps the body absorb more carbohydrate per hour) plus electrolytes to support hydration, and they're naturally flavoured with real fruit juice concentrate rather than artificial sweeteners or colours.

For longer, steadier efforts through the day, OTE Energy Gels (20g carbs) or Energy Bars are worth rotating in alongside the Super Gels, and an Electrolyte drink or hydration tab in your bottles helps you stay on top of sodium losses over a long day of sweating, especially through the heat of the afternoon sections.

Whatever you choose, test it in training first. Race day is not the time to find out a new product doesn't sit well with you.

4. Respect the climbs

UTMB is defined by its vertical gain, and trying to run every metre of it is a fast way to blow up. Don't be afraid to power-hike the steep stuff. It's often just as fast as running, and far more efficient.

Save your legs for the runnable sections and, crucially, for the final stages of the race, when tired legs and a tired mind need to work together to get you to the finish. Hike smart early on and you'll have far more to give when it matters.

5. Enjoy it

It sounds simple, but it's easy to forget when you're deep into hour twenty. Trail racing is tough, and that's exactly why we do it. Take in the views, soak up the atmosphere in the villages and aid stations, and embrace the hard moments as part of the experience rather than something to just get through.

The runners who remember the mountains, not just the suffering, tend to be the ones who come back for more.

The takeaway

Fuelling an ultra like UTMB isn't something to figure out on race day, it starts in training.

OTE's range is built around exactly that. Every product is naturally flavoured, easy on the stomach, and designed by sports nutritionists to work as hard as you do.

Whatever your next ultra looks like, get in touch with the OTE team or explore the full range to build a fuelling plan that gets you to the finish line feeling strong.

Picture Credit: Rich Gill & @benjy_johnson