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Doug Mayer at the finish of Tor des Geants with his dog and friend Hillary Gerardi.
Sep 26, 2021
Doug Mayer

Running Tor des Geants: Courage isn’t Always Quite What it Seems

A week ago, I finished running Tor des Geants, the epic endurance trail race in the Italian Alps. “Running” might not be the ideal word, since all of us 711 starters spent most of our 4-6 days fast hiking, shuffling, walking, and basically finding any way possible to keep moving forward.

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Tor participants sitting in the dark
Sep 19, 2021
Sam Hill

The Faces of 2021 Tor des Géants

The Tor des Geants– a 330 km trail race with an incomprehensible 33,000 meters of vertical– takes place around the high cols and mountains above the Aosta Valley, Italy, each September. The week-long event has just wrapped up, and one thing that you can say about Tor is that there are always a few stories

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Emily Schmitz running on single track during OCC
Sep 9, 2021
Doug Mayer

A Midwesterner in the Alps: Hoka’s Emily Schmitz Tackles UTMB’s OCC

Run the Alps friend Emily Schmitz is an American trail runner living in Chamonix, France. In 2019, she finished 5th in UTMB‘s OCC race. This year, she finished 11th. I am not a natural mountain runner. I grew up in Milwaukee, a city that sits in the heart of the Midwestern US, known for breweries,

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Chamonix's Hillary Gerardi crosses the line at the 90 km race.
Sep 4, 2021
Doug Mayer

Watch one of the great moments in Alps trail running this season

Sometimes, every now and then, the camera is in the right place at the right time and captures something very special. That’s what happened this past July here in Chamonix, when Run the Alps ambassador and Black Diamond athlete Hillary Gerardi won Chamonix’s 90 km trail race, the longest race in the Marathon Mont Blanc

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Female trailrunner with big cairn
Aug 30, 2021
Chase Willie

Faces of Determination: 2021 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc

The 2021 Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc® was a remarkable edition of the world’s largest trail running event. There were jaw-dropping performances across the event’s eight races– perhaps most notably, a new women’s course record in the marquee event, the 100-mile UTMB race around the Mont-Blanc massif. Courtney Dauwalter, of Golden, Colorado, finished in 22:30:54,

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