UTMB winner Tom Evans: “It’s great to prove you can win while living in the UK and training on a treadmill.”
On the Triangle de l'Amitié square in Chamonix (Haute-Savoie), Tom Evans was in the front row on Sunday, August 31, to welcome the final competitors of the Ultra-trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). The 2,300 who set off on Friday had until 4:30 p.m. to complete this 174-kilometer tour of Mont Blanc with nearly 10,000 m of elevation gain. More than 24 hours more than the 33-year-old Briton, who arrived as the winner at midday on Saturday , after 19 hours, 18 minutes, and 58 seconds on the Alpine trails. A few minutes before the official podium, the 33-year-old former soldier returned, in an interview with Le Monde , to this first UTMB victory, which he discovered in 2017, and the daunting conditions that accompanied it.
During your first UTMB, you asked François Dhaene, who became a four-time winner, for an autograph. Now your name is listed alongside his and all the other UTMB winners. Do you realize what you've just accomplished?No, it's still unreal to see my name alongside those of athletes like François, Kilian [Jornet] or Jim [Walmsley] . After two really difficult years – with withdrawals from the last two editions of the UTMB – this victory has a really special flavor for me.
You see each race as a story in which you are the main character. How would you tell this UTMB story?For me, this story was written long before the race. Right from training, where this year I made an effort to spend more time with my friends and family, to laugh and smile. As a result, on the starting line, I was completely relaxed, and the race itself ended up being just a small chapter with a happy ending.
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Le Monde
