After announcing the decision to consider doing so at a conference in April, UTMB officials have declared the 2018 event to be the first to award prize money.
Chamonix UTMB offers prize money for first time
Race organisers announce €2000 for ultra-trail winner
With a record number of registrants for 2018, this years UTMB is set to be the biggest of all time. But now participants have a further incentive to push themselves: a prize money purse of €35,000. First, second, and third place in the 171km Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc will receive €2000, €1500, and €1000 respectively, with prize money up to 10th place being awarded. The top five in the 121km TDS and 101km CCC events will be awarded prize money, with first place taking the lions share of €1,300. The 55km OCC will award €900, €600, and €400 for first, second, and third respectively.
21,700 runners registered for 7,600 places across all six races of the UTMB event. This is up from the 17,219 hopefuls that entered for 2017. This continues the upwards trend, with interest in the race growing every year since its inception in 2003.
This year the race passed an important milestone, there will be participants from 101 countries. The first time this number has made it to triple digits, meaning the race is more international than ever and that over half the of the world’s 195 countries will be represented in the event. To make sure every country is present on race day, the draw for places is done on a per country basis. Each country has a number of places proportional to their number of registrations.
Registration and race details can be found here.
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For places to stay in Chamonix during the UTMB, check out our accommodation guide here.
