by Cynthia Greenwood (Ellie’s Mum aka Mops and Grandma) and Ellie’s
sister (Kirsty Davey)
Cynthia takes up the story:
This was going to be a very special
occasion. The first time that we would
all be together with Ellie for one of her races!
First thing to do - pick up Ellie from Geneva
airport 1700km away from home! So Mum and Dad set off from Scotland 3 days
before just to be sure we got there in time.
That done, drive onto our campsite, at Les
Bossons, just outside Chamonix where we were meeting up with Kirsty, Andy and
Abi. They had set off from the south of
England the day before. By the time we
got to the camp it was dark and pouring rain!
Great! Perfect weather to set up two tents!
Ellie was busy in the days leading up to the
race meeting with people and doing interviews, but we had some time out to be
together as a family, which was great.
Day before the race the ‘crew’ (Jeremy, Kirsty
and Andy) had a strategy meeting in ‘Crew HQ’ (one of the tents) while Grandma
and Abi played in the campervan (racer transport vehicle and mobile catering
unit).
Kirsty continues:
Ellie’s crew for this race consisted entirely
of Ellie’s family which was very exciting for us and very trusting of Ellie as
none of us had crewed for her before other than shouting and screaming from the
side lines in Gibraltar, the Netherlands and in London.
At the crew meeting, Ellie was very clear and
gave us good instructions on what she would need at each station nutritionally
and equipment wise. She only had one back pack with her so rather than just
being able to swap one pack for another at each station, we would have to have
everything ready to put in her one pack after taking out her empty drinks
bladder, empty wrappers etc.
We also discussed the route and Andy wrote out
cards for us to show/read out to Ellie at each aid station so we could brief
her on what the next part of the course would be like. These proved to be very
useful as I could read them out to her while she was eating. Topher (Gaylord)
had also given Ellie some laminated route cards to carry with her.
Cynthia picks up again:
CCC starts in Courmayeur in Italy at 10am so
Ellie, Mops and Pops set off at 7am to travel through the Mont Blanc
tunnel. No delays en route and we easily
find a parking space - time to make porridge for Ellie’s breakfast. (Note to future crews - she likes it with
blackcurrant jam).
We have time to suss out the race start and
find the loos. These are under a
building just across from our car park and, joy of joys, are lovely and
warm! The weather isn’t looking too
good. Yesterday was cold and wet and today isn’t going to be any better. The course has been altered to take account
of this (less altitude and fewer kms). Busloads
of runners are pouring into the town by this time and quite a few had
discovered that the loos were a good place to keep warm before the race.
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| Mops and Pops with the campervan in Courmayeur |
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| At the start |
We walked up to the start and Ellie found her place in the first ‘wave’ of runners. Then they’re off and we start our own race back through the tunnel and a long drive through France and Switzerland, along some very steep narrow roads with many hairpin bends, onto the first aid station at La Fouly where Kirsty Andy and Abi are to be taking over as aid station crew.
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| Runners leaving Courmayeur |
Kirsty continues:
There were four aid stations where we were able to assist Ellie:
· La Fouly (Switzerland)
· Champex Lac
(Switzerland)
· Trient (France)
· Vallorcine (France)
Andy, Abi and I got up just as they left, had
breakfast and then started our drive to La Fouly.
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| Abi & Andy raring to go! |
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| Kirsty & Adi - all smiles at base camp. |
The drive from Chamonix to La Fouly took about
1h 30m. Our drive for the day would basically be an out and back to La Fouly
and then back to Chamonix. This was fortunate as because we had left plenty of
time we were able to stop at two of the four aid stations on the way to check
out parking options, their exact location etc.
La Fouly was 40km in to the 100km route
(although with some alterations made due the bad weather conditions, Ellie’s
Garmin calculated it to be approximately 90km in the end). There was a large
car park where we parked and then sorted through Ellie’s gear once again. The
race route passed right through the small hamlet. It was raining and only 5
degrees Celsius – brrrr!!
The course was set up so that on approaching each
of the aid stations, the runners were funnelled in to a tent (this made crewing
in the rain a lot more pleasant!). Runners then met their crew (“assistante” in
French) plus taking whatever they wanted from the well-stocked station before
being funnelled back out of the tent and on to the course. The way out of the
tent was not always obvious though and more than one runner (without personal
crew) ran back out of the tent the same way they came in before the whole tent
erupted in cries of “No, that way!!!!” in multiple languages.
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| In the aid station tent |
Only one “assistante” per runner was allowed
in the tent so I left Mops, Pops, Andy and Abi to go to the crewing area. Andy
was left in charge of timing any female runners who came in to the aid station
before Ellie and then relaying this information to her as she approached while Mops,
Pops and Abi were in charge of the many flags and umbrellas we had with us!
Inside the tent, long tables were laid out
with benches where runners could stop and meet their crew and have a break if
needs be. I was quite nervous about doing my bit properly so tried to remember
all the tips that Mike, Ryne and other pro-crew had given me on Facebook. I got
a good spot on a table near the entrance where Ellie would see me when she came
in to the tent. I laid her things out on the table in the same way I had seen
Ellie’s Western State team do, read through the route-cards and re-checked everything
against the list we had made the day before.
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| Coming into La Fouly |
We jumped in to the car and drove back down
the valley and back to Champex Lac. This was the one aid station that we had
not had time to check out on the way up and parking was pretty limited. As soon
as we got there, I grabbed the things Ellie would need and made my way to the
aid station tent. Mops and Pops drove past me in the campervan on the way and I
shouted directions to the parking spot before hurrying on my way.
At Champex Lac, the rule about one
“assistante” per runner was before more strictly enforced. I had to queue up
and say which runner I was crewing for. As Ellie was one of the lead runners I
was let in the tent straight away but crew for runners further down the pack
had to wait out in the rain until closer to the time their runner was due in.
The last few metres in the tent were down a
very steep slope so the only view I had of runners as they approached was of
the bottom half of their legs – luckily I could recognise Ellie’s legs quite
easily! She came storming in in first place about three minutes ahead of the
second lady. I yelled to her and she sprinted to the table I was at. A TV
camera lady was filming at the aid station and as soon as she saw Ellie come
in, she was over to us and filming very close up. We had a bit of drinks bladder
issue – the mouth piece coming off while I tried to fit it through the straps
of Ellie’s bag. This resulted in the precious drink spouting out everywhere –
panic!! I pushed past the camera lady to get round to the other side of the
table, grabbed the mouth piece and together Ellie and I jammed it back on –
phew!
As soon as Ellie was off the camera lady came
up to interview me. We didn’t have too long to get to the next aid station and
I didn’t want to give any Ellie-state-secrets away so only answered a few
questions before making my excuses and leaving!
Andy and Abi had stood on the course just
outside the tent so Andy could shout out how far ahead of the second lady she
was on leaving the aid station, and further down the village, Mops and Pops
were waiting in the continuing rain at the lake edge to cheer Ellie on.
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| Running in the rain |
What struck me most about the difference
between the runners contending for the top few spots and those further down the
field was the difference in time spent at aid stations. Ellie, Maud and the
other top runners were in and out in a flash whereas other runners would stroll
on in, take a seat, wander over to the food counter to see what was on offer,
sit down, have a chat – it was quite a difference!! The MC at the Champex Lac
aid station was even stopping to interview runners – no time in Ellie’s
schedule for that!!
The third aid station was at Trient about 70
km in to the race. I got there in good time and squeezed in to the small
crewing area. It was still wet and cold. This station was set up differently to
the others in that the runners entered the main aid station area where the food
was first and only after passing through that area got to their crew. Crew were
not allowed in the food area meaning that there were a lot of us craning our
necks to see who was coming in and then madly shouting at our runners so they
would see where we were!
The crew area got quite crowded until one
official came and shouted about only “assistante” per runner which cleared some
people out meaning there was enough space for me to lay Ellie’s things out. By
this point I was beginning to recognise which runners were running a few
minutes in front of Ellie so was able to anticipate her arrival. Although
inevitably Ellie was working her way up through the men’s field too meaning I
had to be on my toes at all times!
Ellie came in to the food area and grabbed
some hot soup before coming to the table where I was. Her first words were “I
don’t think this is vegetarian but I don’t care!” We poured in some coconut
water to cool the soup down so she could drink it more quickly. It had been
snowing out on the course and Ellie was cold. She put on an extra layer and
swapped her socks while I stocked up her bag and got rid of her rubbish. Ellie
said she was struggling on the up hills. Not being an ultra-runner, I didn’t
really know what to say apart from that she was doing really well and to keep
going as best as she could. I hope it was the right thing to say.
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| Ellie looking like she's out for a stroll |
From Trient to Vallorcine (the last aid
station where we could support Ellie), it was 10km on the race route and we
estimated it would take Ellie about 1 hour 30 mins. The drive wasn’t too far
though so we were able to have some dinner in the car before heading over to
the tent itself. Nice yummy pasta cooked the day before – shame we hadn’t
packed any plates and didn’t have any cutlery apart from teaspoons!
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| "A saucepan lid for a plate and a teaspoon for a fork?!' 'What are things coming to?" asks Abi |
The rain had stopped but it was muddy underfoot as the runners came in to tent. I took up my place on the first table inside the tent so Ellie would see me as soon as she got there. Andy and Abi were in the other half of the tent where spectators could watch what goes on in the crewing area. Mops and Pops had decided not to stop at Vallorcine but to push on to Chamonix to get a good view of the finish.
By this point, I had got things done to a fine
art – well at least I think I did! I had all of Ellie’s stuff laid out and was
even complemented on my approach by another crewer! As it was still cold, I got
some soup from the food counter a few minutes before I anticipated Ellie coming
in. I covered it with my hat so it didn’t get too cold before she arrived and
did have one mouthful to check the temperature – it was yummy – hot and salty
–just what a cold runner needs!
Ellie came in at her usual fast speed and had
the soup while I swapped out her stuff in her bag. She was still running in
first place and from the text updates I was receiving from the UTMB official
sign up site was steadily moving up the overall field too. After a second bowl
of soup, a quick hug and a wave to Abi and Andy, she was off!!!
We knew we had over two hours until Ellie
would cross the finish line so we drove slowly back to Chamonix and then double
backed on ourselves so tired little Abi could get some zzzzzz’s in before more
cheering was required.
We had thought it would be rammed at the
finish line but we parked easily and then found a place right on the finish
line. Unfortunately it was still raining L
We had only been there about 10 minutes when we saw three runners pelting up
the road to the finish. It was dark and two of them were in black. The third
was in an orange patterned top and I recognised him from passing through the
aid stations a few minutes before Ellie. My eyes turned to the other two
runners and it was then that I realised one of them was Ellie!! “It’s Ellie!” I
shouted and we all screamed and yelled as she crossed the finish line with her
two new buddies – Sven and Barry. Another amazing win from Miss Ellie G!!
I really enjoyed my first experience of crewing.
It was an honour and a privilege to be involved such an event and for such a
runner. Yet again Andy and I are inspired to run further and faster…..
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| Ellie: First place lady |
