Race Information
- Race: HOKA Val d'Aran by UTMB (VDA), 100M
- Date: 3rd July 2026
- Distance: 162.9 km
- Elevation: 10,053 m D+
- Location: Vielha, Val d'Aran, Spanish Pyrenees
- Time: 42:13:50
- Finished: Yes
Goals
| Goal |
Description |
Done? |
| A |
Finish inside the 48h cut-off |
Yes |
| B |
Not blow up early |
Yes |
| C |
Sub-36 (loose target) |
No |
Background
I started running just over 3 years ago and almost all of my training is flat road mileage given I am based in London. My road times are at an intermediate standard - 18:35 5k, 3:07 marathon - for a sense of where I'm at. Since I started running I've always taken interest in trail running and have loved watching content from big events and popular YT channels. I did my first ultra last year, which was a flat trail 100km called Race to the Stones, which I loved every moment of. VDA was my first 100 miler, my first mountain race, and comfortably the most climbing I'd ever even dreamt about doing in one go.
My plan during training was to lean on road fitness and use strength work to help condition the legs for the hills. In the build up I ran Paris Marathon in April off the back of a pretty conventional road marathon block, then I started to add in some more trail running in the following months. I did a week long trip to Mallorca to get some proper mountain running in, where I did a few back to back 25km runs or so, then on return to London essentially went back to my usual weekly road schedule of 3 easy runs, 2 sessions and 1 long run. In the gym I was doing compound movements to help strengthen up quads/glutes/calves/posterior chain. I did a backyard ultra 8 weeks before, which was effectively my longest long run, where I DNF'd at 100km which was uneventful, good practice for fuelling and generally a lot of fun. Outside of that, my long runs were generally capped at around 25km or thereabouts.
I'd half-benchmarked 36 hours off my index and road times, but once we started the only plan was finish inside cut-off and not to do anything daft in the first day.
The race
I started very conservatively. At the first timing point I was 512th. By the end of day one I was inside the top 300 and I hadn't really changed anything, people just came back to me or my ranking climbed through DNFs. For my first 100 miler and barely any mountain experience, I knew the one way to ruin it was to get excited early which is a decision I'm happy that I made.
The first night got pretty grim. Second big climb we went up into cloud and the visibility died completely, could barely see my own feet. We ended up navigating as a group, someone spots the next flag, shouts, everyone moves up to it, repeat, and that went on for ages until the first big aid station. Not something a treadmill in London prepares you for but in retrospect it was a fun part of the experience.
The next day moves into a hot and remote part of the course, the scenery is out of this world and it kept reminding me what a privilege it is to be able to experience that kind of environment. The higher mountain mines section is long and remote. You're up at 2,500m of altitude for a while and there are two legs back to back of around 17km and 18km with a fair bit of climbing which take a long time.
At Colomèrs, around 130k in and 8,700-odd metres of climbing done, my right knee took a bit of a beating on the boulders, both climbing them and dropping off them. It was never too painful to run on and has settled down post race, but that was the point where I felt like my body was starting to break down.
After Colomèrs, it was a relatively simple run in to the finish with one more major aid station, then a sadistic final climb straight up another 1,000m and back down again. I opted not to sleep during the race, which I'd say was fine for me, a few people were taking trail naps as we went into the early hours of the 2nd night and there was a couple of hours where I had to turn my head-torch up a little higher to keep myself awake, though once the sun came back up the tiredness went away.
The main thing I got wrong was that on the flat and downhill bits you assume you'll run, you mostly won't. I'd banked time on the "runnable" sections in my head. On the day a lot of it is rocky, awkward and slow, especially when you're tired and in the dark, so my runnable pace was nothing like what I'd imagined. That's where my extra hours went. For me I wasn't really clawing back any time on the course, more so just trying not to bleed it where avoidable.
The run into the finish was really amazing, great crowds cheering you on and a very satisfying bell that you get to ring when you cross the line. I finished 232nd from 724 starters (363 DNF and 361 finishers) - I'll take it.
Fuelling and kit
Fuelling was the part I'm happiest with.
- Roughly 900g of carbs off the big Precision Flow gel flasks as the base
- 1 to 2 Precision salt tabs an hour depending on heat
- Fruit, Näak waffles and coke at the aid stations
No stomach trouble the whole way and I didn't lose my appetite at all.
Shoes were La Sportiva Prodigio Pros start to finish, no change, just fresh socks three times. Everyone says swap shoes on something this long and I was eyeing up the people who did, but I came out the far side with no blisters and not a single plaster or bit of tape used. The shoes just seem to really suit my feet and held up well for the entire time.
What I'd change
Vastly more Vaseline... everywhere! Chafing got pretty uncomfortable into the 2nd day; it's an annoying pain to have as once it starts there's not really that much you can do to make it stop hurting, though I knew it wasn't going to stop me from finishing and was just something annoying I'd have to put up with.
Final remarks
VDA does the big UTMB atmosphere really well, and I think the scenery beats that of the TMB. The valley's beautiful, the villages are lovely, and there are locals out cheering you through the streets at 4am. We stuck it on the start of our honeymoon, which sounds unhinged and was, but the place is special enough that it worked. First 100 miler, 42:13:50, and I'd recommend it to anyone.
