Show up. Get up. Go again.
UTMB week, an old Evadict jacket, and why the West Highland Way still has races in us
Now, most of you come by here for the West Highland Way Challenge reports. That’s all right. That’s the path I keep coming back to. This week I have been studying, and today I was up a ladder with a paintbrush, half listening to what was going on over in Chamonix, and I kept thinking of the Way. Fort William to Milngavie, or the other way round for some of you folk. I still think of my crash on the Devil’s Staircase. The folk who DNF and still sign up again.
So, I want to share with you the last few days the way it happened. Not for the elites. For us. The 50-somethings. The club runners. The ones in Decathlon kit. The ones wondering if there are still races left in the legs.
Monday night – Jeff Browning
The week didn’t start with a pretty picture at the finish. It started with a reminder.
Jeff Browning, they call him Bronco Billy, is one of the great American hundred-mile men. Won Hardrock. Still out there this year at Western States and Cocodona. He’s 54 or 55. I’m 53. That’s why I watch him. When a man that age is still on the long trail, I tell myself, well, I’ve got more Challenge races left in me.
On the TDS, late in the night, his heart gave out. The medics got to him on the trail. They flew him to hospital. The family page says they put in three stents. He’s come round. The doctors sound hopeful. He’ll likely stay in France a while before they let him fly home.
I put a wee donation on the GoFundMe. I hadn’t even taken in the stents when I first gave. If you can spare a bit, or only a kind thought, both matter. Jenn and the family have a long road that isn’t a race.
That’s the other side of this thing we love. The hills are beautiful. They don’t give you a free pass because you’re still going at 54. Look after the engine. Get the check-ups.
Don’t treat a funny chest or blurry vision as “just the ultra.” Then get back out when it’s wise.
Thursday – Naomi Lang
Then came the race that had me on the edge of my toes.
Naomi Lang is a Scottish girl from the Aberdeen side. Aberdeen AAC as a youngster. Hills and track ever since. On the OCC, that’s the 60-kilometre race, she led most of the day. She took a fall. She kept coming. In the last kilometre, Lauren Gregory from the States ran her down. After more than six hours, they sprinted through Chamonix. Gregory won by three seconds. 6:08:07 to 6:08:10.
Three seconds. After a whole working day on the mountain. If you’ve ever watched a West Highland Way finish in the dark and thought the race was over miles ago, you know that feeling. It isn’t over till the line.
Second place after a fight like that isn’t a near-miss. That’s a banner for Scottish hill running. Well done, Naomi.
Saturday – Blandine L’Hirondel
Today Saturday afternoon I’d given up pretending I was only decorating.
Blandine L’Hirondel from France won the women’s UTMB in 21 hours 54 minutes 49 seconds. First woman under 22 hours. First French winner since Caroline Chaverot in 2016. She took the lead around Lac Combal after about 70 kilometres and she didn’t give it back, even though that left leg of hers has been a problem for months.
She fell a few times. One was a proper face-plant on the last drop into Chamonix. She still came in in tears with the French flag on her shoulders. She’s a doctor when she isn’t running 174 kilometres. Guts and grace in the same pair of legs.
The men were something else too. Ben Dhiman ran 18:16:29, the first man under 19 hours. Baptiste Chassagne and Caleb Olson both came in under 18:50. Several of the front men went under the old winning times. Big day.
What I liked about Blandine, if I’m honest, was the kit. Kiprun. That’s Decathlon’s running brand. France. Not a fancy Glasgow shop window. Same family as the stuff a lot of us actually train in.
The lowdown on the gear
A few of you have asked, and I had to get it straight in my own head.
Kalenji was Decathlon’s everyday running name. Evadict was the trail name. Kiprun started as the faster Kalenji line, “keep on running.”
From about 2023 they folded Kalenji and Evadict into one brand: Kiprun. That’s why you can’t find a new Evadict jacket on the peg. They didn’t ban it. They just stopped printing the old name.
I still have an Evadict waterproof trail jacket. It’s very waterproof. That’s the point. For a race like UTMB the jacket isn’t about the logo on the chest. It’s about a hood, taped seams, a real membrane, and at least 10,000 millimetres. They recommend 20,000. A windbreaker isn’t enough. They check.
If your old Evadict still seals, keep it. What’s on the rack now is something like the Kiprun Run 500 Rain or the Run 900 waterproof. Same house. Same idea. Good kit that doesn’t need a second mortgage.
Blandine in Kiprun, me in Kalenji and Evadict- we’re in the same French supermarket running family. That makes me smile.
What this has to do with the West Highland Way
Everything, if you run the Challenge.
Jeff says the long trail is a privilege, not a right. Look after the heart that has to carry you from Milngavie to Fort William.
Naomi says you can lead, you can fall, you can still sprint. Three seconds is a lifetime and nothing at all.
Blandine says you don’t need perfect prep or perfect kit from a boutique. You need to keep moving when the last descent tries to put you on your face.
I’m 53. I’ve had heel bursitis for six months or so; it’s pain that I can’t get out on the trails. My Strava is starving.
I train with CBF Run Club, with Jessica Brydon and David Shaw Runrhaw crowd. I’ve had my own DNFs and my own falls on that Way. The Devil’s Staircase doesn’t care about your plan.
I still think there are more Challenge races in me. Not because I am Jeff Browning. Because he, and Naomi, and Blandine, all show the same simple thing. Show up. Get up. Help each other. Go again when you can.
If you’re reading this after a bad year, a DNF, an injury, or just a week of study and painting walls instead of hills, the Way will still be there.
The club will still meet. The old jacket in the cupboard may still be legal. Put the brush and books down when you can. Lace up. We’ll see you on the trail.
Peter