AT last, my video of the CCC: https://youtu.be/VXcdTsP3rmc

Hi John, enjoyed looking through the pictures although it did bring back some of the heartache and pain! Great views though, I had to pince myself a few times.

The time barrier (cut-off) at the finish was a bit strange as it was 12.00 and not 11.30 which would have been 26.30hrs, anyway I was just glad to get over the line!

I know what you mean about going back next year, when I'm sat on the settee having a cup of tea I think yes, when I'm out walking and the legs are tired I think no-way!

Looking forward to watching the video :-)

Great pictures,John. Shame the event looks less like a walk than a mass outbreak of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Do they offer therapy at the finish?

Hi Phil, glad to see that you managed to scrape in with 10 minutes to spare. I managed quite well on the hydration but suffered with lack of food. It just wasn't up to LDWA 100 standards & I can now see why the 100s supply so much food especially so late in the event. I can also now understand the purpose on the UTMB series, of allowing assistance at the last three valley CPs. This would seem to be similar to the breakfast bag on the LDWA 100s. If I did it again, I'd get my wife to supply help in the form of a variety of food and plenty of changes of clothes. I didn't realise the importance of that this year, so I didn't ask her to assist, even though she was in Chamonix.
One thing I can't see a solution to though, are the horrendous queues on the first morning. I'm sure that I could take 60 to 90 minutes off the first ascent if there were no queues. Otherwise I think that one can only hope to make up time after Refuge Bertone. To be fair, I am mainly a walker, and the UTMB series is runner-orientated, so I knew I'd be pushing the limits but we're limited by those queues (and the 4 wave start).
I'm still not sure if I'd give it another go...
Anyway, I've now process my photos so they can be found on Flickr via this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/john_pp/albums/72157658018210460
It will take me a few days yet to compile my video but I will post a link once I've done it.

Hi John, sorry to hear that you were withdrawn. Having suffered with dehydration following the first climb and spending some time in Refuge Bonatti trying to re-hydrate I didn't really realise just how close I was to the cut-offs!

It really was much better when the sun went down and I felt that I could do the LDWA route march. We walked together for a while at a nice pace and parted on the climb to Champex-Lac, I only left this C/P 3 minutes before it closed and I see you were 1 minute behind me!

I left Trient with only two minutes to spare and Vallorcine with 6 minutes. The climb up to Le Tete Aux Vents was horrific but worse was to come. At La Flegere I was convinced that it was pretty much straight down into Chamonix, so maybe 20 mins tops, then I saw the sign on the C/P exit which said 8kms so nearly 5 miles still to go. I ran a lot of it fueled on anger and adrenaline!

Will you be back next year?

By the way, those results pages are highly interactive. Click on the dot or plus-signs to see more details. Also see the three tabs & other buttons down the right hand side. Also the video clips of the participant arriving at the various checkpoints (these can be hard to distinguish). Also the wealth of other data from the 'Menu' line (Welcome/Info etc).

Well it's a week since these events finished. The weather was hot, the climbs were big, the queues were disheartening and the cut-off times were brutal. Nobody mentioned the 4 start waves of the CCC or the horrible queues in the first 2 hours.
I was constantly fighting the cut-off times until finally at 65kms I was 30 minutes outside the cut-off. For this I was deemed to have 'withdrawn'. 'Withdrawn' seems to cover both being timed-out & voluntarily withdrawing. Of the eight LDWA people participating (the ones I knew about), only 2 actually finished. The rest of us were 'withdrawn'.
Here are links to the results for the known LDWA individuals:
John Pennifold http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=5390
Phil Clarke http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=4561
Jane Webb http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=7519
David Webb http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=7522
Michael Richardson http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=1112
Stephen Turner http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=3708
Joanna Turner http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=5539
Michael Cooper http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php?rech=7854

Marches group has at least 3 entrants - Dave and Jane Webb in the TDS and Phil Clarke in the CCC - good luck to them all

Hi John, just thought I'd send you a message as I'm doing the UTMB but I'm listed under Islwyn Running Club and my race number is 1112.
I hope your training has gone according to plan and your legs are prepared for the serious climbs!
Best of luck and bring it on!!!..

The 2015 UTMB race series starts next week. I am doing the CCC. I see that there are three other LDWA members competing under that club name.
It will be possible to follow the progress of competitors in real time via this web site: http://utmb.livetrail.net
In the search field type either the competitor's name or club (LDWA) and take it from there.