On the weekend of October 16-17, Omegna was jovially invaded by trail runners from all over Italy for the 2021 edition of the UTLO – Ultra Trail of Lake Orta. On Saturday the 17th we were running the 55k and 100k (which are then actually 102 kilometers, but you won’t want to stop for a couple of extra kilometers when you get to that point). On Sunday the 18th instead the younger sisters 31k and the 18k. For this year, no 140k, more on that in 2022.
The sun was shining far too high, and we also had a huge and beautiful moon watching over our descents at breakneck speed. We care relatively little about the podium, but I cannot fail to mention Riccardo Borgialli – winner of his first 100k – who arrived at the last refreshment station a handful of seconds after me: that I was running half his distance is a completely irrelevant detail.
Why do we care little about the podium? Because anyone who has ever participated in (or witnessed) an ultra trail race knows that the finish line is less than 1 percent of the event. The rest is toil, friendship, mud, tears, cold and beer.
So enough words, for once let’s tell a story of a race without finish line shots or even SLRs and emblazoned lenses: just a small story of a small crew that ran almost all the distances of the race.
And they had a great time.
Cover image by Roberta Pellegrino