Starting in Courmayeur, the 330 km Tor Des Geants follows two popular trekking routes in the Italian Alps. The course heads counter-clockwise on the Alta Via 2 along the south side of the Aosta valley for the first half of the race, returning along the Alta Via 1 back to Courmayeur.

There are 43 aid stations along the way, along with 6 major life bases, where runners can eat, sleep and obtain medical care if needed, with a cut off time of 150 hours.

This was my first 200+ mile race, although not my first experience with multi-day racing, having run the Grand to Grand stage race. But there’s an added layer of strategy with single-stage races of this distance, in that it’s totally up to you when and how much you sleep. There’s also the 24,000 metres of climbing to contend with – much more than any race I had run before.