Swiss Alps 100 (160km) by Dave Moir

I’m always on the lookout for new and challenging races, and decided to pick something that fitted around the family holiday this year. Having never been to Switzerland and never ran a 100mile race, the Swiss Alps 100 fitted the bill. Jake decided he wanted to do the 100k event, which was a massive step up in distance for him, with his previous longest race being the Allendale Challenge at 26 miles, with a lot less elevation. Jake also had quite a set back with a stress fracture earlier in the year and then his A-Levels (and post A Level celebrations) so it wasn’t ideal preparation. We took out the comprehensive race cover insurance due to the organisers suggestion, as in the previous years event, a competitor was air lifted off the course and had to pay 7,000CHF (nearly £7k) out of his own pocket. This did happen again this year (not to me I’m pleased to say).

My race started at 7:30am on Friday 8-8-25 so I got the train the mile along the road with Hope and Jake, whilst Emma met us there after her run. Jake’s race was going to start at 6:30am on the Saturday. Previous years conditions ranged from the race being cut short due to snow to 35C+ and a lot of people dropped out. As it happened the temperatures maxed out at 33C on the Friday then 34C on the Saturday, but thankfully it was cooler higher up.

The start was buzzing with excitement and I bumped I into one of Jake’s favourite YouTubers (Paul Manson – The random Runner) who does excellent videos on a massive variety of ultra events. He had shaved the trademark beard off, but luckily Jake recognised him. After a bit of a chat, the race started and I tried not to get too carried away as we were straight into a 1000m+ climb. Heading back down the other side I drew first blood with a fall on what I thought was a very soft forest trail. I caught my toe on a tree root (probably not going to retain that nail now) scraped my knees, but landed on my Steven… and the twins (thank you Ian Beal for the reference). A very kind Belgian man asked to help me up but I declined, just to avoid further discussion on the nature of my injuries, so he just handed me my running poles and headed off.

We then hit another big climb upto the Belalp aid station, and the first rather unpleasant “out and back” which took us to the highest point on the course at about 2750m. I started feeling a bit rubbish at this point. It was getting really hot and at above 2400m altitude kicks in and I wasn’t loving the experience. Thankfully, when I started to descend (1500m in total) I felt a lot better so just put that down to the many ups and downs you tend to go through in longer races.

The next 1000m+ climb was through a forested area and the temperature was unbearable. Despite being in amongst the trees, the path was largely in direct sunlight with no breeze. The group I was working with gradually fell apart on that climb, and only myself and a German lad called Torsten kept going with a few stops in any shade we could find just to lower our temperatures. Thankfully there was an aid station and a bit of recovery time but people really suffered on that section.

The next aid station was Bellwald, and Hope and Emma had made there way there to offer support. It really gives you a lift when your supporters turn up, and I left that one feeling revitalised. It had just gone dark so it was head torch on and at that point I realised just how much effort the organisers had made to mark the course. There were red flags and high vis streamers at very regular intervals that were fine in the day, but in the dark they reflected back so well, it was even easier than in the day light. I had originally asked the organisers which map I needed to bring, and I could now see why they didn’t really understand the question. In the uk, a map and compass are typically compulsory for this sort of race but not needed in a lot of European races, as the mark the courses so well.

I really would also like to mention the aid stations at this point. They are largely run by volunteers who give up their weekend to keep the runners going. You are offered a variety of things like iced tea, flat coke, water, red bull, electrolytes or oranges, water melon, pretzels, crisps chocolate as standard, but each one has their “specialty”. I was fascinated by the one at Chäserstatt. They had the largest pan I’ve ever seen filled with Rosti potatoes and eggs cooking in a hole in the middle of the potato. It was being coordinated by a fierce German speaking lady, who had a constant supply of Rhhhosti being handed out to the runners. I wasn’t feeling great at that point so tried a half banana and just about threw it up. I was more worried about the wrath of our hostess if I messed up her flower beds, so headed back out onto the course just in case.

There was also a “free bar” in the middle of the woods on this section, which was a nice touch. It was basically a large tub of water with a motor to keep it circulating surrounded by fairy lights, and it was filled with cans of coke, red bull and Erdinger (alcohol free beer).

Eventually the sun came up and the head torches were put away. The mood lifted and we crossed some staggeringly long suspension bridges, some fantastic ladder/ step systems and planks literally hammered into the side of bits of the mountains.

I was running in a group for a while so asked one of the Swiss guys something our family had been wondering all week. How do you know which language to speak to people you don’t know, as there seems to be no consistency. I had started saying Danke rather than sticking to thank you when people let you pass on the trail and had several occasions of people assuming I knew more than 1 word of German, so wanted to put a stop to that. Apparently they just play it by ear as they can all usually speak a bit of French, German or Italian so it doesn’t really matter, but his suggestion was to opt for French as they are considered less friendly so I wouldn’t get drawn into any further conversation. Merci it was then.

Yet another 1000m+ climb and we were high up above the level where altitude can be a problem. My watch battery decided to die on me at that point after about 26 hours of dedicated service, so I missed a few miles and some elevation in Strava, so that bit didn’t count or even happen. I charged it at the next aid station enough to get me through to the end. We faced the second out and back and someone mentioned it was only 8.5k so I assumed that would be a little over 4k out but it seemed to go on and on and we lost a lot of height. I then realised it was 8.5k out (which took best part of 2.5 hours) followed by another massive climb and additional 7 miles back (3.5 hours). At this point I spotted what I thought was a small dog, about corgi sized that jumped up onto a rock below us. It turned out to be a marmot, probably king of the marmots (we named it Julian) and to be honest, I was a little worried heading in that direction as it looked a bit fierce. Thankfully it had left the area by the time we got down there.

On returning to Briethorn from the out and back, the majority of the climbing had been done (only about 900m left). The route then looses 1500m over about 6 miles on the world’s stupidest Road. This forestry road zig zags its way down the mountain endlessly until you get to the next aid station. It was at least runnable, but it was never ending and I was sick of the sight of it by the bottom.

There were 2 aid stations left, and my second drop bag was at the first, but I didn’t need much from it apart from my last 2 packets from a previously full box of Clif Bloks (that’s quite a lot of sugar, and my teeth were actually on edge at that point). It was looking like dark was descending and I had hoped to avoid a second night.

I didn’t bother with the final aid station as we only had 5 miles left and headed straight back into the forest. I was far enough away for the aid station and into the woods for my head torch packing up to be a real problem. I’d used my spare battery so was a bit stuck. Luckily I had a portable charger and a lead for my phone (as the phone was also dead) so I rigged it up so I carried the phone in my left hand, but still used a pole with my right. The beam didn’t pick up the flags or tapes very well, so I did end up taking a few wrong turns, but got there in the end losing about half an hour. I was so relieved to finish as I would have been gutted at that stage if I had DNF’d thanks to a head torch issue.

As soon as I crossed the line, Emma and Hope were there. I thanked the organisers and my new friend Torsten was also waiting. He had dropped me on the last long descent but wanted to make sure that I had finished. Emma told me Jake was still out on the course and was just about at Briethorn, but they were having trouble with his tracker. He had the “stupid road” and flatter bits still to go to finish, so I was fairly confident he would get there.

Well done for staying with me up to this point, now here is the bit you really wanted to hear about…… the hallucinations. I thought I would only do one night so wasn’t expecting this to be a thing, but as it took me longer than expected, I was treated to quite a lot of unexpected occurrences.

I thought I was being followed several times but no one was there when I looked. The streamers in the trees often turned into houses and some times mirrors. The Sandy soil was fairly white and that became luminescent with the plants rising up either side in the most vivid colours imaginable. I could see the free bar from the first night up ahead again but rather disappointingly, that disappeared by the time I got there.

There were lots of people, usually a bit non descript, but Captain Birdseye and Mr Stay Puft were both there. I saw probably more than 50 black labs that turned into bushes when I approached. A couple of my favourites were double wheels on car on the way home. The main wheel was replaced with 2 smaller wheels, one on top of the other. I’ve really no idea how that would work but maybe I’ve invented something?

And finally, as soon as I got home, there was a baby fox sitting on our doorstep (until Hope shone a light on it, and it tuned into some weeds – such a killjoy).

Switzerland is probably the most breath taking country I’ve ever visited. We had a great couple of weeks holiday, and the race scenery was unbelievable. The biodiversity was amazing and another level. We saw species of birds that had been on our list for years literally in our front garden. The insect and plant life was incredible and the fungi in the forests was amazing, but I’m not sure if it looked “extra special” due to the sleep deprivation. I would highly recommend both the country and the race to anyone looking for a bit of an adventure in the most spectacular setting you could imagine.

Final result 40:25:58

83rd out of 238 only 137 finished

I have fairly swollen feet, some minor cuts and bruises, large toe nail gone, S&TT all ok thanks.

Dave Moir