← All eventsOCC (Orsières-Champex-Chamonix)
The shortest, fastest UTMB-week race — ~56km / ~3,500m from Orsières (Switzerland) to Chamonix, the accessible entry to the UTMB series. Next-date approximate (UTMB week, late August).
The shortest race of UTMB finals week, and the way in. 56km from Orsières in Switzerland to the iconic Chamonix arch, with a lower qualification bar than the longer races.
It still packs 3,500m of alpine climbing into a half-day: the opener up to Champex-Lac, the Bovine and Catogne climbs, then the long technical drop off La Flégère into Chamonix.
Accessible is not the same as easy. A generous 14h30 cutoff gives most runners room, but the vert is real and this one is genuinely raced, front to back, in a deep field.
Is OCC (Orsières-Champex-Chamonix) for you?
- Runners with some hilly-ultra experience wanting their first UTMB-week race. The lower qualification bar makes it a realistic entry to the series.
- Climbers who can also descend. 3,500m of ascent and a long technical finish descent reward runners who can do both, not just grind uphill.
- Runners without the time for a 100-miler. This is a serious alpine ultra you can start and finish inside a single day.
- Racers, not just finishers. Short enough to be run at genuine effort from the gun, with a fast field to pull you along.
Training plan for OCC (Orsières-Champex-Chamonix)
A training plan for OCC (Orsières-Champex-Chamonix) isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- Roughly 3,500m of climbing and equal descent packed into a single half-day
- A sustained opening climb from the gun in a fast, deep field that tempts you to overcook it
- The long technical La Flégère descent to Chamonix that shreds under-trained quads
- Consistent fuelling at 60 to 90g of carbs per hour, with no excuse in the shorter distance
- Long hilly runs building toward a 4 to 6 hour day in the hills with full fuelling rehearsal
- Big-vert days targeting 1,000 to 2,000m of climbing for economy and descent load
- Downhill repeats and a long descent run when tired to armour your quads
- Hilly tempo and threshold on undulating trail to keep genuine running speed
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
