UTMB Live: How to Follow the Race in Real Time, From Tracking to Streaming

Every late August, the trail running world turns its eyes to Chamonix. The UTMB Mont-Blanc week brings together thousands of runners from around the globe for a series of races that loop around the Mont-Blanc massif, with the flagship 100-mile event covering roughly 170 kilometres and close to 10,000 metres of climbing. For spectators, friends, family, and fans watching from home, the question is always the same: how do I follow all of this as it happens? The answer is UTMB Live, the official digital platform that turns a week of racing in the Alps into something you can track minute by minute, wherever you are.
What UTMB Live Actually Is
UTMB Live is the official tracking and results service for the UTMB Mont-Blanc event week. It exists in two main forms: a web platform, found at live.utmb.world, and the official UTMB mobile app. Both give you access to live runner tracking, checkpoint splits, standings, race news, and the event program.
The system works because every runner carries a GPS tracker during the race. Combine that with timing checkpoints at aid stations along the route, and you get a fairly detailed picture of where each athlete is and how they are moving. For a race that stretches across two countries and three time zones' worth of daylight, that kind of visibility is remarkable.
During race week, the platform covers all the event's distances, from the shorter MCC and OCC races to the CCC, TDS, the 100K, and the 100M. Each race gets its own tracking page, leaderboard, and results table.
How to Track a Specific Runner
This is the feature most people come for. Whether you're waiting for a loved one to reach the next aid station or following an elite athlete's bid for the podium, the process is straightforward.
On the live site or in the app, search for a runner by name or bib number. Once you've found them, you can add them to a personal list of favourites, which keeps all your chosen runners grouped together in one view. From there, you can see their current position on the course, their last checkpoint time, their splits between timing points, and their overall ranking within their category.
One habit worth building: set up your favourites before race day. On the evening of a major start, thousands of people hit the platform at once, and searching for a common name mid-race can be slow. Doing it the night before takes two minutes and saves you frustration later.
A note on expectations: GPS tracking in the mountains is good but not perfect. Deep valleys, dense forest, and remote high-altitude sections can delay updates. Some elite runners also use low-frequency tracking settings to conserve battery over a race that may last 20 to 40 hours. If a runner's dot seems frozen for a while, it usually means the signal has dropped rather than the runner has stopped.
Understanding the Data: Splits, Projections, and Cutoffs
The raw tracking map only tells part of the story. To follow UTMB like someone who has watched a few editions, you need to read the numbers behind it.
Checkpoint splits show how long a runner took between aid stations. Comparing these across runners reveals who is moving consistently and who is fading. A gap that grows steadily between two athletes often says more than their current positions do.
Projected finish times are calculated from current pace, and they are genuinely useful but easy to misread. Ultrarunners slow down as fatigue accumulates, and top athletes often take short sleep breaks in the second half of the race. A projection made at kilometre 60 rarely survives to the finish line unchanged. Treat projections as a live snapshot, not a prediction.
Cutoff times matter too. Every major checkpoint has a deadline, and runners who miss it are pulled from the race. Watching the leaderboard, you'll occasionally see athletes drop off the list entirely, marked as DNF. It's one of the harder realities of the event: even in a typical year, a large share of the field doesn't finish the longer races, whether from injury, missed cutoffs, or exhaustion.
Watching the Live Broadcast
Tracking dots are one thing; actually seeing the race is another. UTMB produces a live video broadcast throughout the main race, available primarily through the official UTMB YouTube channel, with additional coverage shared across the event's social channels. The broadcast typically mixes live footage from the start and finish areas, helicopter shots along the course, interviews, and studio commentary in English and French.
The broadcast doesn't follow one runner continuously for 40 hours. Instead, it focuses on the moments that matter: the mass start in the streets of Chamonix, the leaders arriving at major checkpoints, dramatic night sections, and the finish-line arrivals of the frontrunners and, later, the emotional mid-pack finishes that make this event what it is.
A practical tip: the broadcast schedule is published ahead of race week on the official website and social channels. Check it in advance so you know when coverage goes live, especially for the flagship start, which in recent editions has taken place on a Friday evening.
The Rhythm of Race Week
If you're new to following UTMB live, it helps to understand the shape of the whole week. The event isn't a single race but a series of them, running from the start of the week through the following Sunday. The shorter races, like the OCC, come earlier in the week and are easy to follow start to finish. The longer races stretch across one or two nights.
The flagship 100M, starting in Chamonix in the evening, runs through the night, over the Col du Bonhomme and the Col de la Seigne into Italy, through Courmayeur, up and over the Grand Col Ferret into Switzerland, through Champex-Lac and Trient, back into France at Vallorcine, and finally up to La Flégère before the descent into Chamonix. Leading runners typically finish Saturday afternoon or evening; the back of the field keeps going into Sunday.
For many fans, the most gripping window is Saturday morning through Saturday night, when the leaders are deep in the final third, the chase groups are spread across the mountains, and every checkpoint arrival reshapes the leaderboard.
Moments Worth Setting an Alarm For
If you can only watch or track a few things live, these are the highlights that experienced followers prioritise:
The start itself, with thousands of runners funneling through the streets of Chamonix to music and crowds. The arrival in Courmayeur, roughly halfway through the main race, where the atmosphere in Italy is famously lively. The Grand Col Ferret crossing, a stunning high point on the course. The overnight stretch, when sleep deprivation starts to decide races. The final climb to La Flégère, where the leaders are close enough to the finish that gaps can still change hands. And of course, the finish in Chamonix, which stays busy well into Sunday as finishers of all speeds arrive.
Practical Tips for Watching From Home
A few things make the experience smoother.
Mind the time zone. The race runs on Central European Summer Time. If you're watching from North America, Asia, or Oceania, the key moments often fall at unusual hours, so it's worth converting the schedule to your local time before race week rather than guessing.
Use two screens. Many fans keep the live map on a laptop or tablet while the video broadcast plays on a TV or phone. The map tells you what's happening everywhere; the broadcast shows you the story.
Don't over-refresh. During peak traffic, the platform can lag. Updates arrive on their own schedule, and hammering the refresh button rarely speeds anything up.
Follow more than the leaders. Some of the best stories happen mid-pack: personal journeys, veteran comebacks, and age-category battles. Pick two or three non-elite runners to follow alongside the frontrunners.
Beyond the Platform: Social Media and Community Coverage
The official channels do the heavy lifting, but race week coverage extends well beyond them. Athletes' own social accounts, their crews' updates, and the broader trail running community add texture that raw tracking can't capture. Crew members waiting at aid stations often post photos and short videos that give a ground-level view of how runners really look and feel. Following a mix of official sources and individual runners gives you the fullest picture.
If You're Lucky Enough to Be There
For those in Chamonix during race week, UTMB Live still matters. The race village features screens showing the live broadcast, and having the tracking app on your phone lets you time your spectating. Locals and visitors often use the live map to work out when their friends will pass through accessible points like Les Houches, Saint-Gervais, Les Contamines, or Vallorcine, then head out to cheer in person. There's nothing quite like standing on a mountainside at midnight, ringing a cowbell for a stranger who still has 100 kilometres to go.
One Last Thing Before the Gun Goes Off
UTMB Live has made one of the world's most demanding sporting events genuinely followable from anywhere on earth. The best way to enjoy it is to prepare a little: learn the course's main landmarks, choose your runners in advance, understand what the numbers do and don't tell you, and accept that in the mountains, no lead is safe and no projection is final. Then let the race week carry you. It has a way of doing that.