Kate Avery sets sights high with "OCC" race at UTMB week
08/26/2024 04:02 AM
We catch up with the former track and cross-country runner who has set herself a mountainous goal in the Alps this month
Two years after earning her first international mountain running vest and just 18 months after stepping up to ultra-distance events, Kate Avery's victory in the recent Ultra Trail Australia 50 (UTA 50) – a 50km UTMB World Series Event with over 2200m of elevation gain – was yet another example of her exceptional range and talent.
The 32-year-old is a former NCAA cross country champion and multiple European Cross Country Championships medallist for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She also excelled on the track, winning European age group medals over 3000m and 5000m and finishing fourth over 10,000m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
In 2022 she had already started to make a name for herself on the trail and mountain running scene, finishing 10th in the uphill-only event and 11th in the up and down race at the European Off-Road Running Championships in Spain on her international mountain running debut in July of that year. She was then selected for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thailand and finished 20th (uphill-only) and 26th (up and down race), winning team silver in both events.
Avery relocated from England to Australia with her husband and former British Athletics physiotherapist Lachy Bromley in January 2023. She won the Two Bays Trail Run (28km) within weeks of her arrival before running her first 50km event at the Tarawera Ultramarathon in New Zealand, where she finished third.
Avery has never been afraid to take risks. She is certainly no stranger to change, either, and victory in the UTA 50 underlined her transition from mountain runner to longer trails.
The Orsieres-Champex-Chamonix (OCC) – described as the ultimate challenge for mid-distance ultra-runners and the '50km category final' for the UTMB World Series (55km/3400m+) – is her goal race for 2024 on Thursday August 29, but after her experience last year ("It kicked my ass," she says), she's leaving no stone unturned.
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"There aren't many trail races that have the elevation of Chamonix, so it's about being best prepared," says Avery. "Doing the UTA 50 [in New South Wales' Blue Mountains] was pretty good prep. Obviously it's great to win, but I was more pleased with how I felt. I just felt good doing it."
Her training for the UTA 50 included regular outings to Victoria's Dandenong Ranges, where she ran multiple laps of a 5km/400m elevation training loop called "Glasgow". Avery is now in St Moritz in the Swiss Alps for a period of altitude training as she builds towards the OCC.
"I definitely had in mind that I wanted to try a 50km and, if I'm honest, I think even last year was probably too soon," she admits. "Last year I looked at things and thought: 'What could I do differently, what can I improve on?' and I think it's about getting the balance right. There are a lot of things you can work on in trail running – uphill running, long tempos, downhill technique, speed – so it's trying to balance it and work out what my strengths are. I think I learned a lot from last year.
Kate Avery (Mark Shearman)
"This year my long runs feel better, they feel more comfortable. I'd never run over 1hr 30min before in training for 10km and cross country – I don't think you need to – so getting used to being on your feet for four or five hours is completely different.
"Going into OCC, it's a lot about leg conditioning and being able to go up and down then back up another mountain, and then once you've descended for 40 minutes actually feeling okay at the end of it, rather than your legs feeling like mush."
Kate Avery (Paul Freary)
Avery's recent progress has been impressive and her UTMB profile shows seven wins and a total of 10 podium finishes from 13 performances. With aspirations to run for GB & NI at next year's World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain over 50km, she is serious about switching it up and entirely capable of earning another international vest in this new and challenging discipline.
The OCC is an opportunity to make a name for herself in one of the world's highest profile events.
» This feature first appeared in AW magazine. Subscribe here
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