The Cervino Matterhorn 70K Ultra is unlike almost any other trail race. Starting at 1:00 a.m. beneath the shadow of the Matterhorn, competitors tackle a brutally technical course that never drops below 2,000 metres and climbs as high as 3,600 metres. It's a race that demands not only endurance but mountaineering skills, teamwork and meticulous planning.
"We both had challenges coming into the race," For Galen, the biggest obstacle was the altitude.
"I didn't do any acclimatisation before the race, and I know that's something I need for an event like this. The course never goes below about 2,000 metres and tops out around 3,600 metres."
The effects were immediate.
"For the first half of the race I was falling apart. I just couldn't deal with the altitude. I was breathing incredibly hard, but my heart rate stayed low. My body simply wasn't responding."
Eventually, Galen began to settle into the race.
"When I finally got my legs underneath me, Martin started to struggle. He'd been sick and injured in the lead-up to the race and hadn't been able to complete the training he wanted, so he ran out of energy later on."
Because the race is contested in pairs, every challenge is shared.
"You're with a teammate the whole way and you have to stay together. You can only go as fast as the slower person, so there's a constant balance between looking after each other and keeping moving."
That team format is only one of the elements that makes the Cervino Matterhorn Ultra so distinctive. The race begins at 1:00 a.m., sending runners into the darkness before sunrise, and includes long alpine sections where competitors transition between running and mountaineering.
"There isn't much support throughout the race, so you're carrying a lot of your own equipment and nutrition," Galen said. "There are sections where it's mandatory to have your harness, via ferrata kit, crampons and helmet on. At certain points you also have to rope yourselves together, and then later you can take everything off again.
Those transitions become a tactical element in themselves.
"A lot of people's strategy came down to whether they kept their harness, helmet and via ferrata kit on for long sections to save transition time, or whether they stopped to take everything on and off. There are lots of little decisions that can add up over such a long race."
Despite the setbacks, Galen still came away with plenty of positives.
"It was a spectacular day out in the mountains," he reflected. "We didn't come anywhere close to the targets we'd set ourselves, but that's part of racing. Sometimes you learn more from the difficult days than the good ones."
Galen and Martin crossed the finish line in 11th place, gaining valuable experience from one of the world's most unique and demanding mountain ultras, lessons that will undoubtedly prove valuable for Galen’s Tor Des Geants training.
Find out more about Galen here
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