After two wins at TDS, Audrey Tanguy didn’t finish last year’s UTMB. In the following interview, Audrey talks about what went wrong at last year’s UTMB, how she’s had a good season to date, why her focus was on coming into UTMB fresh, and what her goals are for this year’s race.
For more on who’s running this year’s UTMB, check out our women’s and men’s previews before following our UTMB live coverage starting on Friday.
Audrey Tanguy Pre-2022 UTMB Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here, with Audrey Tanguy before the 2022 UTMB. How are you?
Audrey Tanguy: I’m fine, thank you. Yeah.
iRunFar: You’re back here in Chamonix again, are you excited about another, this is your fourth time in a UTMB event?
Tanguy: Yeah, very excited. Really excited to write another story. Yeah. The last one was not that good so I want to try another one.
iRunFar: You have won TDS [145k] two times, last year didn’t go … you’ve had success at these races but last year, it wasn’t your day. What happened?
Tanguy: I think I wasn’t recovered from the Western States 100. It was a really, really hard race for me. And because of the heat too, yeah, didn’t realize I couldn’t do two 100 milers in a row, especially if the first one was a little bit difficult for me. Now I know it, so I try to learn from that experience. And yeah, to do things in another way this year.
iRunFar: And what sort of was the symptom, what happened during the race, what went wrong?
Tanguy: Everything was wrong. My legs were totally broken, I drank so much water and it normally doesn’t happen to me at all. I was, yeah, really tired. I had a stomach ache. Everything was really bad. And I think my mind was not ready for that too. I pushed really, really hard during the Western States, and two months was too early.
iRunFar: Yeah, and you definitely changed your season this year.
Tanguy: Yeah.
iRunFar: You had a really good start with good races at Trail Du Ventoux [46k] and … What else was there?
Tanguy: At the European Trail Championships. It was a team experience and that’s good because you share with all the people and I love it. That’s my favorite thing in the sport. Yeah, it was really good and shorter distances, I did MIUT [Madeira Island Ultra-Trail] too.
iRunFar: MIUT as well, yes.
Tanguy: It was really good.
iRunFar: Running second to Courtney [Dauwalter]’s not a bad day.
Tanguy: It was really good, that was the best I could do. And I shared a little bit of time with her in the beginning of the race and that was so cool, I loved it. Yeah, it was a perfect start of the season. Yeah, I said no to Western States this year to concentrate more on UTMB so I hope that it will work. But you never know. So we’ll see.
iRunFar: Do you feel fresher in your mind and body?
Tanguy: Yeah, I feel good, everything’s good. So let’s see.
iRunFar: Ready to attack?
Tanguy: Yeah, sure.
iRunFar: This is, I mean you’ve run TDS, which is also very long, how do you balance attacking versus knowing you will be out there for a full day?
Tanguy: The first goal is just to finish the race. I want to do the loop and that’s the main goal. And attack … It will come maybe if I can at the end of the race. Compared to the TDS, for me, it’s totally different because that race, it’s so important to me. I tried to let her, at her place, just a race like all the races but it’s not I have to say. This is too important and I want to, yeah, to let it go if I can, if people are better than me and I want to just concentrate on me during the race, I will try to.
iRunFar: For you, what do you hope for? What would be a good outcome, personally?
Tanguy: I want to be good during the race. I don’t want to have pain too early. I want to enjoy the time, I want to share with maybe other runners or maybe with the people who come, my family, my friends, many people will come. I hope so, if I’m still in the race. Not like last year. Yeah, and to do everything I can with everything I have, on that day.
iRunFar: But you think you can enjoy parts?
Tanguy: Yeah. I did the loop with Jim [Walmsley] and Thibaut [Garrivier], and I have to say, I was in front of them because I started two hours before. And not at the same point, 15 kilometers before.
iRunFar: And two hours.
Tanguy: Just to be sure. So I loved it, and sensations were really good. So I have this in my mind. Yeah, I want to enjoy, yeah that’s the goal.
iRunFar: During the race do you think you will think about how much you enjoyed the loop before?
Tanguy: Yeah, for sure. And I will concentrate on that at the starting line because I know that moment will be really hard for me. It’s always really hard. Especially with this music, awful. It’s really hard, it’s a really hard moment for me. So I will concentrate on that. I know that I can be comfortable for the beginning at least. I don’t know how much of the race I can …
iRunFar: Maybe listen to some music at the start line?
Tanguy: I will, that’s a plan, that’s a plan.
iRunFar: It is hard to manage and you have done it three times before but all the music, all of the emotion. Even on the side, the sideline, it’s intense.
Tanguy: I know. I watched it on TV years before, I was crying in front of the TV.
iRunFar: At the start.
Tanguy: I know this is really hard for everyone. I don’t know why they continue to put this music on.
iRunFar: Maybe we can cut some cables.
Tanguy: You can try, maybe. That would be great, thank you.
iRunFar: No problem. Well, I hope you have a good start to your race and a good finish.
Tanguy: Thank you, thank you very much.
iRunFar: Thank you.
