My 2022 ultra-trail run around the Mont Blanc — The Chamonix vibe Chamonix during Ultra-Trail-du-Mont-Blanc week is exhilarating. Especially if you are one of the 10,000 runners participating in the 9 official races. Crowds cheering every single one of the finishers, from Monday to Sunday. Runners out on the trails to study the courses, to fight their nerves, and to make sure…

Abstract This article is about the calculation of a Difficulty Factor that makes it possible to compare results for the same or different runners, on the same, or across different running competitions. The most basic comparison is obviously done using the finish time, for competitions over the same distance. …

“Beyond brutal. Beyond beautiful.” Written by Gower Tan, ran by Gower, Andrea, Christina and 700 others. Saturday 2nd July, 2022 It is worth taking a second to offer a bit of history and context for this event. Back in 2015, founder and race director Michael Jones was spending long days…

If you love running in nature and you look for a personal challenge, consider ultra-trail running, and come to the Dolomites for the LUT. A classic race, probably one of the most beautiful routes, now part of the UTMB World Series, the LUT attracts top elite runners and, with a…

Running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. This will test my ability to run on tired legs and with little sleep, over two days and two nights. …

“Do the right thing, reduce your carbon footprint… Think of the world we’ll be leaving behind for Willie Nelson and Keith Richards.” Anonymous (Google Slides version more suitable for large screens here) In the previous episodes We have learned that there is nothing straightforward in the energy transformation towards net zero carbon emissions, and…

I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable. Jules Verne, “The mysterious island”, 1875 (Google Slides version more…

“The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light” Plato (Google Slides version more suitable for large screens here) In the previous episodes Energy consumption has been growing at an incredible rate, mostly supported by fossil fuels, and with it the greenhouse gas emissions have piled up in the atmosphere…

(Google Doc version more suitable for PC and Tablet is here) In the previous episode Hydropower and geothermal energy were the earliest forms of renewable sources used for electricity generation, and we started to harness them over a century ago. With hydro much more impactful than geothermal, we see them evolving and continuing to…