2026 OCC Race Preview

Let's start talking about what is OCC.

So I'm going to read the course description for OCC straight off of UTMB's website.

And then we'll jump into what that means for these racers.

Course description, the shortest of the UTMB World Series final races, typically around 55 kilometers and 3,500 meters of elevation gain.

But this year, the course is closer to 61 kilometers long and 3,350 meters of elevation gain.

So a little bit longer and a little bit less steep on average.

OCC stands for Orca, which I'm sure I'm butchering, and I apologize to all my French-speaking friends out there.

Orca, Champs-Élysées, and Chamonix.

So basically...

the three towns that it goes through, CCC, you know, Courmayer, Champs-Élysées, Chamonix.

So anyways, description from the UTB website, and I quote, the ultimate challenge for mid-distance enthusiasts.

OCC sets off on a 60-kilometer course with 3,500 meters of elevation gain from Orcier, located southwest of the Canton of Valais and the Val d'Entremont.

The Swiss Valley will amaze you with its unique scenery, the final ridges and striking peaks of the eastern side of Mont Blanc forming the Franco-Swiss border, hanging glaciers above polished rock faces, and rushing mountain streams.

The OCC route will take you into the heart of this distinctive and authentic landscape before reaching Champs-Élysées and then Trient.

You will then cross the Franco-Swiss border via the iconic Col de Balm and its breathtaking views over the Mont Blanc Massif.

After reaching Tête de Balm at 2,321 meters, the new high point of the course, you will descend onto the Swiss side before crossing back into France through the municipality of Valercine and climbing up the Col de Posset.

You will then continue to Le Tour before reaching Chamonix via the valley's northern balcony trails where you will cross the legendary finish arch in the heart of town.

And if we look at this preview, just kind of looking at the outline from the side profile view, it looks like they pretty much start off the race and they kind of have a, let's see, in the first 12 miles they have, excuse me, 12 kilometers, they have about 727 meters of climbing and And then the next 12 kilometers, they have another 800 meters of climbing.

and then come back down.

And then the big climb goes from Trient to the high point, uh, that we just talked about Ted to bomb.

And that's going to be over 17 kilometers.

They're going to go put another 1,440 meters.

So that's definitely going to be a crucial climb about, what is that? 30 something kilometers into the race, 35 kilometers in the race is when they're going to reach the high point one descent.

And then one last climb, uh, they go from 1700 to so another 300 meter climb just about and then like we said the last 20 kilometers there's only 376 meters of elevation gain so pretty freaking flat um so it feels like it's more or less a relatively mountainous trail marathon and then it's kind of cruiser downhill trails where you want to have the legs and be able to take advantage of leg speed um after doing well in that trail marathon basically so it's kind of like a trail marathon, and then a very fast, relatively speaking, flat half marathon with only about 1,200 feet of climbing, 1,200 to 1,500 feet of climbing.

So that's definitely going to affect the race, and we're definitely going to talk about that.