TRAIL RUNNING
In September , Matt Healy climbed on a flight to France and headed to the Mediterranean resort city of Nice , on the fabled Côte d ’ Azur ( Coast of Azure ), also known as the French Riviera . It ’ s a part of the world known for its sunny weather and idyllic days spent on the beach , enjoying the ocean , or taking in the French cuisine , wine and lifestyle . However , Matt wasn ’ t going there for any of that . He was there for Nice Côte d ’ Azur Ultra 100km trail race , which is part of the Ultra-trail Month Blanc ( UTMB ) World Series .
Training in still wintery SA for a hot summer race in the south of France was not ideal , but Matt arrived in France feeling confident . “ I went over early and stayed in small village on the route , to recce what I would be running . Those trails were probably as technical as trails ever get within these UTMB races , and on mountains that climbed to over 2000 metres on the ridgeline . If you weren ’ t running up , you were running down ! Also , I hired a car to get to different parts of the race route , and driving on mountain passes on the wrong side of the road put me way outside my comfort zone , but I absolutely loved it .”
“ I was well prepared , making sure I took a third bottle , which I don ’ t normally do , with extra electrolytes , adjusting my nutrition for the heat and the sweat rate … and then on race day , we had the most miserable weather . The race was delayed by an hour , because the buses struggled to get to the small village where we started , and we had to go straight into our extreme weather gear , while the organisers warned about the possibility of snow ! I had planned to just wear a singlet all day , but now I was deep in freezing cold mountains , on a ridge at over 2000 metres , and it was five degrees below freezing . At one point , I couldn ’ t put my poles into my pack because I had no feeling in my hands .”
Matt says that the weather turned the trail into a muddy obstacle course , and at one point , about 20km from the end , he caught up to some of the 100 miler runners and realised they were simply too exhausted to pull themselves up a particularly slippery climb , so they kept sliding back . “ Luckily , I had my poles , otherwise I don ’ t think I would have gotten up there myself !” Matt adds that he ran within himself through all of this , saving his strength in the first half of the race in order to have fuel left in the tank for the more runnable second half of the race . He ran with a British runner for a while , but once they hit the flatter sections , he says he quickly realised he was stronger than the runners around him , and began dropping guys .
Closing the Gap
The next aid station was in the small town where Matt had stayed before the race , so he knew the trails in that area well . His parents , Grant and Nicky , and his UK-based sister Ashlin , were there as support crew , and he heard from them he was now lying seventh . In fact , one of the runners who arrived there before him had seized up , so when Matt set off again , he was now in sixth place . “ What I loved is that all the locals know the mountains and racing so well , so I was getting really accurate timings , but they kept telling me the next runner ahead of me was four minutes ahead . And my crew was telling me four minutes . Always four minutes …”
“ I came into the 84km aid station and I told my family , I need motivation , because I want to completely gun it for the last section and see if I can make up the gap . They told me I can do it , that I ’ ve got time to catch this guy , and I think , just mentally knowing that ’ s where I ’ m going to switch on , gave me a second wind of energy . I decided I ’ m going to make the most of this high , and I smashed the next big downhill . Before the next aid station , I ’ d caught up those four minutes , and I could see the guy in fifth wasn ’ t in a great way – he even had his water bottle out , like he was just looking for the next aid station . There was a flat section just after that , and I just went for it , to show him that I was stronger .”
Matt left that last aid station in great spirits , listening to his music , even happy about needing to get his headlamp out as the sun set . He says he was feeling so great , he even did a voice note for the WhatsApp group with his crew , which he normally never does during a race , and asked what the gap was to the next runner ! “ They told me it was about 15 minutes , so I knew I was not likely going to catch him , so instead , I decided to just see how much time I could close on him in the last few kays . In the end , I think I only finished about four minutes behind fourth place . I was really motoring , because that last section really suited me , plus I was feeling so confident because I knew the trail so well .”
The bonus for Matt was that finishing fifth meant he was on the podium at prize-giving , since the top five athletes were all called up , and of course , that made his sponsor , ASICS , very happy . After all , this was just his second race on the European circuit , and earlier in 2022 , in his first European race in Austria , he had finished in the top 10 as well , making it a really good start to his international
Matt comes into the finish of the Nice Cote D ’ Azur 100km
career as a professional trail runner . To put into further perspective just how good a start Matt has had to his running career , also consider that he only turned pro in early 2021 , just a few years after deciding not to pursue a career as a professional rugby player !
Rugby to Running
Matt grew up in Cape Town supporting the All Blacks rugby team , thanks to his father originally being from New Zealand . “ He ’ s been here for 35 years , but he influenced me from a young age , so I never minded wearing the All Blacks jersey when I went to games at Newlands ,” says Matt . Meanwhile , his own aptitude for the game led to him almost pursuing a career as a professional player . The scouts from the Sharks Rugby Union in Durban spotted him playing for his high school , and after matriculating in 2014 , he moved to Durban and enrolled as a player in the Sharks Academy . However , he says he quickly realised it was not going to be a long-term career option for him .
Matt has been flying on the trails since turning pro in early 2021
Images : Craig Kolesky & courtesy Matt Healy
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