Erwee realises a dream in brutal alpine ‘ultra’

The mountainous event is considered one of the toughest running races in the world and yet ultra-distance fanatic Erwee, who lived locally for a long spell before moving to Switzerland last year, made relatively light work of it to triumph in 122hrs 9min. 41sec.

He ran virtually the whole race alone to finish over 16hrs clear of the runner-up, Germany’s Volker Fohrmeister.

In doing so, he went one better than his runner-up position to French elite Sebastien Raichon last year.

‘It’s phenomenal,’ an exhausted but elated Erwee said.

‘That was the dream for

me and I worked hard towards it, and I’m so glad it came to fruition.’

The race packs a colossal punch in its profile, with 32,000m of total elevation gain, and very changeable weather also proved a challenge.

Erwee also had to deal with illness in a race lasting over five days.

‘Of the three Tor des Glaciers I’ve done, this has been the hardest for me personally.

‘Struggling with a chest infection, I even picked up mild cellulitis in my left leg, which had to be looked after by the doctors, and feet look like something out of a horror movie.’

But he enjoyed the highs – in a literal sense – and in particular Mont Gele.

‘I’m petrified of that mountain for some reason, and being there at the top, early morning, and just seeing the views from there was phenomenal.’

Having won the GU36 in May as part of his Five Islands Ultra endeavours, Erwee is set to bring his long-distance prestige back to Guernsey for the GUN31 on 16 November.