The literal translation of La Moins’Hard 70 is The Least Hard 70. That’s certainly not an accurate description though as with 5,600m of elevation on the route, it’s a very challenging race in the mountainous region of Chamonix.

Chamonix is of course, a fell runner’s paradise, and Mont-Blanc is the holy grail. The altitude is high and the terrain is extreme. There is one Bournemouth AC runner who loves racing in that sort of environment though and that’s Patrick Kingston.

Patrick completed the 110km Ultra Trail Vipava Valley in Slovenia earlier this year in just over 18 hours. That one featured 4,800m of climbing. Patrick is strong on the ascents though and well capable of racing on the most brutal of slopes. In that one he came 39th out of 182 finishers.

Last year he ran the Sierra Blanca ‘Destroyer’ in Marbella which was 43.2km with 2,914m of elevation. That one took him 7 hours 35 minutes. Earlier in the year he completed the Ultra Sierra Nevada which was 59.8km and with 3,699m of elevation. He got through that one in 9 hours 13 minutes.

In 2024 he did La Mini’Hard, which is the same Montagn’Hard Ultra Trail event as La Moins’Hard but a shorter distance. That one was 25km and Patrick finished 23rd out of 299 runners. That was incorporated 1,600m of elevation and Patrick got through it in 3 hours 14 minutes.

Patrick’s last race in the mountains was the Traversa Picos de Europa, which took place in Northern Spain. It was 74km in distance with an elevation gain of 6,585m. In that race, after 16 hours and 53 minutes of running, Patrick was forced to abandon.

He’d covered 35.59 miles and accumulated 20,000ft of elevation. He’d done about 57km and there were only two checkpoints remaining before the finish but he just couldn’t carry on.

In the end, the heat had just proved too much for Patrick but he’d given it his all and that was all he could have done. It hadn’t put him off though and if anything, the experience would have made him all the more determined to make it through the full 70km of La Moins’Hard.

The route for La Moins’Hard 70 started with one absolutely huge and very steep climb that went on for the first 4.5 miles. Then there was a 2.5 mile section along the top of the mountain before a long, mostly downhill section for the next 7 miles, taking Patrick into the 14th mile.

Often the approach to these sorts of races in the high mountains is to utilise poles to aid stability. Participants will often walk up the really steep climbs and then run down, using the poles to help them balance and reduce risk of a fall.

The second really big climb went from mile 14 all the way to almost mile 20. It wasn’t quite as steeper gradient as the first but still a very tough and long climb. Then there was a descent to mile 22.5 before a smaller climb to mile 24. Patrick was now over half way through.

The next big ascent came at mile 29.5 and that one was made up of two sections of vertical that took him to 34.3 miles. The next 9 miles were mostly descending before the final two mile climb. That one looked small in comparison to come of the others but when you’ve been running for that long and scaled that many inclines, it would have still been a battle.

The last mile was all downhill and that took Patrick to the finish line. He’d been running for 14 hours 58 minutes and 20 seconds and had completed the full 46 mile route, accruing 18,300ft of elevation.

It was a hell of an effort from Patrick and put him in 60th place in the overall standings, with 174 of the participants successfully completed the race. There were many who had to abandon on the way and never saw that hallowed finish line. 75 in fact.

Getting this one in the bank will certainly be a confidence booster for Patrick as he continues his quest in mountain ultra events. For his next challenge, Patrick was heading out to France for a 100k race in the Pyrenees.