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Jaw-dropping photos and videos: “I was in shock and thought, could it really be that after this immense effort, we would lose everything and not even finish?” Despite this, Joel successfully completed the race, and even had the energy to perform a fun dance at the finish line.
Estonian adventure athlete and ultrarunner Joel Juht, along with his Swiss teammate Victor Hugo, recently completed one of Europe’s most challenging ultra-sport races, the Petite Trotte à Léon. Over six days, they traversed 300 kilometers and ascended 25,000 meters along Mont Blanc’s trails. They had to remain within the time limits set by the organizers.
This week, Joel Juht returned to Estonia and has since been reflecting on the experience with his teammate. He admitted that it wasn’t until they arrived at the race location that he fully grasped the challenge ahead.
The start was shocking
“We registered for a race I knew little about beforehand. At first, I thought I had been placed in the French team and watched the shorter 170-kilometer version of the race on YouTube. Then I learned that our course was much longer and the challenge ten times harder, which didn’t sink in right away. In Estonia, it’s hard to understand something like this, but once you’re on-site in the training camp, you begin to get a sense of it. It was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time,” Juht explained.
Last year, Joel Juht became the first Estonian to win Iceland’s six-day volcanic marathon, Fire and Ice Ultra. This time, he was participating in a race for the first time with a partner – 52-year-old Swiss mountain runner Victor Hugo, who introduced Juht to the idea of this race and registered their two-man team.
Before the race, Juht met his teammate during a training camp, and he felt good before the start. “We went for a workout together, and I got to experience what it’s like to run 1,000 meters literally straight into the sky. Vertical ultra races, where you ascend directly upward, are very popular in that area. There are no places in Estonia to train for this,” Juht said.
He ran 1,000 meters up a steep slope in 1 hour and 10 minutes. “You’re essentially going straight to the heavens, and it’s incredible to think that in Estonia, to log that many ascent meters, I’d have to run up and down the Nõmme ski jump tower for four hours. After completing that one-kilometer climb, I was briefly in shock, realizing how tough this challenge was. But something inside me kept pushing me forward, probably due to all the races I’d participated in over the past year,” Juht described.
Six hours of pain
The race started on the 25th of August, and the first challenge was a 3,800-meter ascent. “We managed it, and I felt okay. But I quickly realized how every step had to be carefully considered on those mountain trails, as one misstep could send you into another world. I didn’t feel very safe, and we experienced several falls,” Juht recounted.
By the third day, Juht’s face revealed the toll the race was taking. His legs were aching, and he wasn’t feeling well. “I told Hugo we should descend calmly from the 3,000-meter height, but in the end, we still ran down, and that left my legs totally shot. I felt awful, and we had to reach the next checkpoint in time, but it seemed like we wouldn’t make it,” Juht described.
“When we finally reached the top of the mountain and I asked at the checkpoint how long we had to get to the next one, they said only five hours. I thought there was no way we could do it that fast. I asked for painkillers, and the next six hours were spent running in extreme pain. But I just decided in my head that I wouldn’t give up, and I encouraged Hugo not to either. I don’t know where the strength came from, but eventually, the pain disappeared, and we made it to the checkpoint in time,” Juht recalled one of the hardest days of the race.
A grueling struggle before the finish
As Hugo and Joel headed from the last checkpoint towards the finish, they discovered that their GPS signals were different – one indicated movement in one direction, while the other pointed the opposite way. In the darkness of night, with no signal to contact the dispatcher and no one around to ask, they had to find their way on their own.
“After descending for three or four hours, I suddenly realized we were moving further away from the course and had veered five kilometers off track. In such situations, five kilometers is a huge distance, especially when every second counts, and it seemed like we wouldn’t make it in time,” Juht said, recounting the most difficult moments of the entire race.
Despite the challenges, they managed to find a path leading down to the city, where they encountered a checkpoint that had already closed. Eventually, they reached the finish line and completed the race.
Joel’s longtime supporter, Fenix Casino, and the marketing manager of the Fenix Adventure project, Marje Braunbrük, praised Juht’s accomplishment, stating that the photos and videos left the entire support team in awe.
You can see more from his Estonian interviews in radio Ring FM ja tv-show Ringvaade.
Last year, Joel Juht won one of the world’s toughest and most extreme marathons – the Fire and Ice Ultra, which takes place annually in Iceland and lasts six days. During the race, participants cover 250 kilometers of uninhabited and wild volcanic terrain. In the ultra marathon, which took place from August 28 to September 2, 2023 Joel Juht outpaced other competitors by more than two hours. It took him a total of 34 hours and 29 minutes to complete the course.
COMMENTARY: Kaspar Eevald, mountaineer and extreme sports enthusiast:
This spring, extreme sportsman Kaspar Eevald, who conquered the world’s highest peak – Mount Everest, was one of those closely following Joel Juht and Hugo’s journey. He admitted that he was a bit concerned beforehand about how the men would cope with the altitude.
“Although this isn’t mountain climbing per se but running on mountainous terrain, adjusting to altitude isn’t easy and the body can quickly show signs of stress. The mind also needs to be very strong, especially when a long run is already behind you. It’s exhausting and I was a little worried about whether Joel had considered all of this. But his achievement proves that he managed to handle the challenges and is capable of such feats,” Eevald said.
He noted that people who don’t participate in such competitions themselves often focus too much on whether the athlete won something. “Every athlete knows why they enter an event. The goal may be to win or simply to complete it. As Estonians, we don’t live in high altitudes every day, so such a challenge is much more difficult for us compared to the French or Italians, who are familiar with this environment. Anyone who comments on such an achievement should first ask themselves if they could even complete such a run. Those who haven’t been there aren’t in a position to make valid judgments. I know this from my own experience and I’ve encountered situations where people commented on the nuances of summiting Mount Everest. Sometimes such feedback can actually be discouraging. It would be wiser to recognize people who take on such challenges. Hats off to Joel and Hugo!” he added.
Eevald admitted that he realized early on just how brutal the challenge was. “Of course, I can’t see into Joel’s mind 100% at that moment; only he knows his own mental and physical strength. But I saw the course profile and understood that it was no easy feat, especially since he’s not 25 anymore. Having been in the mountains myself, I know how altitude can knock you down and sometimes you can’t recover from it. Even walking on such terrain is hard, let alone running. Go ahead and try filling a backpack with food and completing such a distance even just on Estonian terrain, and you’ll already encounter factors that start to affect you. But I know the kind of person Joel is and what he’s capable of. He’s definitely worthy of taking on such big challenges, especially since he did it for himself and quite modestly. Sometimes people make big promises but can’t deliver. With Joel – it’s the opposite. As Estonians, we should show more trust and respect for fellow countrymen like him,” Eevald affirmed.
He said that completing such a race with a partner has both pros and cons — but in the bigger picture, it’s better together. “Your partner can boost morale or, conversely, bring it down. Certainly, it’s mentally much harder to complete such a journey alone. Partners can support each other when one has a tough moment, and together, they can overcome the bittersweet feeling,” Eevald said.
