Why I Run:
The Ultra Runner
MR PORTER
Non-fiction
3 minutes
Video commissioning editor
Directed by Andrew Telling
Shot by Thomas Wootton
Shot on location in the French Alps, 2020
See it in the MR PORTER Journal
A marathon is far enough for most people. Mr Germain Grangier isn’t most people. The ultra-runner and On Running athlete regularly competes in races of 100km or more – distances that require him to run through the night. In 2019, he completed his first UTMB® (Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc) – all 171km of it – finishing in just over 23 hours in a highly respectable ninth place. What drives a man to seek out the limits of human endurance? In this short film, shot on location in the French Alps earlier this year, MR PORTER tags along on one of Mr Grangier’s training runs in the hope of getting some insight into the mindset of an ultra-athlete.