Ethical Charter

Fairness

It means seeking a fair balance, based on impartiality, which implies equal opportunities for all runners and accepting the rights and duties of all those who take part in the event (runners, members of the organization, private and territorial partners, press, locals). Our races are organized for the benefit of everyone.

Our races are open to everybody. Our rules are made for everybody and are applied identically to everybody. All the athletes have the same conditions, and they have the same rights and the same duties.
It is our responsibility to guarantee this principle of equity, to make the necessary controls and to offer the best possible race conditions to all the participants. We limit the zones where assistance is authorised so as not to penalise those runners who can not benefit from it.
We ask the commissaires de course (race marshals) to ensure that the rules are respected throughout the race.

The selection which we are obliged to make at registration is established on criteria which are accessible to all, or, by resorting to drawing lots.
The reception of top-level runners of is the object of pre-established rules which do not disadvantage the other runners.
Our finisher’s gifts are distributed as fairly as possible between all the players according to their respective contributions to the event and we ensure that all the finishers are rewarded.

Respect for people

The UTMB^® gathers enthusiasts from a large diversity of cultures, personalities or motivations.
To respect others, is to understand and to accept that they will be different and to adopt the "know how" so as not to hamper them or bother them. It also is understanding that the mountain is a place which possesses its own culture and its own traditions.  

We work permanently on high-quality organisation, we stay tuned to all and we try hard to always find answers.
We limit the numbers so as not to saturate the paths and also to avoid hold-ups along the route which could be harmful the quality of the races.
As from registration, we scrupulously check each runner’s qualifying races, so that nobody can participate illegitimately to the detriment of another runner who is respectful of rules.

Each player makes a commitment to show respect and conviviality, towards the local population and towards every person in mountains at the same time as them (other trail-runners, locals, mountain hut personnel, walkers…).

Respect occurs through sharing regulations to which every player (runner, volunteer, partner, journalist, accompanying person) makes a commitment to understand and to respect.
We ask everybody not to cheat, under any circumstance, and to be an example of fair-play.

Respect for oneself

The practice of very long duration Trail-running carries risks and the search for performance and/or pleasure on no account justifies the distortion of one’s health in the more or less short term or the taking of risks. 

For that purpose a medical counsel takes care to optimise the medical follow-up of the runners; it makes studies, the results of which allow the implementation of actions and/or information in the specific field of ultra-endurance.
We are leading actions which aim to strengthen the medical supervision of the runners.  In this framework we are developing partnerships to supply the runners with the best information tools, such as those available on the site www.sport-protect.fr.

We ask each runner:

• to be particularly careful to take no doping products and not to resort, wrongly, to self-medication,
• to inform the organisation’s Medical Counsel in case of use of a prescription subjected to a Therapeutic Use Authorisation (TUE) ,
• to learn and to agree not to exceed one’s limits to the point of damaging one’s physical or mental integrity

Respect for the environment

Our races take place in the mountains. This is a fragile natural environment, in which it is necessary to protect the balance ensuing both from biodiversity and human activity.
Our event has to contribute to the general awareness of the fragility of the natural surroundings. We make every effort to reduce our impact. We also recognise with lucidity that there are inevitable impacts and we make a commitment to do all we can to rectify them.  

Our environment commission identifies the risks engendered by the event and proposes concrete actions. We actively participated in the definition of charters for sustainable development with Territorial Groups and are careful to apply and improve their content. We encourage the use of communal transport or car-sharing and we strictly limit our use of helicopters. We authorise no zone of assistance outside of villages. We ask Ambassadors of the environment to explain the rules within the nature reserves and to watch that they are respected.

We are trying to minimise to the maximum the environmental impact connected to the functioning of our organisation, in particular by decreasing the volume of our impact and by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions connected to professional transport.
We would like to invite you to improve your knowledge of the mountains, their ecosystem and fragilities, not to become an expert but so as to act with responsibility and awareness. We encourage you to minimise your impact on the environment through which you pass by adopting an as environmentally-friendly attitude as possible:

• drop nothing on the ground (including that we don’t see) in any area along the route(including in the inhabited zones),
• do not shortcut the paths as this causes harmful erosion to the site,
• preserve the flora, respect the fauna, and avoid making inappropriate noise
• to rigorously respect the rules of the nature reserves,
• to limit carbon emissions by avoiding motorised travel by favouring the use of communal transport or as a last resort the use of car-sharing.

Solidarity

The mountains are a hostile environment where man has learnt the rules of solidarity and to help each other so as to live and prosper there. For this reason we ask each player of the UTMB^®, in whatever place or circumstance they are in, to make it their priority to go to help any other person in danger or in difficulty.

As organisers, we have the conviction that our solidarity also has to applied in a more global framework, and that it is our responsibility to help the most deprived. This conviction is based on the consciousness of our own privileges and our attachment to humanistic values.

To concretise this commitment, we favour united action and sustainable development, at the environmental, social and economic level. We have chosen charitable associations which act in the field of assisting disadvantaged people (orphans, severe poverty, disease, social justice) or medical research (cystic fibrosis, organ donation…..). We favour the collection of donations to benefit some these charitable associations, at the time of the registration. Through the implementation of "solidarity race-bibs", we give runners the possibility of participating through their donation to one of these charities.
We encourage runners « to run for a cause » and to collect funds to benefit charitable associations which they choose themselves, and we help to make their actions known.