ETHIQUE ET REGLEMENT

These regulations are based on the regulations of the Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc®. We would like to thank those pioneers in Chamonix for their efforts and their work! Respect!

 

MOUNTAINMAN ETHICS

The runners, volunteers, organisation and partners are united in the same adventure and share the share the same values:

EQUITY :
The rules were conceived for everybody and therefore are applicable to everybody. No financial incentives, but the same prize for all runners who finish

RESPECT FOR OTHERS :
Respect for oneself and for others permits absolutely no cheating of any form
Respect for the volunteers who participate for the pleasure
Respect for the local population who accommodate the race
Respect for the organisation and its partners

RESPECT FOR NATURE:
Never drop litter
Respect for flora and fauna
Don’t cut the corners because this provokes erosional damage to the area
Take advantage, for oneself and one’s companions, of communal transport or car pool

IMPARTATION AND SOLIDARITY :
Prioritise assisting anybody in danger or difficulty
Support a charitable association: to put one’s own suffering in perspective & to be aware of one’s privileges

EXPLORE YOUR LIMITS:
Learn to know oneself and develop self-autonomy in order to maximize the commitment in respect of physical and mental integrity.

"l'Ultra, is looking for personal resources one didn’t expect to find"
"l'Ultra, is a little pride and a lot of humility" 
Forum d'Ultrafondus

REGULATIONS OF THE MOUNTAINMAN®

ORGANISATION

The BergArena Society organises in association with our Sponsors Pilatus Bahnen, Hasliberg Bahnen, Titlis Rotair, Zentralbahn and with the Support of the Cantons of Nidwalden and Obwalden, the Regionalentwicklungsverband Sarneraatal, the Regionalentwicklungsverband Nidwalden & Engelberg and the communities along the trail

The Mountainman® ULTRA,
The Mountainman® MARATHON,

The Mountainman® ULTRA 4X4,
The Mountainman® ULTRA 2X2 and
The Mountainman® MARATHON 2X2.

RACES

The Mountainman is an event that includes 5 races in free nature. These races are - with short exceptions - kept on the Swiss Mobile Trails Obwaldner Höhenweg (Nr. 57) and Nidwaldner Höhenweg (Nr. 88). Each race can be run in an individual pace, but with a limitation in time.

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

To participate, it is essential:
- To be fully aware of the length and peculiarities of the race and be sufficiently trained for it
- To have acquired, prior to the race, a real capacity for self-sufficiency (1) which permits the management of problems induced by this type of course, and notably:
         - to know how to face, without outside help, climatic conditions which can become very difficult due to the altitude (night, wind, cold, rain or snow)
         - to have the know how to face the physical and mental problems as a result of extreme fatigue, digestive problems, articular and muscular pain, minor wounds…...
- To be fully aware that it is not the role of the organization to  help a runner to overcome these problems
- To be fully aware that for such an activity in the countryside security depends on the capacity of the runner to adapt to  the problems encountered, or envisaged.

(1)the participation in other races in order to have the number of necessary points (see the paragraph REGISTRATION CONDITIONS) to be able to register, is useful in acquiring this experience, but it is not always sufficient.
These races are open to anyone, man or women, 18 years of age and more .

SEMI SELF-SUFFICIENCY

The individual principle of racing in semi self-sufficiency is the rule.

In particular :

1) Each runner must have all his obligatory equipment with him at all times during the race (see paragraph EQUIPMENT).

2) Refreshment posts have been supplied with drinks and food.
Each runner makes sure to have, at the start of each refreshment post, the quantity of drinks and of food necessary for them to reach the next refreshment post. Littering on the trail results in the disqualification from the race.

ENROLMENT CONDITIONS

The regsistration and payment for the Mountainman is carried out via www.themountainman.ch

ACCEPTANCE OF THE REGULATIONS AND OF THE ETHIC OF THE RACE

Taking part in the Mountainman® races involves accepting without reservation the current regulations and the ethic of the race as published by the organisation, which can be consulted on www.themountainman.ch

It is imperative to follow the paths as signposted, without short-cutting. In fact, to shortcut a path causes a detrimental erosion of the site.

Dustbins have been placed at each refreshment post and must be imperatively used.

ENROLMENT

Enrolment fees :
Enrolment exclusively on the Internet and secured payment by banker’s card.

Engagement fees include all the services described in the present regulations.

The registration for any of these races is firm and final and it is not possible to change races.

DEREGISTRATION

The enrolment fee will be payed back in case of injury or illness as:
Until 1 Month before the event: 80 % of the registration fee
Until 2 weeks before the event: 50 % of the registration fee 
Deregistrations are only accepted in written form (please add your bank account information)

EQUIPMENT

Obligatory material :
• adhesive elastic band enable making a bandage or a strapping (mini 80cm x 3 cm),
• plaster,
• long top and long trousers (eg. tights) for wind, cold and rain protection
• mobile phone (Tip: store the emergency no. of the organisor and do not forget to charge the battery before, turn it off durning the race to save battery)
• flashlight/headlamp  

We will eventually check your equipment before the start and after the race

Very strongly recommended
- gloves
- warm clothes indispensable in the case of cold weather forecasts
- the sum of CHF 20 minimum (in order to cover the unexpected....)

Advised (list not definitive):
telescopic sticks, change of clothing, compass, knife, string, sun cream, Vaseline or anti-overheating cream, needle and thread, Mountainman Map 1:50'000.

If you decide to use sticks, you will not be able to hand these in on the trail. No stick will be admitted into the runner’s sacks.

 

RACE NUMBERS

Each race number is handed out individually to each runner (Teams: 1 runner) on the presentation of an identity card with photo, having had marked his pack and having signed an engagement of honour to keep it with himself his obligatory material through the entire race.

The race number must be worn on the chest or the stomach and must be permanently and fully visible throughout the entire race. So it must always be positioned over any clothing and cannot in any case been fixed onto the back or a leg. The name and logo of the sponsors must neither be modified, nor hidden.

The race number is the pass necessary to make use of the public transportation services of the Zentralbahn (railways between Lucerne and Engelberg and Lucerne and Meiringen), the Postauto Bus from Brünigpass to Reuti, the Cogwheel Train at Mt. Pilatus, the gondolas to Lungern-Schönbüel, the Gondola between Rauti and Planplaten (Alpentower) and the Gondola between Engelberg and Trübsee, and to access the transportation to and from the start and end of each leg.

A present is handed out to each runner at the time they return their race number (data chip). The race number can be kept as a souvenir and must be shown to claim the runners bag.

RUNNERS BAGS 

Every runner has the right to hand in one runners bag (The Mountainman: 2 runners bag). This bag must not exceed the Volume of 50 liters, must be well locked and must be tearproof.

With the race number every runner gets a number (same as race number) to attach to the runners bag (The Mountainman: 2 numbers).

Walking sticks are not permitted in the race bag. As the containt of the bags will not be checked, no complaints are accepted. Do not transport items of high value!

CONTROL POSTS AND REFRESHMENTS POSTS

Control posts are set up at the following locations: Trübsee, Planplatten, Brünigpass, Langis, Chilchsteine.
Refreshment post are at the control posts and on several locations along the trail (all 5-10 km).
Mobile control posts are set up in places other than the rescue and refreshment posts. Their position is not communicated by the organisation.
Only the runners carrying a visible and duly controlled race number have access to the refreshment posts.
The course guide will identify the precise list of refreshments points.

RESCUE AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

First aid posts are positioned at every refreshment post.  These posts are in radio or telephone liaison with Race Control. A medical control team is present during the entire duration of the events.

If it appears that a runner is in difficulty or seriously injured to call for assistance :
- go in person to a first aid point
- ask another runner to alert the first aiders
It is essential that each runner helps anybody in danger and alerts the first aid point.

Do not forgot, that due to the problems related to the environment and the type of event, one might have to wait for assistance for longer than anticipated. Your security, therefore, depends upon the quality of the materials that you have in your pack.
A runner calling on a doctor or a rescuer submits himself to their authority and undertakes to accept their decisions.

The first-aiders and officials doctors are especially authorised :
- to put any competitor out of the race unfit to continue the event (by invalidating the race number).
- to evacuate the runners whom they judge in danger by any means at their disposal.

In case of necessity, for reasons still going in the interest of the person rescued, it will call on official mountain rescue which will take, at that moment, the direction of operations and will be to work any suitable means, including helicopter air-lift. The resulting cost of the use of these exceptional means will be born by the rescued person who will also have to ensure his return from the point where he/she will have been evacuated. The only resort is for the runner to constitute and present a dossier to his personal insurance within the deadline given. 

If for any reason it is impossible to make contact with the course controller, you can call the rescue services (144) ort he REGA helicopter rescue (1414).

MAXIMUM AUTHORISED TIME AND HOUR BARRIERS

The maximum time for the event, for the totality of the course, is fixed at:

- The Mountainman® ULTRA: 15 hours maximum.
- The Mountainman® MARATHON : 12 hours maximum.
- The Mountainman® ULTRA 4X4: over all 15 hours maximum.
- The Mountainman® ULTRA 2X2: over all 15 hours maximum.
- The Mountainman® MARATHON 2X2: over all 12 hours maximum.

The hour limits for Starting (hour barriers) of the principle control posts will be defined and communicated in the course guide.

These hour barriers are calculated to enable participants to reach the Finish in the maximum time imposed, while make possible stops (rest, meal…) To be authorised to continue the event, the competitors must set off again from the control post before the fixed hour limit (whatever their arrival hour at the control post).

Any competitor put out of the race and wishing to continue his course can only do so after having returned his race number, at his own responsibility and in complete autonomy.

In the case of poor meteorological conditions and/or for reasons of safety, the organisation reserves the right to stop the event underway or to modify the hour barriers.

WITHDRAWAL AND REPATRIATION

Except for injury, a runner must not retire anywhere else other than at a control point. He must therefore warn the person in charge of the post, who definitively invalidates his race number. The runner keeps his invalid race number because it is still his pass for shuttles, buses, meals...

The repatriation will normaly be organised independantly. In the case of unfavourable weather conditions justifying partial or total closure of the race, the organisation ensures the repatriation as soon as possible of those runners having retired.

If you retire before a control point, going back and meeting with the closers, they invalidate your race number. The runner is then no longer be in the control of the organisation.

PENALTY - DISQUALIFICATION

Race officials present on the course, and those in charge of different control and refreshment posts are authorised to uphold regulations and to immediately impose a penalty for non-respect, based on the following chart :

BREACH OF RULES

disqualification for taking a serious shortcut           

Warning (and in case of recurrence disqualification) for not a serious shortcut but one away from any path or via a closed shortcut           

disqualification for lacking obligatory equipment
           
Warning (and in case of recurrence disqualification) for throwing away rubbish (voluntary act) by a competitor or a member of their team           

Warning (and in case of recurrence disqualification) for not respecting people (organisation or runners)           

Warning (and in case of recurrence disqualification) for not helping someone in difficulty           
disqualification for cheating (eg: using transport, sharing race number,…)           

Warning (and in case of recurrence disqualification) for not wearing the race number in the correct manner            

Warning (and in case of recurrence disqualification) for lacking an electronic chip (the lost chip has to be paid by the runner)

Depending on the Race Jury
Not passing through a control point           

Disqualification for refusal to comply with an order from race control, from a race official, from a head of post, from a doctor or from a rescue worker           

Disqualification for refusal to accept an anti-drug test           

Disqualification for leaving a control point after the hour barrier

Any other breach of the rules will be the object of a sanction decided on by the organisation comitee.

ANTI-DRUG CONTROL

Any competitor can be submitted to an anti-drug control during or at the Finish of the event.  If he/she refuses or abstains, the sportsman or woman as if found guilty of taking drugs.

COMPLAINTS

All objections must be in writing and lodged with the course director, with a caution of 100 (one hundred) swiss francs (non-returnable if the objection is not valid), within two hours of the arrival of the runner concerned.

MOUNTAINMAN MAP 1:50’000

A map with the trial, the profile, the control post, the refreshment posts and public transport can be ordered with the registration for a price of CHF 15.-. The map is based on the official map layer 1:50'000 by swisstopo.

MODIFICATIONS TO THE COURSE OR TO THE HOUR BARRIERS; CANCELLATION OF THE RACE

The organisation reserves the right to modify at any moment the course and the positioning of the rescue and refreshment posts, without warning.

In the case of too unfavourable weather conditions  (important amounts of rain and of snow on high ground, strong risk of storms) the Start can be delayed or the race can be cancelled.

In the case of poor meteorological conditions, and for reasons of safety, the organisation reserves the right to stop the event underway or to modify the hour barriers.

INSURANCE

Each competitor must be in the possession of an individual accident insurance covering possible costs for search and evacuation in Switzerland. Such an insurance can be taken out with any organisation of the competitor’s choice. The BergArena Society disclaims liability for accidents or illness of the runners before, during and after the race. If a participants does not show up or cancels his participation (within 2 weeks before the race), he/she does not have any right for refund.

RANKINGS AND REWARDS

The order of arrival in Trübsee will be considered.
No monetary prize is handed out; all the runners classed in the same race receive the same specific allocation.
For each race, a general classification man and woman and a classification for each category man and woman are established :
- the first three of each cathegory will recieve a Diploma in Trübsee, the first placed will get a trophy.

PICTURE COPYRIGHTS

Every competitor gives up expressly their claim on picture copyrights during the event, as he/she gives up any recourse contrary to the organiser and to the official sponsors for the use made of his/her image.

IMAGE RIGHTS

Every competitor gives up expressly any claim over image rights during the event, as they give up any recourse running counter to the organiser and to his sponsors authorised for the use made of his image.

The Mountainman® is a legal trademarks. Any communication about the event or use of pictures of the event must be made respecting the name of the event, the trademarks and with the official agreement of the organisation.