Knife to a gunfight: my TOR330 documentary is online

It is online. My sponsor BOA Technology has published the official story of my TOR des Géants 2025 on its athlete page, including a documentary of almost ten minutes on YouTube. 330 kilometres, 24,000 metres of climbing, the Aosta Valley. And between start and finish, plenty of moments that never appear in the results.

What the film is about

The TOR is a confrontation with your own limits, doubts and strategy. The team at BOA and Roast Media captured an honest journey through one of the world’s toughest ultras, including the moments that do not fit a polished success story.

As I explain in the introduction, this was not my first attempt. I first started here eleven years ago, when I was “not the runner I’m now” and was not ready for 330 kilometres. This time, I was. On paper, at least.

Preparation in numbers

BOA’s behind-the-scenes article summarises what came before the race:

• 2,800 training kilometres across different disciplines
• 180,000 metres of climbing
• 520 hours of dedicated preparation
• Podium finishes at UT Snowdonia by UTMB®, Grossglockner Ultra-Trail and Hochkönigman in the preceding season
• Second place at PTL the previous year

Those numbers gave me confidence on the start line. But the TOR does not care about your CV.

The sentence that stays with you

Anyone who asked about the race eventually heard this from me. BOA put it at the heart of the film too:

“I felt during the race that I am coming with a knife to a gunfight.”

I explain exactly what I underestimated: logistics, pacing and planning sleep. I had prepared, but I had not understood the TOR system. There is a difference.

For the full story behind that sentence, read my race report, the WNTV interview and my Running & Fitness reflection.

Strategy, discipline, pacing — and the courage to pause

The film captures how much more the TOR demands than running. Logistics, nutrition, pacing and equipment all matter, as does deciding when to push and when to survive. Every decision adds up. Every mistake has consequences.

Two hours of sleep at kilometre 200 saved my race. Forgotten earplugs almost ended it. In the moment, neither was a heroic story. Each was a very practical calculation.

Meeting your own dragon

Another line stays with me, spoken almost as a closing thought:

“TOR stands for meeting your own dragon inside.”

I met mine repeatedly: in the midday heat on day two, on a pass at 3 am, and when I realised I had brought that knife to a gunfight.

The film conveys surprisingly well, in nine minutes, what an ultra really is.

Thank you, BOA

I am especially pleased that my long-standing sponsor BOA Technology produced and shared the documentary. After the Dialed In Summit in Düsseldorf and the 25th-anniversary athlete panel, it adds another chapter to our partnership.

What I value is BOA’s willingness to show the learning moments too: a race that did not go to plan and an athlete returning from the mountains with humility. That is what makes sport honest.

Watch it yourself

The documentary is available on YouTube. Read the background story in the BOA Content Hub.

For more detail:

• A knife and a lesson in humility: tenth at the TOR — my first report after finishing
• WNTV interview: the story behind tenth place — the half-hour television conversation
• 330 km, a plate of pasta and the question of whether I am an idiot — the reflection in Running & Fitness 4/2025
• NÖN report: 24,000 metres of climbing — regional coverage

Next time, I will bring the right equipment to that gunfight.

Read about my partnership with BOA and my equipment philosophy on the partners page. For talks about mental strength and adapting strategy in extreme sport, use the contact form.