Franco Collé

About

Franco Collé is an Italian ultrarunner born in 1978 in Gressoney-Saint-Jean at the foot of Monte Rosa in the Aosta Valley — one of the most storied high-mountain communities in the Alps and a place where the combination of altitude, terrain, and culture has produced generations of exceptional mountain athletes — who has built one of the most remarkable résumés in the history of multi-day mountain ultra racing. A civil engineer, certified ski and trail instructor, KAILAS FUGA team athlete, and race director of the Monte Rosa Walserwaeg by UTMB, Collé is the Tor des Géants' most successful competitor in the race's history: a four-time winner of the brutal 330km traversal of the Aosta Valley in 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2023, with his 2021 victory setting a new counter-clockwise course record of 66:39:16 on a course that climbs more than 24,000 metres over terrain that most runners would not dream of completing once, let alone four times. Beyond Tor des Géants, his résumé includes victories at the SwissPeaks Trail 360 in 2020 — one of the most demanding multi-day traversals of the Swiss Alps — the Adamello Ultra-Trail in 2019, the Monterosa Walser Endurance Trail 114km in 2016, The Rut 50k in 2015, and the Gran Trail Valdigne 57km in 2012. Still competitive in his mid-forties with a UTMB Index of 812, Collé is recognised as one of the defining performers at the most extreme end of mountain ultra-trail racing and a living embodiment of his home valley's mountain heritage.

Notable Wins

• — Tor des Géants 2014 (1st)
• — Tor des Géants 2018 (1st)
• — Tor des Géants 2021 (1st
• — CCW CR 66:39:16)
• — Tor des Géants 2023 (1st)
• — SwissPeaks Trail 360 2020 (1st)
• — Adamello Ultra-Trail 2019 (1st)
• — Monterosa Walser Endurance Trail 114km 2016 (1st)
• — The Rut 50k 2015 (1st)

Race History