In mountainous ultras like UTMB, or even short uphill races like VKs, many competitors these days will be using trekking poles. For those who have grown up with a background in cross-country skiing the technique may come quite naturally, but for the rest of us it can take quite a bit of practice to develop. Here’s a link to a series of videos I recently made, which go over how to get started with using poles and then work on your technique.