Trekking poles: read the rule, then rehearse the habit.

Start with the sentence on the rules page

Poles are either forbidden, allowed with conditions, or simply not mentioned. Those are different situations. A shop listing, or a photograph of someone else using them, does not answer the question for your bib.

If the page is silent, ask before you travel with them. Silence is not a yes, and it is not a ban you can assume. The answer you want is in the current rules or in a reply you can save.

One organiser says nothing, another sets conditions

The 2027 rules pages for Hundred Hills 50K and Thames Path 100 list the kit you must carry. Poles are not on those lists. That tells you they are not mandatory at those editions. It does not tell you whether a pair in your hands is welcome in a crowd at the start, or on a narrow towpath. If you plan to use them, ask.

The UTMB Mont-Blanc 2026 regulations are specific. If you choose to take poles, you carry them for the whole race. You may not start without them and collect them later. They are not allowed in the spare bags. Some parts of the course forbid them, and those parts are signed. The security page adds a practical warning: do not wear the wrist straps on descents, because a fall can stop you using your hands.

• Hundred Hills 50K 2027 rules: the mandatory list
• Thames Path 100 2027 rules: the mandatory list
• UTMB Mont-Blanc 2026 regulations: poles
• UTMB Mont-Blanc: wrist straps on descents

Rehearse planting, packing and not hitting anyone

If your race allows poles, use them on a hill you already know, in the weeks when the long run is already comfortable. The point of the session is the fiddly part: taking them out, shortening them, planting them without looking at your feet the whole time, and putting them away so they do not swing into the runner beside you.

Walk the downhill as well as the climb. The UTMB note about wrist straps is a useful rehearsal even if you are not going to Chamonix. Unclip them before the descent and see whether you still feel in control. If you only ever use poles on a gentle path in gloves you will not race in, you have not tested the habit.

Do not buy a first pair in the week of the race and expect the skill to appear at the start. New poles in tired hands are a good way to trip someone in the first kilometre.

They have to live somewhere when you are not using them

On a rule like UTMB’s, the poles stay with you even on the flat sections where you would rather strap them away. Pack the quiver (the sleeve that holds folded poles on your back) or whatever you use, with the rest of the mandatory kit already in the vest. Then run long enough to know whether the tips catch the person behind you.

If your race forbids poles in a drop bag, do not plan to hand them to a friend at halfway. That plan is a rule breach, not a weight-saving idea.

• Give the rest of the kit a place
• Crew handovers are a separate rule

Check the rule before the long run

Use this once you have the current instructions. A tick is a reminder that you looked. It is not permission from the organiser.