Press Release issued by Ultra-Trail World Tour
The 7th and 8th legs in the Ultra-Trail® World Tour took place on the same final weekend of June.
The Start of The 8th North Face®Lavaredo Ultra Trail® and 7th leg of the UTWT took place in the center of Cortina d’Ampezzo, on the 27th June at 23h00.
596 trailers set off for 119km and 5850m A+ through the Dolomites. A splendid landscape was awaiting all the runners!
The American Anton Krupicka, setting off in the leading group, very rapidly took the lead in the race pursued by Fulvio Dapit (ITA), Mike Foote (USA) and Gediminas Grinius (LTU). A few moments behind them came the Frenchmen Christophe Le Saux and Cyril Cointre. After Fulvio’s retirement, Anton increased his lead over the other competitors. In the village of Cortina, the crowd was waiting impatiently for the arrival of Anton who crossed the Line after 12 hours and 42 minutes of racing, or 16 minutes less than the previous winner, Iker Karrera (SP). Mike Foote arrived 30 minutes later and just behind Gediminas Grinius
With the women, the duel between Rory Bossio (USA) and Francesca Canepa (ITA) went on throughout the race. They engaged in a real battle! Rory crossed the Finish Line, radiantly, literally smashing the record of 90 minutes with a record time of 14h29 mn with Francesca Canepa arriving 15 minutes later, ahead of Katia Fori (ITA) by more than one hour.
Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run
On 28th June, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Squaw Valley (California) the Start of the Western State Endurance Run was given. For the 40th edition, 376 runners at the Start and 296 at the Finish. It was also the 8th leg counting for the UTWT.
Nick Clark (UK) led off, but Max King rapidly led the race. Despite his great form, he could not compete with Rob Krar (CAN) who equally broke the record of Timothy Olson (USA) and finished in the lead in 14h53 mn. Seth Swanson (USA) took second place. Dylan Bowman made an incredible comeback and finished 3rd in this race which meant so much to him.
With the Women, the runner for The North Face team, Stéphanie Howe walked away with first place. Larisa Dannis adopted a very regular pace always with a smile and climbed up to second step on the podium. Nathalie Mauclair (FRA) known for her very rapid starts alternated between lively and slower strides to finally take 3rd place.
Highly motivated by the health of ultra-endurance runners, the organizers had organized a scientific seminar with several doctors and researchers at Squaw Valley on the 24 and 25 June. http://www.wser.org/research-conference
UTWT Ranking after 8 events (*)
Men
1 Ryan Sandes (RSA) 3 races 629 points
2 Antoine Guillon (FR) 4 races 524 points
3 Brendan Davies (AUS) 4 races 492 points
(*) the ranking is made on the 3 best results of which a maximum two must be part of the “Series”
Women
Nuria Picas (SP) 3 races 625 points
Fernanda Maciel (BRA) 3 races 563 points
Francesca Canepa (ITA) 3 races 532 points
At present, the Frenchman Christophe Le Saux, 6th in the general ranking, is the only trailer to have taken part in and finished five events in the tour! A record! With the Women, it’s the Spaniard Nerea Martinez who can count 4 Starts and 4 finishes! She is at present in 4th place.
Still the French!
But the Ultra-Trail® World Tour is not only about the world’s best trailers. Several road-racing enthusiasts are also taking part in the UTWT. Among them, Freddy Thevenin, originally from La Réunion island, who after two races and a fourth place on the The North Face® Lavaredo Ultra Trail® comes 15th in the ranking! You will find him on both the UTMB® and on the Diagonale des Fous ! Another Frenchman to bet on in the Tour, is the fireman Benoit Rothan who has already finished two races and plans to display his great form at home during the UTMB®
All the UTWT results on : http://www.ultratrailworldtour.com/fr/resultats
9th leg : the UTMB®, from the 25 to the 31st August 12th edition, 168km and 9600m A+, 46h max, 10 peaks of more than 2,000m.
2,300 runners at the Start from Chamonix on Friday 29th August at 17:30
From its first running in 2003, it has been called “the race with all the superlatives”. A complete circuit of the Mont-Blanc massif, individually, non-stop passing through three countries: France, Switzerland and Italy, one which every ultra-endurance runner dreams of having finished once during their lifetime. It’s above all around the emblematic summit of Mont-Blanc, a formidable human epic bringing together the community of enthusiastic trailers in magical surroundings. The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® is in worldwide context, a unique event bringing together in a very great fervor trailers from every nation and every level, volunteers, friends, families….5 events are proposed to make the tour more or less open or half of the tour in one direction or another of Mont Blanc …L’UTMB® remains the showpiece event.
For more info: http://www.ultratrailmb.com
As on all the other legs, elite runners have been invited to be on the Starting Line. 6 athletes have been invited:
Tim Olson (US)
Neal Gorman (US)
Clarke McClymont (Aus)
Tsuyoshi Soma (Jap)
Michael Wardian (US)
Tina Lewis (US)
During this 9th leg, the Ultra-Trail® Show will host an Ultra-Trail® World Tour chalet with all the organizers of the races on the world calendar. Friendly exchanges, meetings and films resuming these events are on the program. Rendezvous at the UTWT chalet, from Tuesday 26th August at 13h00 to Friday 29th August at 13h00.