By Elsa Trujillo
Last weekend, in Annecy, 772 runners participated in the new distance category of the Salomon Gore-Tex MaXi-Race France, running 110km with an accumulated elevation of 7000m on a very hot day. For the standard distance of 83km (5200m of positive elevation), now in its seventh edition, 1367 ultra runners crammed the starting line in the early hours of the morning.
Ultra-Race
François D’haene (FRA) led the race from 45th km and set the first time of under 13 hours, crossing the line at 12:55:00. He was followed by Max King (USA) in 13:34:49 and Cédric Célarier (FRA) in 15:08:59.
“I’ve been dehydrated since the col de La Forclaz and I tried to slow down. I hit a wall at km 20, it’s very hard and it’s really important to get the crowd’s support. You’re never confident at the start of a race, even if you’re up front and today 110km was more than enough, I’m happy with this start to the season,” said Dhaene.
The first woman to cross the finish line was Caroline Chaverot, having been in 4th and 5th place in the overall classification most of the way. She finished in 15:08:59.
MaXi-Race
The classic distance ultra was won by Sébastien Spehler (FRA) in 08:47:47 followed very closely by Michel Lanne (08:56:44) and Aurélien Patoz (09:18:19) both also French ultra runners. The first woman to cross the line was Perinne Tramoni in 10:50:19.
