It was still pitch black as the 268 championship athletes gathered on the banks of Lake Annecy in the funnel leading to the start. The first part of the route was lit suddenly by flares just before the gun went at 03.30 in the morning and the array of headlamps were soon moving off fast into the dark along the paths around the Lake before taking off for the first summit of the day.
The first refreshment point where the team management could gather was at the Semnoz summit after 17 km of climbing and we awaited the first runners eagerly with the first glimmer of dawn. Suddenly a batch of fast moving lights came over the summit and down into the meadow area by a ski lodge where the refreshment point was situated. It was the first batch of about ten runners and these were followed by a steady stream of athletes with the first ladies coming through about fifteen minutes later as dawn was finally breaking.
| Ranking | Bib | First name, family namen | Cat, | Race time | Country | ||||
1 | Tim TOLLEFSON | M | 01:45:31 | United States | |||||
2 | Manuel MERILLAS | M | 01:45:32 | Spain | |||||
3 | Luis Alberto HERNANDO | M | 01:45:48 | Spain | |||||
4 | Xavier THEVENARD | M | 01:45:52 | France | |||||
5 | Pablo Manuel VILLA | M | 01:45:55 | Spain | |||||
5 | Sylvain COURT | M | 01:45:55 | France | |||||
7 | Sébastien SPEHLER | M | 01:46:26 | France | |||||
8 | Thorbergur Ingi JONSSON | M | 01:46:40 | Iceland | |||||
9 | Modestas BACYS | M | 01:46:46 | Lithuania | |||||
10 | Julien RANCON | M | 01:46:48 | France | |||||
Ranking | Bib | First name, family name | Cat, | Race time | Country | ||||
1 | Anne-Lise ROUSSET | W | 01:59:32 | France | |||||
2 | Caroline CHAVEROT | W | 01:59:59 | France | |||||
3 | Nathalie MAUCLAIR | W | 02:00:17 | France | |||||
4 | Maite MAYORA | W | 02:06:29 | Spain | |||||
5 | Mimi KOTKA | W | 02:07:42 | Sweden | |||||
6 | Juliette BENEDICTO | W | 02:07:43 | France | |||||
7 | Aurelia TRUEL | W | 02:09:37 | France | |||||
8 | Cassandra SCALLON | W | 02:09:50 | United States | |||||
9 | Anne-Marie MADDEN | W | 02:09:56 | Canada | |||||
10 | Uxue FRAILE | W | 02:10:20 | Spain | |||||
The leaders should be reaching the next refreshment point at Dossard at about 07.20 am. Their times can be followed on the Maxi website. We will be off to the third refreshment point at Menthon ( 70K) next.
Hilary Walker
IAU General Secretary
