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Saab Salomon Run to the Title

Rob Howard / 07.07.2007

Setting off on foot from the final bivouac site at La Clusaz at 5am on a clear morning the British Saab Salomon team knew they were best placed to win the first ever MountainX title. With a clear points lead over their rivals, and competing at their best discipline, a long mountain run, the team had victory almost in their grasp – but they were taking nothing for granted.

“We still felt it was on a knife edge,� said team captain Phil Davies. “We’ve lost races on the last day before and knew a navigational mistake could still cost us. When you take the lead you are effectively navigating for the following teams, and even if they are out of sight you don’t know where they are and are looking over your shoulder. We didn’t sleep the previous night and were running scared today!�

The run they had to complete was 40km across Les Aravis, a region of high cols and sharp ridges, with over 3000m of climbing. The British team quickly took the lead, and managed to put some distance between themselves and second placed Les Arcs Quechua, and the Espana 1 team.

“We took a short cut across the head of a valley which paid off�, said Ben Bardsley. “It was steep and rocky, but much shorter than following the path and it seems the other teams didn’t follow us.� From then on Saab Salomon kept a lead, which extended to 15 minutes and were sure footed and safe in their navigation. They won the stage in 7 hours and 4 minutes, and with only a final sprint stage to run had the race win they wanted.

Behind them Salomon Espana made the kind of navigational mistake the leaders had worried about. Moving to pass Les Arcs Quechua they got lost only a couple of kilometres from the finish and eventually arrived 16 minutes behind the French team. In doing so they lost any chance of overhauling them in the overall rankings.

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