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The Results

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 01.09.2010

There was a 50 hour time cut-off to be classified on the ultra and the Australien racer Carole Adam missed it by an hour. At the arrival the rankings were of little interest to her, she was pleased to have finished her very first ultra trail, so far from home. Her boyfriend had sent a care package to the race organizers with a request to give it to her should she finish or not, so she was rather stunned to receive a teddy bear sent from home and the organizers were pleased to be able to contribute to a special moment.

As always in such extreme endeavors they are special moments and each racer had their own story. At the front of the pack the mens winning podium was an international affair with Carlos Sa in first place, followed by Oscar Perez Lopez from Spain and Sebastien Buffard from France.

This was Carlos’s first ultra trail and his win had reporters doing frantic Google searches to find out more about him. They came up empty handed. Bruno Bareilles who had been leading for much of the race stopped to sleep in the cold night at the cabin of Aygues Cluses and decided to withdraw from the race at this point. Podiatrists had spent the better part of an hour working on Carlos Sa’s feet midpoint in the race and even these professionals were horrified by their condition. They did an excellent job as he went on to win the race.

Oscar Perez Lopez from Barcelona has piqued the curiosity of the running world in Europe, recently winning the 6666 Occitane. He said that he only started running three years ago, and before that quite liked to party. The GRP was also the first ultra for the young French man Sebastien Buffard.

The woman’s podium was no less impressive. Nicky Spinks from the English club the Peak Bog Fairies, came in first place, and what a first place it was. She crossed the finish line in 30:14, three hours ahead of the nearest female competitor. Her excellent time also placed her 19th in the overall ranking!

Coming in second was Geraldine Leroy from France who had taken time out last year to have a baby after racing in the 2008 edition, with an overall time of 33:29. Cecile Daquin took third place with a time of 35:12. There was also a woman racer who finished the course, at the age of 63.

The tiny town square of Vielle-Aure was overflowing on Sunday morning with limping racers and their families for the prize giving ceremony. Most racers had heard by now that the UTMB (Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc), which takes place the same weekend in the Alps, had been halted due to weather conditions and many said that this added to their satisfaction of having completed a well organized race with outstanding volunteers and a solid organization and that their months of training had not gone to waste.

Full race results are available on the GRP website: http://www.grandraidpyrenees.com

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