Rory Bosio Sets New UTMB Record and Xavier Thévenard Wins for France

Morgane Raylat (Edited by Rob Howard) / 01.09.2013

At 16:30 yesterday, the Place du Triangle de l'Amitié in Chamonix once again welcomed a large crowd for the start of the biggest event of the weekend, the UTMB. 2469 competitors gathered on the steps of the church of Chamonix, in exceptional weather conditions that made everyone forget the troubles of previous years.  

The competition was cut short for Sebastien Chaigneau, one of the favourites, who had to ask for assistance at les Contamines. Not well, Seb explained later he had not recovered from his success on the Hardrock 100, 5 weeks ago in the United States.

American Anton Krupicka, in his first UTMB started very quietly and made a great comeback during the night to join the provisional top 10. At Courmayeur (km 77.1), a dozen athletes were placed within 30 mins of each other. Xavier Thevenard, Miguel Angel Heras Hernandez, Julien Chorier Javier Dominguez, Anton Krupicka, Jonas Budd, Arnaud Lejeune among them.

At the Grand Col Ferret, young Xavier Thévenard took the lead. After a fantastic ascent, he reached Miguel Angel Heras Hernandez and Anton Krupicka, and continued his effort. "It was a strategy I established for the race, I would keep quiet until Courmayeur, and then try to create gaps in the difficulty terrain that followed," explained Xavier. One by one, the 25 years old cross-country skier broke his opponents to finally finish in 20:34:57.

A former winner of the CCC in 2010 at his first UTMB race Xavier Thévenard confirmed his fantastic talent by winning at his first attempt for the UTMB. Surrounded by his family he said: "I've been thinking about the UTMB since January, every morning I woke up thinking about it. It makes me dream, although at first I thought mainly about just finishing it." At 25 years old, Thévenard became the second French man to win the UTMB on its full route after Vincent Delebarre. He beat Miguel Angel Heras Hernandez (2^nd 20:54:08), and another Spanish racer, Javier Dominguez Ledo (3rd 21:17:38).

In the women’s race the American Rory Bosio upset all forecasts for the race. While Spanish racer Nuria Picas was racing ahead as expected with compatriot Emma Roca, Bosio caught them and arrived in first place in Courmayeur, and in 10th place overall.

The American, who is used to excellent results in the Western States (USA) race, even accelerated the pace at the end of the race to finish 7^th overall and finished the race in a record time of 22:37:26, the first woman to run the race in less than 23 hours.

Men

1-     Xavier Thevenard - FRA - 20:34:57

2-     Miguel Angel Heras Hernandez - ESP - 20:54:08

3-     Javier Dominguez Ledo - ESP - 21:17:38

Women

1-     Rory Bosio - USA - 22:37:26

2-     Nuria Picas Albets - ESP - 24:32:20

3-     Emma Roca Rodriguez - ESP - 24:48:14

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