D'Haene Holds Off Spanish Challenge at UTMB

News Release / 03.09.2014

7 500 runners set out for the adventure of one of the 2014 The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® races. The weather conditions were such that each event took place along the anticipated routes. Most of the runners were able to achieve their dream: to be a Finisher. (73%  finishers for the CCC®, 40% for the UTMB® at 12h00, 68% for the TDS® and 92% for the OCC).

Yesterday afternoon, the French François D'Haene achieved a second victory for the UTMB®, after his first in 2012. In 20hrs 11mins, he realised a new record time for the event, approaching the symbolic twenty hour bar for the race. He explained that he had experienced a very testing and nervous trip, setting a wild rhythm from the beginning of the race to discourage his adversaries. But three Spaniards accompanied him: Tofol Castaner, Luis Hernando and Iker Karrera. The Iberians tried, each taking their turn, to shake the rangy 28 year old French runner but progress was complicated by the cloudbursts which poured on to the paths. In the early hours, again dry and reassuring, François D'Haene's effort was going to be productive : “If I wanted to make a difference, it was at  la Fouly (108 km) or  Champex (122 km) where it was necessary to try something. Because after then the route was complicated for making a difference.”

It was a strategy which paid off, finally at La Fouly where he pulled away from the pack. His opponents give in and the victory was set for the vine grower who settled in Beaujolais three years ago. Iker Karrera, apparently with stronger legs than Tofol Castaner, is not going to break the holy alliance with his fellow countryman, and waited for him at the top of Flégère to cross the finishing line hand in hand and finish as equals.

For the girls, the American Rory Bosio, defended the title, maintaining her crown in 23hrs 23mins effort. “On the first part of the route I was tense. In the rain, I didn't feel good. I was very stressed in the muddy sections, I was afraid of falling, slipping." That is why without doubt why Rory was prudent at the beginning of the race sticking behind her two principal adversaries, Nuria Picas (ESP) and Nathalie Mauclair (FR). But then nobody was going to see her again, she was even going to flirt with the top 10.

She slowed at the end of the race to finish 14th scratch. Once again, Nuria Picas took the role of the first dauphine. Winner of 3 Ultras this year (The North Face® TransGranCanaria, Ultra-Trail® Mt Fuji and The North Face® 100 Australia), she is the leader of the Ultra-Trail® World Tour, but the Catalan did not succeed in conquering the top step of the podium of the UTMB®, taking second place for the second year in succession.

On the third step of the podium, the radiant Nathalie Mauclair, continues to enrich her list of prizes after only 5 seasons of running. "Initially, I was fixed on the TDS®. But I wanted to set a new challenge to boost the end of my season, with the UTMB®. If it had been predicted five years ago that I would be on the podium, I wouldn't have believed it. I am delighted with this position, and I experienced a super adventure!"

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