TOR DES GEANTS 2019: Bosatelli and Trigueros lead TDG, while Luca Papi leads Tor des Glaciers 440k

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Tor des Géants is a 357k/D+25.300m ultra trail which takes place all over the Aosta Valley, Italy, in September, with its start and the finish at Courmayeur. The  course must be completed in less than 150 hours, counting on over 43 refreshment points and among them 7 life bases, which allow full services to the runners, included a much needed place to sleep for the popular runner, while the elite get by on along three days hardly stoping for a nap at all.. The completion rate is about 60%.

 

For trail running enthusiasts the time has come to concentrate on the other two races which, together with the Tor des Glaciers, will compose the TOR’s 10th anniversary edition. On Friday 1st March at 12 o’clock, the registrations for the TOR 130 – Tot Dret and for the new TOR 30 – Passage au Malatrà will open.

 

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TOR DE GEANTS RACE REPORT UPDATE. 

Bosatelli, Trigueros and Papi largely leading. Tonight the start of TOR130 – Tot Dret

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The second night of Tor des Géants® did not change the lead of the ranking. Oliviero Bosatelli is running with almost the same times as Javi Dominguez Ledo, winner in 2017 in less than 68 hours, a record time. Keeping this pace, “Bosa” should be back in Courmayeur at around 9 in the morning tomorrow, Wednesday 11 September. The Italian entered Valtournenche life base at 10.10 a.m..
Galen Reynolds – more than one hour behind the first in Champoluc – and Romain Olivier – 45 minutes behind the Canadian – switched their positions between Niel and Gressoney. Within a 20-minute time span, but two hours later than the podium positions, the other trackers, Gianluca Galeati, Sebastien Raichon and Danilo Lantermino.
Silvia Trigueros Garrote is still on her solitary run, with 2h20 advance in Niel on Jocelyne Pauly (turning 46 today) who had 2h20 on Sonia Furtado in Balma. Almost 200 withdrawals: yesterday also top runners Giuditta Turini and Scilla Tonetti quit.

Luca Papi still ruling
At Tor des Glaciers, Luca Papi has a large advantage: the Italian is now at Albergo Ristoro Sitten, while the trackers, led by Masahiro Ono, Richard Victor and Javier Puit, are in Niel, 30 km behind. The women ranking is still led by Marina Plavan, just passed in Sassa. Twenty withdrawals for now. In this kind of race it is difficult to forecast a time of arrival, but the timetables say that the Argonauts will not be in Courmayeur before Wednesday evening.

Tonight at 21h the start of TOR130 – Tot Dret (130k/D+12.000m) Only a few hours from the start of the third race of this TOR X: at 9 p.m., tonight Tuesday 10 September, from Gressoney-Saint-Jean the start of TOR130 – Tot Dret, 130 km and 12.000 m elevation gain, whose winner will be in Courmayeur tomorrow, Wednesday 11 September, between 8 and 9 p.m. 500 runners will have to finish the race within 44 hours.

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TOR’S 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION: HISTORY

History of Tor des Géants: TDG was born as a different experince, from its start in 2010. Around 2000 volunteers are used to organize the race. Due to the alpine condition of the course with a race summit at Col Loson ovr 3.300m weather is an additional obstacle to be very much counted upon, with temperatures dropping at some points below -10ºC.  As they travel,  competitors can encounter sun, rain, wind, and even snow. Over the years, mountain conditions have greatly influenced the race.

The inaugural edition was in 2010. The 2012 edition was interrupted on the fourth night and stopped on the fifth day at En Bosses (303 km). About 70 runners completed the whole course. The 2013 edition was marked by the death of the Chinese runner, Yang Yuan. He fell and he hit his head on rocks during the first rainy night of the race. There is a monument at the site of the accident. The cairn has inscribed a poem written by Yang Yuan. The 2015 edition was interrupted on the third night due to severe weather and stopped on the fourth night, because Col Malatra got covered by ice. Only six runners completed the whole distance. In 2016 local authorities organized a competing race 4K VK alleging concerns for runner’s safety and the costs. That race started and ended in Cogne and went clockwise (unlike Tor) but had no continuity ever since. From Tor 2017 onwards, where the current record of 67h52m was set by spaniard Javier Dominguez Ledo, the organizers have introduced a geolocation service via GPS system which displays full data in real time for each athlete.

 

 

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TOR DES GEANTS PHOTOGALLERY BY THE ORG. 

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MORE ON SKIMO, TRAIL RUNNING AND MOUNTAIN GEAR

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Info by Abel de Frutos for Trailrunningspain