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MARATHON MONT BLANC 2023 RACE PREVIEW: Manuel Merillas & Daniela Oemus lead the pack.
MARATHON MONT BLANC 2023 RACE PREVIEW: Manuel Merillas & Daniela Oemus lead the pack. Coming up 25th JUNE 2023, Start 7:00 AM, 42KM, 2,540M V+ at CHAMONIX, FRANCE. After the first epic leg at Zegama, the GTWS heads to Chamonix for the Marathon du Mont-Blanc, the second race of the season.
The start gun will go off on 25th June at 7:00 am for the women and at 7:30am for the men, the live broadcast will kick off 30 minutes beforehand and we shall offer it you right here at our website via the official GTWS YouTube channel.
Marathon Mont Blanc.photo Philipp Reiter
MARATHON MONT BLANC 2023 RACE PREVIEW:
Manuel Merillas & Daniela Oemus lead the pack.
The Marathon du Mont-Blanc is one of the races that helped write the history of trail running, with its stellar course route offering breathtaking views of Mont Blanc, the amazing atmosphere that reigns in the Chamonix streets, and the fan zones with supporters enthusiastically cheering on the athletes.
It’s not surprising that this race has been part of the Golden Trail World Series from the word go. While last year the course was modified to have the start and finish smack-bang in the centre of Chamonix, this year there’s another sweet addition, a short steep climb just before the Col des Montets that will add 70 metres of vertical elevation and should spice up the mid-way point of the race!
THE FAVOURITES:
The field is very strong in both the men’s and women’s categories, with many of the runners who were at Zegama deciding to combine the two World Cup races: out of the top 25 men at Zegama, 20 of them will be on the start line in Chamonix. 17 of the top 25 women will also be there vying to stack up points for the overall rankings. Both the men’s and women’s races will have at least 8 runners from the top 10 on the start line.
Add to that the runners who prioridad the World Mountain and Trail Running a championships at Innsbruck before joining the Series and you have a shimmering start-list that promises to put on a riveting top-level show on 25th June.
The times to beat belong to the 2022 winners, as this is just the second time the new course then created is to be ran. Therefore the Men’s record stand at 03:35:20 by Jonathan Albon, while Women’s record is 04:14:49 by Sara Alonso
Daniela Oemus leads Women’s line-up
She took everyone by surprise by winning the first race of the GTWS, Zegama! Daniela Oemus (Salomon – Germany) will be wearing the yellow leader’s jersey at the Marathon du Mont-Blanc.
However, she will have to contend with Sophia Laukli (Salomon – USA) who made her mark last season winning the Stranda Fjord Trail Race and finishing 2nd in the overall ranking. Caitlin Fielder (Salomon – New Zealand) will want to improve on her 2ndplace at Zegama, she also finished 2nd at the Marathon du Mont-Blanc in 2022.
Theres Leboeuf (Leboeuf/Compressport – Switzerland) has had a great start to the season with 3rd place at Zegama and will also be in Chamonix to add some zest. Likewise, we will see Sylvia Nordskar (Hoka One One/Dælhie, Norway), Miao Yao (Salomon – China), Fabiola Conti (Italy), Ohiana Kortazar (Salomon – Spain), Mathilde Sagnes (Hoka One One, France), and Tabor Hemming (Salomon – USA).
Manuel Merillas leads Men’s line-up
It’s Manuel Merillas (Scarpa – Spain) who will have the honour of wearing the GTWS yellow leader jersey after his magnificent win at Zegama. He will have his work cut out for him on this “runnable” course to keep the other guys at bay, such as Elhousine Elazzaoui (Pini Mountain Racing – Morocco), currently just behind him in the ranks and 2ndin last year’s overall ranking, or Jonathan Albon (The North Face – UK), the Marathon du Mont-Blanc 2022 winner and 3rd at Zegama this year.
The GTWS 2022 winner, Rémi Bonnet (Salomon/Red Bull – Switzerland), will be wanting to improve ten-fold on last year’s race where he had to pull out due to stomach issues. Bart Przedwojewski (Salomon – Poland), Eli Hemming (Salomon – USA), Andrzej Witek (Asics – Poland), Anthony Felber (Sidas X Matryx – France), Daniel Osanz (Adidas Terrex, Spain) and Manuel Innerhofer (Salomon – Austria) are all names to be watched.
ZEGSMA 2023 male podium. Photo Mayayo
GTWS 2023: CALENDAR
- 14 May: Zegama-Aizkorri, Spain — 42 km / 2,736 m D+*
- 25 June: Marathon du Mont-Blanc, France — 42 km / 2,540 m D+
- 15 July: Dolomyths Run, Italy — 22 km / 1,750 m D+
- 12 August: Sierre-Zinal, Switzerland – 31 km / 2,200 m D+
- 16 September: Pikes Peak Ascent, United States — 21 km / 2,382 m D+
- 23 September: Mammoth 26K—Mammoth Trail Fest, United States — 26 km / 1,400 m D+
- From 19 to 22 October: Grand Finale, Il Golfo dell’Isola Trail Race, Italy — 23 km / 1,200 m D+ (+ prologue).
GOLDEN TRAIL WORLD SERIES 2023: GRAND FINALE AT IL GOLFO DELL’ISOLA TRAIL RACE.
In 2023, the Liguria region of Italy was chosen to host the GTWS Grand Final. The event—Il Golfo dell’Isola Trail Race—will consist of a prologue and a run of approximately 25 km with 1,200 m D+.
The women’s prologue will be on the Thursday and the men’s on the Friday, and the women’s race is on the Saturday, while the men’s is on the Sunday. All races are open to everyone and will feature both OPEN and ELITES ranking, as well as a team ranking of the best Golden Trail National Series.
TRAIL RUNNING VIDEOS:
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