Anne Champagne has won the Grand Raid des Pyrenees (GRP) in Vielle-Aure, France. It’s the second victory for the Canadian Salomon runner in the GranCanaria World Trail Majors, which means she’s now leading the general classification together with Courtney Dauwalter. In the men’s race the victory went to Rémi Gillie.
Champagne had to dig deep for her victory. Seventy five kilometres into the race (160k, 9.843m+) it was Juliette Archambeau (France) who was leading, with a considerable gap to Champagne. Forty kilometres later, at the Luz Saint Sauveur aid station, Archambeau’s lead was still 37 minutes and victory beckoned.
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Champagne turns it around
Yet Champagne didn’t give in, slowly she reduced the gap and by the time the trail runners entered Tournaboup aid station, it was Champagne leading by half an hour. On the downhill of Col de Lisey Archambeau started to have problems with her quadriceps. At Luz Saint Sauveur she already doubted going on, but her crew cheered her up. On the climb to Refuge de la Glère she couldn’t walk anymore and dropped out. “It was my first ultra, and I will remember that the first 110 kilometres went really well”, she wrote on her Instagram. “It was an unforgettable experience. I did my best, so no regrets. But I’m still really disappointed because I was really good with the pace and nutrition. Now I have to learn the lessons from this race and move forward to take my revenge.”
With Archambeau out, Champagne didn’t have to worry too much about the rest of the field, which was more than two hours behind her. Yet, she had one more enemy left; herself. Just like with Archambeau all the climbing and descending was taking its toll on Champagne’s body and the left side of her back started to bother her.
Medical care
With first place in the general classification in sight, she gritted her teeth and kept going. After 31 hours, 23 minutes and 35 seconds she crossed the finish line, not able to stand up straight anymore and in need of medical care.
Junyue Zheng (China) finished second, third place went to Pauline Dessioux (France).
Gillie paces best
In the men’s GRP race it was Rémi Gillie (France) who paced himself best. At the third aid station, at the base of the ski slopes of La Mongie, 31 kilometres into the race (2.500m+) Gillie was in fifth place, behind Loan Le Rohellec, Jan Gutermann (both France), Sangé Sherpa (Nepal), and David Menanteau (France).
On the descent from the Hautacam aid station (65k) to the town of Villelongue (75k) Gillie passed Sherpa and Menanteau and started to hunt down Le Rohellec and Gutermann. On the long climb from Villelongue Gillie made his move and took the lead. Gutemann could follow him, just like Sherpa, while Le Rohellec had to let go.
Dream come true
In the next 90 kilometres Gillie extended his lead. He stopped the clock at 24:39:12. “I’m very tired, I have a bit of pain everywhere but I’m delighted and I’m super surprised by the result”, he said in his finish line interview. “It’s a bit of a dream come true. In the last kilometre I thought about my family, I thought about everything we put in to do this and then here it is.”
Sixty four minutes behind Gillie Gutermann finished second. Maxime Jaouen came through in third. Sangé Sherpa just missed the podium and finished fourth.
Photos: Linka Production/Christophe Angot
All results GRP
