‘Local boy’ Sébastien Spehler (France) has given himself a debut on the 100 miles he won’t forget very easily, by winning the Ultra-Trail des Chevaliers, part of the Trail Alsace Grand Est, a UTMB World Series race. The victory in the women’s race went to Jenny Josefsson (Sweden).

Spehler didn’t only win on his debut, he also did it in style, with a new record time of 17:24:21. Behind him Florian Pierre (18:17:19) finished second. The third place was for Clément Desille (18:51:27), which meant it was an all-French podium.

Never again

Spehler felt okay for the first 120 kilometres, after that, he started to suffer. “I have been wanting to do the 100 miles for a while. Doing it here was a very good idea, because I knew roughly what to expect and I was very well supported. I needed that, because endurance is still my weak point. The last 40 kilometres were very difficult. It’s good to have done it here, even if when you’ve just arrived you say to yourself: never again …”

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Easy victory Jenny Josefsson

Jenny Josefsson won her race by more than 2,5 hours. The Swedish Salomon athlete, third at the Ultra-Trail des Chevaliers last year, finished 28th overall in a time of 24:04:30. Behind her Francesca Canepa (Italy) started out very conservatively. At the first checkpoint, Turckheim, she was 171th overall, but at Rosheim, the last checkpoint before the finish, she had moved up to place 54. In the end she finished 70th and was with her time of 26:35:00 the second female.

The Belgian athlete Isabelle Wasmes finished third in 29:10:02. Interestingly enough all three women raced in the age category 50-54. With Béatrice Gros (France) in 7th place, Antje Knobloch, 8th, and Gabi Schumacher (both Germany) in 9th place three more women in the age category 50-54 made the top 10.

See all results of the Trail Alsace Grand Est