Katharina Hartmuth has won the Trail 100 Andorra 2024, part of the UTMB World Series. The German Hoka runner was up front already the favourite for the victory, although she herself had doubts. Zachary Garner (United States) was an outsider, in a men’s race with big names like Ben Dhiman and Francois d’Haene. Yet the American number 19 of last year’s CCC surprised them all.
Hartmuth had Trail 100 Andorra for a long time on her bucket list, but now she was finally running it, her hopes weren’t that high. In the last couple of weeks she struggled with a cold and her season hasn’t been great up until now, with a seventh place at the Transvulcania La Palma Island 73k (4.350m+) earlier this year.
Happy Hartmuth
Yet, in Andorra all the pieces of the puzzle fell together for the number two of last year’s UTMB (behind Courtney Dauwalter). After a day in the cold and in the ferocious winds, she crossed the line in 15 hours, 28 minutes and fifty seconds. Good for 11th overall. ‘It’s a time I am very pleased with”, she wrote on her Instagram after the race. “I started the race carefully as usual, but then tried to push early on to see what was possible on this demanding course. My legs felt good and so I basically tried to run everything runnable. On the uphill this is always mentally challenging, and as the race progresses also on the flats. So it was good mental training.”
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Claudia Tremps (Spain) finished more than one hour and 40 minutes behind Hartmut as second in 17:10:26. Lucie Jamsin (France), the number 2 of the Marathon du Mont-Blanc 90k race of last year, finished third in 17:47:28.
d’Haene struggles
In the men’s race the big question was; how good is Francois d’Haene after all his injuries? The answer was good, but not good (fifth) enough. Something he admitted himself, after the race on his Instagram: “Of course, you have to be satisfied with fifth place, but what I was really hoping for was something different. I’d come here to enjoy myself and build up my confidence running on beautiful, technical terrain.”
d’Haene is still struggling with pain in his back, hip and knee, which prevents him from training as hard as he would like to. “On top of that I spent a short night on the toilet… which set the theme for the day, with lots of pit stops right from the start. So I quickly forgot all about my intentions. The day was much less pleasant physically and mentally. Sometimes, the planets just don’t want to align.”
Behind Garner, who finished in 13:17:00 Ben Dhiman (US), who won Trail 100 Andorra last year, finished as second in 13:25:36. Joaquim Lopez (Ecuador) was the third runner who stayed under 14 hours; 13:34:58. Peter van der Zon (The Netherlands) ran a strong race and also finished in front of d’Haene in 14:08:47.
All results Trail 100 Andorra 2024
