The UTMB OCC promised to be interesting, it delivered. After two fierce battles, Miao Yao (China) and Eli Hemming (United States) came on top, but both had to dig deep to secure their victory.
With so many big names at the start, it was hard to predict who would win this year’s OCC. Based on the UTMB ranking Remi Bonnet was placed first, and a lot of experts saw him as the obvious winner. Yet, Bonnet never runs a fifty kilometres race. He’s more a man for shorter distances, like the races in the Golden Trail World Series.
On the other side of the spectrum were seasoned ultra runners, who wanted to try their hand on a shorter run. Jon Albon was going to be one of them, but last year’s winner of the CCC decided not to start. His body wasn’t recovered enough after this year’s Western States.
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Biggest race of the year
That let the door wide open, for anybody brave enough to step up. Christian Allen was the first to try. The American trail runner named the OCC up front his biggest race of the year and probably of his life. He wanted to open hard, he did. He crossed the aid station at Champex-Lac first. He was in the lead at La Giete, and at Trient. But at Col de Balme the wheels came off the wagon and he passed in fifth place.
At Argentiere Allen found himself back in tenth place. After the last climb up to La Flegere, with only seven kilometres to go, he was number 39. Chamonix he never reached.
Remi Bonnet falls
Remi Bonnet was the second one to drop out. The Swiss Golden Trails Champion of last year was on the heels of Allen at Champex-Lac. At Trient he was third, just like at Col de Balme. On the downhill of that col he had a bad fall and couldn’t continue.
By that time Eli Hemming was already in the lead. After Champex-Lac the American cowboy had hit the gas and started to close in on Allen. On the climb to Col de Balme he got hold of him. With a nice gap between him and the rest of the field, victory beckoned. But the heath started to take a toll and Hemming had to pause a few times to bring his body temperature down.
Puppi paces best
Behind him Francesco Puppi and Antonio Martinez Perez were battling it out for second and third. The Spanish Asics runner was the strongest one on the climb up to Col de Balme, but Puppi still had something in his legs for the climb up to La Flegere and past him. Yet, no matter what the Italian Nike Trail runner tried, he didn’t see Hemming back until the finish line.
The American stopped the clock at 5 hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds. Puppi finished second, just like last year, in 5:14:46. Martinez Perez completed the podium. He finished in 5:17:56.
In his finish line interview Hemming admitted that he blew himself up: “I knew if I would make it over Col de Balme I had a chance. But that one was harder than I expected. Up to La Flegere I knew I had a gap of almost ten minutes. I was overheated. The walls were closing in. So I stopped for a few moments to cool down.”
Smart beats hard
The women’s race experienced almost the same scenario. In this case it was Dani Moreno (United States) who went out hard and who took the lead after half an hour. Yet, it was Miao Yao (China) who took the win.
Yao knew her strengths best. She pushed on the downhills, she pushed on the flat sections, she set back on the climbs. Those climbs gave Judith Wyder the chance to move up. The Swiss Hoka/Red Bull runner normally runs shorter races. Kullamannen’s Seventh Seal (57k) last year was her first ultra. Up front she wasn’t sure if she could handle the distance. She could.
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She just wasn’t a match for Miao Yao. At the same time, she was too strong for Sara Alonso, who was chasing her for a long time. Alonso, in turn, was no match for the acceleration of Clémentine Geoffray. The French World Trail Champion of 2023 and European Trail Champion of 2024 closed the gap on the climb to La Flegere and robbed Alonso of a podium place.
Miao Yao under 6 hours
That all happened behind the back of Miao Yao, who crossed the finish line in Chamonix after 5 hours, 54 minutes and 3 seconds; being the only woman under 6 hours. Judith Wyder missed that milestone by 5 seconds, finishing in 6:00:05.
Geoffray’s final sprint came just two late. She finished in 6:02:10. Sara Alonso (Spain) had to dig deep to hold off Caitlin Fielder (New-Zealand) for fourth: 6:05:15 versus 6:05:46.
Photo’s: UTMB
You’ll find all results of the UTMB OCC here
