At Western States they were there for the first time; the t-shirts with Here for the women’s race. At UTMB they are here again, and they will have never been so in place, as for the UTMB CCC, because the line-up is incredible.
Toni McCann is racing. Last year the South-African trail runner won the OCC, the 50 kilometres long race at UTMB. The trails around Chamonix are also the trails where she trains. What can she do on the CCC course?
Heather Jackson is racing. The American Hoka athlete was seventh at the hundred miles race at Western States, this year. Last year she finished second at the Black Canyons ultra 100k. What can she do on the European trails?
Rosanna Buchauer
Rosanna Buchauer is racing. She won this year the Grossglockner Ultra 57k and the Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120k in Italy. What can the German Dynafit runner do on this side of the mountains?
Sylvia Nordskar is racing. The Norwegian athlete won this year Zegama, the crazy mountain marathon in Spain. The big question is, what can the Hoka athlete do when it’s the double distance? She won Kullamannen last year, but that 103k race doesn’t have the crazy altitude of the CCC. In 2022 she finished 12th at the CCC, but that was before she turned full time pro.
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These are just a couple of big names that are on the starting line. But the list goes on. What about Hau Ha Thi from Vietnam? Ekay Sullivan from the United States? Marcela Visinova (Czech Republic), Holly Page (Great Britain), Riley Brady and Emmiliese von Avis (both USA)? The list just doesn’t stop and it looks like we will have an epic battle.
RELATED: CCC: Hau Ha Thi is ready to surprise
All winners in men’s race
That doesn’t mean the men’s CCC race isn’t interesting. The UTMB guarantees big names: Petter Engdahl (Sweden), Hayden Hawks (USA), Daniel Jones (New-Zealand), Andres Reiterer (Italy), Manuel Merillas and Andreu Simon Aymerich (both Spain), Andrzej Witek (Poland) and Adam Peterman and Dakota Jones (both USA) are all there and will all be eying each other.
This list goes on as well. So let’s throw a few interesting outsiders in: Luke Grenfell-Shaw (Great-Britain) won this year an extremely challenging Hoka Val d’Aran (110k). Guangfu Meng won the Anta Hong Kong 100 and finished fourth at the Swiss canyon Trail (114k). And last but not least, Rod Farvard. The American Hoka runner finished second at Western States (100 miles) and won the Hoka Canyons Endurance Run (100k). So you might want to be there for the men’s race as well.
Archive photo: UTMB
