Marathon du Mont Blanc

The Marathon du Mont Blanc (Mont Blanc Marathon)[1] is an annual marathon distance (42.195 km) alpine trail running event held in Chamonix, France. The Marathon du Mont Blanc race is the titular event but the name also refers to the group of longer and shorter distance races one or more of which competitors can compete in over a three-day period starting on the last Friday in June.

Marathon du Mont Blanc
DateJune
LocationFrance Chamonix
Event typeSkyMarathon
Distance42 km / 2,730 m
Established2003
Official siteMarathon du Mont Blanc

The marathon was first run in June 2003, however the shorter distance 23 km du Mont-Blanc, which utilizes part of the same route as the marathon, has been run annually since 1979.

Overview

The 23 km du Mont-Blanc (formerly the "Cross du Mont-Blanc") was founded by Georges Costaz, the President of the Club alpin français Chamonix (CAF[2]) in 1979.[3] In 2003, on the 25th anniversary of the first running, the Marathon du Mont Blanc event was added to the race schedule. The following year the 10 km du Mont-Blanc event was added and in 2011 the KM Vertical (3.8 km) was also included. In order to meet the requirements for hosting the Skyrunning World Championships in 2014[4] the 80 km du Mont-Blanc was added to the race schedule as a test event in 2013 (90 km since 2018). The event also offers the "Mini Cross" (800 m to 3 km) for 7 to 15-year-old competitors.

The race is currently administered by Club des sports de Chamonix.[5]

Races

KM Vertical du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 3.8 km
Total Ascent: 1,000 m
Start Time: 14:00
Course cut-off: N/A
Number of entries: Unknown

10 km du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 10 km
Total Ascent: 325 m
Start Time: 13:00
Course cut-off: Unknown
Number of entries: 1,500

23 km du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 23 km
Total Ascent: 1,665 m
Start Time: 08:00
Course cut-off: 5 hours
Number of entries: 1,000

Marathon du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 42 km
Total Ascent: 2,730 m
Start Time: 07:00
Course cut-off: 9 hours
Number of entries: 2,000

90 km du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 92 km (2023)
Total Ascent: 6,330 m
Start Time: 04:00
Course cut-off: 24 hours
Number of entries: 1,000
Course Description:[6][7] Starting on the Place de l'Église in Central Chamonix the route climbs via Refuge de Bel Lachat to Le Brévent (2,525 m), the runners then descend to Plan Praz. From Plan Praz the course traverses the Aiguilles Rouges to La Flégère and via Lac des Chéserys and Col de Montets to Le Buet (1,330 m).
From Buet the trail climbs around 1,300m to the Col du Corbeau (2,602 m) and then descends via Col du Passet and Chalets de la Loriaz to Vallorcine (1,260 m).
From Vallorcine the route climbs steeply via Col des Posettes to Aiguillette des Posettes (2,201 m) before descending just as steeply via Le Tour and Argentière to Les Bois (1,083 m).
The trail then makes the last major ascent via Les Mottets and Gare du Montenvers to Signal (2,200 m) where the runners traverse to Refuge du plan de l’aiguille (also 2,200 m) before descending to the finish in Chamonix.

Duo étoilé

Distance: 21 km (2023)
Total Ascent: 1,450 m
Start Time: 19:30
Course cut-off: 6:00 hours
Course Description:[8] Starting from the center of Chamonix, the first kilometers will lead you to the Arveyron before taking the path of the crystalliers to join the Planards and the path leading to the alpine pastures of Blaitière. From there you will continue in direction of the refuge of the Plan of the Aiguille (2,207 m)[9] before descending on Chamonix by the same way as the 90 km of the Mont Blanc.

Results

The winners of the Mont Blanc Marathon have been as follows.[10]

Year Men Time Women Time
2003 Eric Lacroix 3:21:04 Evelyne Mura 4:04:43
2004 Silvio Mannino 3:44:20 Corinne Favre 4:22:02
2005 Pascal Giguet 3:34:05 Mariya Ostrovska 4:38:49
2006 Nick Sharp 3:35:45 Liliane Cleret 4:43:35
2007 Nick Sharp 3:27:26 Carole Toigo 4:31:06
2008 Jean-Yves Rey 3:52:41 Christiane Lacombe 5:16:04
2009 Christophe Assailly 4:03:23 Maud Giraud 4:54:02
2010 Nicolas Pianet 3:56:57 Maud Giraud 4:41:40
2011 Nicolas Pianet 3:56:42 Stéphanie Jiménez 4:39:36
2012 Kilian Jornet 3:38:24 Maude Mathys 4:28:17
2013 Kilian Jornet 3:30:41 Stevie Kremer 4:03:16
2014 Kilian Jornet 3:23:39 Elisa Desco 3:53:33
2015 Marc Lauenstein 3:48:35 Elisa Desco 4:35:10
2016 Cedric Fleureton 4:04:23 Ida Nilsson 4:46:18
2017 Kilian Jornet 3:45:45 Megan Kimmel 4:40:36
2018 Kilian Jornet 3:54:54 Ruth Croft 4:37:30
2019 Davide Magnini 3:47:13 Ruth Croft 4:34:44
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Stian Angermund 3:18:08 Maude Mathys 3:51:04
2022 Jonathan Albon 3:35:20 Sara Alonso 4:14:49
2023 Rémi Bonnet 3:35:04 Sophia Laukli 4:12:39

See also

References
  1. "Accueil". Montblancmarathon.net. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  2. "Club alpin Français Chamonix - CAF Chamonix !". Clubalpin-chamonix.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  4. Administrator. "2014 Skyrunning World Championships". Skyrunning.com. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  5. "Club des Sports de Chamonix Mont-Blanc - Bienvenue » Club des Sports Chamonix-Mont-Blanc". chamonixsport.com.
  6. "80 Km Du Mont-Blanc : 27 Juin 2014" (PDF). Montblancmarathon.net. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  7. "Tableau des temps de passage du 80km du Mont-blanc" (PDF). Montblancmarathon.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2015-05-19.
  8. "Duo étoilé".
  9. "Plan de l'Aiguille Refuge (2207 m), Massif du Mont-Blanc". SeeChamonix.com.
  10. Mont Blanc Marathon: Results; Mont Blanc Marathon 2019 Results.
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