ROUND 11 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 1st March 2017

11th Millet Ski Touring Courchevel: Yoann Sert takes back the 2017 record

With 3 rounds to go before the final, the race for the record is raging at the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel. For this 11th stage, on Wednesday 1st March, the day after Shrove Tuesday, the organisers from the Courchevel Sports Outdoor club had decided to prolong the carnival atmosphere by giving a colourful wig to the first 100 registrations of the evening. A little touch of colour and conviviality among the 141 participants at the start, as a prelude to the big date on Thursday 23 March for the 2017 final with more than 500 participants in fancy dress and Patrick Sébastien , who will come to close this festive evening.

But before thinking about the party, the ski mountaineering specialists have the record in mind. With the René and Raymond Milletcrystal trophy, the €8,000 of prize money, the €4,800 of shopping vouchers and the 2 “Pieps” avalanche transceivers to be won, there is no more hesitating: not a single Wednesday can be missed. The top 3 of the provisional overall standings before this new stage were well aware of it. Florent Perrier, Mathéo Jacquemoud and Yoann Sert were at the start despite heavy snowfall. At the end of the 3.2 km and 500 m of elevation gain of this time-trial-start vertical race course, the podium was completely shaken up. Yoann Sert won in 23min30s, improving by 2 seconds the record previously held by Florent Perrier (23min32s). Florent Perrier took second place of the evening in 23min41s and there was a big surprise with Swann Juillaguet , who took the third places (stage and overall) in 23min46s. Mathéo Jacquemoud finished just off the podium in 23min51s.

Among the women, Catherine Juillaguet made the difference with a time of 30min07s that propels her to second place in the overall standings behind Corinne Favre (28min33s) and ahead of Sophie Mollard (30min46s). The podium of this 11th stage was completed by Véronique Lathuraz in 32min14s and by ESF Courchevel 1850 instructor Pauline Caillet in 35min28s.

For 3 years, a French Ski Schools (ESF) challenge has been in place with the help of the 3 ESFs of Courchevel. This challenge allows instructors from all the ESFs of France to be ranked and to name the best among them at the end of the season. In this 11th round, with a 3rd place overall, Pauline Caillet lifted ESF Courchevel 1850 onto the top step of the podium, and among the male instructors it was ESF Chamrousse that stood out with Nicolas Perrier in 28min07s.

Next week, the ESF challenge will be showcased, with free registration for all ESF instructors.

This race, open to all, is a great success every Wednesday and many French and foreign holidaymakers come to try the experience. Each time, once the finish line is crossed, smiles light up with the feeling of having suffered, but in the end everyone gets caught up in the game with one idea in mind: roll on the next one!

From now on, all runners registered for the final climb on 23 March will get a free registration to choose from among the races of 1, 8 or 15 March.