ROUND 13 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 21 March 2018

Midnight demons atmosphere for the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel 2018 final with Emile et Images!

Huge success for the 2018 Millet Ski Touring Courchevel final, with 482 registered participants and 424 ranked at the finish of the 13th and last round of the season. For 8 years, the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel (MSTC) final has been eagerly awaited by all ski mountaineers, a true institution. As every year, every Wednesday from mid-December to the end of March, enthusiasts of this discipline came to strap on their touring skis, cover the 3.2 km and climb the 500 m of elevation separating Le Praz from the Croisette in Courchevel. Whether specialists, amateurs or newcomers, they rub shoulders to break records, fine-tune their training for some, or simply to enjoy themselves for most of them.

The final took place this Wednesday 21 March and, as tradition demands, costumes were out for the great delight of the spectators. Despite a difficult choice, the new jury made up of experts from our partner Deguisetoi.fr awarded the prize for best costume to Marion Allerme, all “flashy” in multicoloured sweets. With the 2018 “Deguisetoi.fr” trophy, she won a year of costumes!

Even though conviviality and good spirits took priority over the clock for the vast majority of competitors, a few athletes had nevertheless come to secure their place on the podium and even challenge the record.

Rémi Bonnet blew everything apart and Axelle Mollaret kept control with her magic wand!

Among the very many participants was Clémentine Jullien, a member of the club Courchevel Sports Outdoor, finalist of the 2017 edition of Koh Lanta (winner of the posts challenge last June) and once again a contestant in the new season of the show “Le combat des héros”, which began last Friday. At her side, Laurent Brochard, 1997 road cycling world champion, had put on a gladiator outfit. Many members of the French ski mountaineering team had made the trip, including the 2 overall leaders Xavier Gachet and Axelle Mollaret, winner of the 2018 Pierra Menta last week, but also William Bon Mardion, Gédéon Pochat, Léo Viret, Lorna Bonnel not forgetting Laura Deplanche.

After an impressive aerobatic paragliding demonstration by Eliot Nochez, 2015 aerobatic paragliding World Cup winner, above the start area at Le Praz, the famous sports journalist Nelson Monfort gave the starting signal for this final climb amid a huge multicoloured cloud formed by smoke flares and powder cannons.

First to emerge from this cloud, the Swiss Rémi Bonnet, already billed as the future Kilian jornet, takes the lead and, a big surprise, William Bon Mardion, 3rd in the provisional standings, breaks a binding after 200 m of racing, forcing him to do the whole climb on foot, skis on his backpack, in the company of Xavier Gachet, his Pierra Menta 2018 teammate (2nd in the final standings).

At the finish, a guard of honour formed by the ESF instructors of Courchevel carrying torches welcomed the runners before they went under the arch. The ski patrollers were not to be outdone. Dressed as the famous indomitable Gauls, Obelix and co. prepared their (Savoyard) magic potion in a cauldron to revive everyone.

The first to cross the final line was Rémi Bonnet of team Salomon / Red Bull. He dominated from start to finish, setting the best performance of 2018 in 22min11s, just 10 seconds off the all-time record set by Kilian Jornet in 2015. A big performance too from Gédéon Pochat, who posts his reference time of the season in 22min55s, a performance that propels him to 3rd place overall just behind Xavier Gachet (22min30s), but ahead of Léo Viret and William Bon Mardion, 4th and 5th respectively. Johan Baujard of team Plum completes the podium of the evening in 25min28s.

In the women’s race, Laura Deplanche wins this last round in 28min17s. She finishes ahead of the fairy Tinker Bell Axelle Mollaret (30min13s) and the ever-present Corinne Favre (31min17s). In the final overall standings, Axelle keeps her lead in 30min13s ahead of the Russian Ekaterina Osichkina (27min48s). By a single second, Laura Deplanche takes advantage of this last round to push Lorna Bonnel off the podium, though she is a remarkable 4th.

Although held under a festive banner, some participants tried everything to set their best time of the season. Proof of this is Rémi Bonnet, Gédéon Pochat and Laura Deplanche among the elites, but also, at their own level, Roland-Claude Durand-Terrasson, the director of the radio station R’Courchevel, who had turned himself into Superman to break the 35-minute mark. Since the habit does not make the monk, he nevertheless finishes in 36min06s, only 23 seconds behind the tandem of Xavier Gachet and William Bon Mardion. Zorro was also in the pack, without his horse. Behind the mask was Philippe Mugnier, the mayor of Courchevel, who, as every year, gets into the spirit in the company of another elected official of the resort, Laurette Pichon, dressed as a Baba Cool.

In total, 13 rounds were held this season with 1,766 starts and 944 ranked participants representing no fewer than 35 nations: a huge success on which Guillaume Prin, the president of the organising club “Courchevel Sports Outdoor montagne et escalade”, and his whole team of volunteers are congratulating themselves. To close this 8th season in style, the kings of the 1980s “Emile et Images” created a wild atmosphere. More than 2 hours of show in front of a record crowd (1,200 people at least), the L’Envolée sports hall caught fire to the rhythm of glow sticks and the biggest hits until the end of the night… In the general opinion, a very great success.

2018 overall standings:

Men:
1: Rémi Bonnet > 22min11s
2: Xavier Gachet > 22min30s
3: Gédéon Pochat > 22min55s

Women:
1: Axelle Mollaret > 25min51s
2: Ekaterina Osichkina > 27min48s
3: Laura Deplanche > 28min17s