ROUND 7 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 29 January 2020

The 7th round of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel goes to Tony Portanier and Véronique Lathuraz

The snowflakes were back this Wednesday 29 January, which surely forced many participants to skip this 7th round of the MSTC. 98 ski mountaineers were not afraid of the snow, and they were right, as the weather calmed a few minutes before the first start of this time trial at 6.20 pm. What is more, the organisers from the Courchevel Sports Outdoor club had, as usual, thought of everything, sending a snow-cat up the course just before the start of the race. It should also be remembered that most of the best performances were recorded in the snow.

This 7th stage saw close finishes among both the men (the top 3 within 16 seconds) and the women (18 seconds separating the leading trio). It also smiled on the locals, with wins for Tony Portanier (Courchevel Sports Outdoor) in 24min05s and Véronique Lathuraz (Méribel Sport Montagne), an S3V employee, who finished in 32min36s. The other places on the men’s podium went to Arnaud Mazet, already second the week before, in 24min12s, ahead of Sébastien Bedu in 24min21s. Among the women, Alice Niemaz in 32min46s pipped Stéphanie Pommat (33min54s) for second place.

This climb was also an opportunity to put the spotlight on the 2020 ESF challenge by inviting the instructors of all the Écoles du Ski Français. ESF Courchevel made a clean sweep with the largest turnout of runners but, in the end, the individual victories went to ESF Courchevel Village thanks to Pauline Le Roux (38min30s) and to ESF Les Menuires with Paul Jay (26min06s).

The mid-season review is more than positive. After 7 rounds, 764 starts have been recorded for 502 ranked competitors. Figures that are rising steadily at this stage of the competition and herald a very promising and exciting second half. Even if the times recorded to date are very fast, nothing is decided. In the provisional overall standings, Rémi Bonnet is on the inside track in 21min20s ahead of Xavier Gachet (21min37s) and Gédéon Pochat (22min02s). Among the women, the trio of Axelle Gachet-Mollaret (25min45s), Jessica Pardin (27min42s) and Marianna Jagercikova (27min49s) are out in front.

In the ESF Challenge, no change among the men. Joris Perillat Pessey of ESF La Clusaz remains leader in 22min34s ahead of Alexis Sévennec of ESF Morzine (22min38s) and Thibault Anselmet of ESF Bonneval sur Arc (22min38s). Among the women instructors, Emily Harrop of ESF La Plagne Aime 2000 keeps the lead ahead of Laura Deplanche of ESF La Toussuire (28min44s) and Candice Bonnel of ESF Valmorel (29min27s).

7 competitors have done all 7 rounds!

Pascale Gachet Mauroz, Laetitia Renard, Jean-Louis Fillatre, Mickael Chapuis, Yann Popovitsch, Laurent Vially and Philippe Mottier have taken part in every round since the start of the season, with a very special mention for Pascale Gachet Mauroz, an ESF Courchevel Village instructor who has not missed a climb since 2016. In addition, Philippe Mottier, head of the Courchevel ski lift department, besides his 7 participations, won the “Trace d’Or” for the first time with an excellent time of 33min25s, under the fateful 33min30s mark on this 3.2 km course with 500 m of elevation gain.

The grand fancy-dress final is set for Wednesday 18 March, followed by an exceptional concert with Shy’m to close the season in a wild atmosphere. There are 7 rounds left to shake up the hierarchy established so far, improve individual performances or set a time. With €8,000 in prize money for the final podiums and €4,800 in vouchers for the winners of each category, the fight remains open.