Act 4 - DYNAFIT MOONtain RACES COURCHEVEL - 9 September 2014

Yoann Sert and Corail Bugnard take the records of the Dynafit MOONtain Races Courchevel 2014.

The “Super Moon” was forecast this Tuesday 9 September for the final of the Dynafit MOONtain Races Courchevel 2014 (DMRC), but the 60 trail runners entered in this night trail did not get the chance to see it because of still capricious weather. The organisers of the association “Courchevel Sports Alpinisme” had no luck with the weather this summer on the 4 dates offered. They even had to cancel the 8 July climb because of heavy snowfall at the Grand Plan refuge, where the finish is located at an altitude of 2,300 m. Faced with this succession of disturbances throughout the summer season, Guillaume Prin, president of the association “Courchevel Sports Alpinisme”, and his whole team of volunteers had to adapt to welcome the participants in good conditions. At the finish of this last climb of the season, 9.3 km (100 m of descent and 800 m of elevation gain), under raindrops and fog, tents, wood fires, patio heaters, music, mountain refreshments and of course the soup from the cauldron prepared by Emily Roux awaited the runners. To celebrate this last climb, some participants came in fancy dress and Guillaume Prin played the transverse flute, accompanied by the sound of the bells of the cows enjoying the show around the refuge.

Weather conditions that did not, however, displease Yoann Sert, who won easily ahead of Clovis Dalban Moreynas, setting the new official record of this DMRC season with a time of 49min48s. Clovis Dalban Moreynas of the Adidas team finished second in 51min37s ahead of Frédéric Thérisod in 52min20s.

The 2011 trail running world champion, Maud Gobert of the Adidas team, was eagerly awaited for the record, but in the end it was Corail Bugnard of the Tecnica team who was the best of the evening in 1h05min26s, and of the season having taken the women’s record on the 10 June climb in 1h00min42s. Julie Soyer took second place in 1h06min17s, leaving Maud Gobert on the last step of the podium in 1h07min02s.

For taking these 2014 records, Yoann Sert and Corail Bugnard were rewarded with prize money of €500 and won the “Lionel Blanc” trophy presented by the resort’s elected representatives present at the finish, Laurette Coste, Béatrice Chevallier and Lionel Blanc.

In the ESF challenge, Maud Gobert (1h07min02s) of the ESF Valloire and Nicolas Perrier of the ESF Chamrousse (52min21s) set the best times of the season.

Region Series Alpes 2014

The 4 DMRC events are part of the Skyrunning circuit "Region Series Alpes 2014". For the standings, points were awarded to each runner after each event and added together to award the title of champion in the “Region Series Alpes 2014”. Bonuses were given for the final event and all athletes who finished at least 1 event out of the 3 offered were ranked.

In the end, Charly Allerme of the club Courchevel Sports Alpinisme took the title with 180 points ahead of Clovis Dalban Moreynas (149 points) and Nicolas Perrier (144 points). In the women’s race, Corail Burgnard became Region Series Alpes 2014 champion with 155 points ahead of Julie Soyer (85 points) and Maud Gobert (81 points).

Courchevel Vertical Challenge 2014

To be ranked in the Courchevel Vertical Challenge 2014 (CVC), you had to take part at least once in each of the 3 events held in Courchevel. To do so, you had to put on your touring skis for the Dynafit Ski Touring Courchevel (DSTC) held every Wednesday of the winter from 10 December to 26 March 2014, get on your bike for the Cyclo’Courch (every Wednesday from 2 July to 6 August and on Sunday 17 August 2014) and lace up your trainers for the Dynafit MOONtain Races Courchevel (DMRC) (every Tuesday evening of the full moon from 10 June to 9 September 2014).

The best times in each discipline were taken into account for the CVC 2014 standings, and Yoann Sert produced the best performance of 2014 in 2h02min48s, after setting a time of 23min14s in the DSTC, 49min45s in the Cyclo’Courch and 49min48s in the DMRC. In the women’s race, Stéphanie Duc dominated in 2h38min32s with a time of 32min43s in the DSTC, 1h03min32s in the Cyclo’Courch and 1h02min16s in the DMRC.