2020 French Ski Mountaineering Championships: Gachet double in Courchevel
Axelle Gachet Mollaret and Xavier Gachet, 2020 French individual race champions
Axelle Gachet Mollaret and Xavier Gachet, 2020 French individual race champions
Axelle Gachet Mollaret (Arêches Beaufort multi-sport club) and Xavier Gachet (Arêches Beaufort multi-sport club) have won the French individual race Championship once again, which has just ended this Saturday 18 January 2020 in the resort of Courchevel.
Having hosted the French Ski Mountaineering Championships in 2012 (vertical race) and in 2013 (vertical race and sprint events) as well as a World Cup in 2014, the Courchevel Sports Outdoor club hosted the French individual race Championship this Saturday 18 January. More than 300 skiers gathered for this national event.
Xavier Gachet wins the men’s race
The roughly 1,800 m of elevation gain on the men’s course of this French Championship were covered in barely 1h30. In the lead was Xavier Gachet, who kept his title at the end of a race he led from start to finish.
“The first climb was hard to gauge, as usual; everyone sets off flat out and you still have to manage to find your rhythm,” confides the French champion. Samuel Equy (Team Isère montagne) was just behind me at the top of the first climb.” But the French champion soon pulled away.
First 6 men (L to R): Alexis Sevennec (4th), William Bon Mardion (2nd), Xavier Gachet (1st),
Samuel Equy (3rd), Valentin Favre (5th), Thibault Anselmet (6th) and Arthur Blanc (7th)
“It was important for me to make an effort to open up the gap on my competitors in the second climb so as to be safe afterwards in the more technical sections and even the descents, where you had to stay alert with the hard snow underneath,” continues Xavier Gachet.
Big descents did indeed punctuate this particularly complete course. While Xavier Gachet won, the young Samuel Equy gave up second place to William Bon Mardion (Arêches Beaufort multi-sport club), very much at ease on the descents.
Axelle Gachet Mollaret remains unbeaten
Among the women, unsurprisingly, Axelle Gachet Mollaret won again, with a comfortable lead over Lorna Bonnel (La Jarrienne des cimes Maurienne), the second woman across the finish line. Finally, the young Laura Deplanche (La Jarrienne des cimes Maurienne) took bronze on this French Championship podium. She finished fifth in the race behind Marianna Jagercikova (CAF Gap) and Sierra Anderson (CAF Gap), respectively a Slovak and an American, who could not lay claim to the national title or podium.
“It was a bit difficult for me today,” confides the young woman nonetheless. “I had mixed sensations, as if I hadn’t recovered from last night’s race, the Chrono des Champions, which was also organised in Courchevel. And yet the course was truly magnificent and the weather was on our side. I’m nevertheless delighted to win this new French Championship!”
First 5 women (L to R): Marianna Jagercikova (3rd), Lorna Bonnel (2nd),
Axelle Gachet Mollaret (1st), Sierra Anderson (4th) and Laura Deplanche (5th)
Author: FFME