Act 2 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Thursday 25 December 2014

The Christmas Millet Ski Touring Courchevel for Mathéo Jacquemoud and Manon Gaydon.

This Thursday 25 December, 93 competitors came to work off the Christmas Eve excesses by taking part in this 2nd stage of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel (MSTC). As the snow cover did not allow the race to be held on the official course, the president of the organising association "Courchevel Sports Alpinisme", Guillaume Prin, and his whole team of volunteers had to offer the fallback course again. This Vertical Race of 2.4 km and 500 m of elevation gain, starting from Courchevel 1850 and finishing at the top of the Loze, allowed skiers to come and scout the finish of the "Plum KV Courchevel" Vertical Kilometre, to be run on Friday 2 January 2015.

For this second stage, Mathéo Jacquemoud and Manon Gaydon found themselves once again on the top step of the podium, each improving their time. This time, Mathéo of the Club Courchevel Sports Alpinisme went under the 20-minute barrier with a superb time of 19min49s ahead of Yoann Sert (20min32s) and Florent Perrier of the Club Multisports d’Arêches Beaufort (21min12s).

With a time of 27min52s, Manon Gaydon left her pursuers Adèle Millot of the Club des Sports de Tignes (29min07s) and Elisa Gayet of the Pyrénées Catalanes (29min35s) well behind.

In the ESF challenge, it was the Le Grand Bornand ESF instructor Charlotte Le Roux who won in 30min03s, and among the men instructors, ESF Peisey Nancroix came out victorious thanks to Gary Ozeray, who won in 22min43s.

During this Christmas event, a few participants had come dressed as Father and Mother Christmas, and one of them even as a Christmas Tree!

The mayor of Courchevel, Philippe Mugnier, a fervent fan of these ski touring climbs, was there for his first participation of the season, finishing in 46min59s. The chairman of the management board of the Société des 3 Vallées, Pascal De Thiersant, in the middle of preparing for the 2015 Pierra Menta, finished in 32min23s.

The snowfall forecast for this weekend should allow the third stage of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel to be held on the official course of 3.2 km and 500 m elevation gain starting from Le Praz on Thursday 1 January. And to start this new year with new sporting resolutions, the fans and specialists of the 500 m elevation gain Vertical Races offered in the MSTC will be able to come and try 1,000 m of elevation gain in the Vertical Kilometre (VK) of the "Plum KV Courchevel" on Friday 2 January, on a new course approved for French VK ski mountaineering records. At the Plum KV Courchevel on 2 January, the official inauguration of this new permanent ski touring course will be carried out by Philippe Mugnier, mayor of Courchevel, and at the end of the race a small buffet will be offered by the municipality to all participants.