ROUND 7 - MILLET SKI TOURING COURCHEVEL - Wednesday 7 February 2018

Round 7 of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel for Florian Sautel and Stéphanie Duc.

A season of contrasts for the Millet Ski Touring. After starts in snow, rain, wind or, like last week, a resplendent moon, fog, at times thick enough to cut with a knife, joined the party for this 7th ski mountaineering climb of 3.2 km with 500 m of elevation gain between Le Praz and Courchevel 1850. No matter: with the great fancy-dress final of 21 March approaching, enhanced this year by a concert with Emile et Images and plenty of other surprises, motivation is high. Almost all of the 107 competitors broke the time barrier. Only 6 rounds now remain on the calendar out of the original 13 for them to reach their 2018 goals. Times are getting harder and harder to improve. Indeed, it has to be said that, for competitors who are regulars at our events, the first climbs allow performances to improve significantly but, after 4 or 5 weeks of training, times stabilise and gaining even a second becomes very difficult.

As proof, Stéphanie Duc, a trail running reference with a French champion title in 2013, won this 7th instalment among the women, finishing in the same time she had set 2 weeks earlier, i.e. 32min01s. Stéphanie Pommat, on her 2nd podium in 5 appearances, took second place in 34min10s ahead of Pauline Le Roux of ESF Courchevel Village in 36min08s.

The strongman of the evening was none other than Florian Sautel of ESF Valmorel, victorious in 24min32s ahead of Jean-Christophe Bette in 25min25s and local Jean-Baptiste Curtet of the Courchevel Sports Outdoor club in a time of 26min15s.

The tricky conditions of the evening (fog and damp) did not allow the scratch rankings of each category to be improved, with the exception of Florian Sautel among the instructors, who set his benchmark time with a provisional 2nd place in the overall ESF challenge standings.

At the prize-giving, Guillaume Prin, president of the organising club “Courchevel Sports Outdoor Montagne et Escalade”, presented the “ Raymond et René Millet ” Crystal trophies, named after the founders of our partner company Millet, awards that will be given for the men’s and women’s scratch times of the 2018 season with €2,000 of prize money at the final on 21 March.

Next week, the 8th round on 14 February will coincide with Valentine’s Day. For the occasion, registrations will be free for all couples.

Next week: 2nd Grand Slam of the 2018 season.

The second ski mountaineering round of the Vertical Kilometre (KV) of the Plum KV Courchevel (PKVC) will be held on Friday 16 February. At the end of the 3 climbs offered this season (19 January, 16 February, 9 March) on this 5 km course with 1,000 m of elevation gain, approved by the French Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (FFME), the 2018 French KV records will be awarded.

In the weeks when the MSTC and the PKVC are organised, a specific ranking is drawn up for those who complete the “Grand Slam” (taking part in the 2 events in the same week).

The "2nd Grand Slam" of the season will take into account the combined times of the MSTC on Wednesday 14 February and those of the PKVC on Friday 16 February. Competitors who do both events back to back will be entitled to a 50% discount for round 2 of the Plum KV Courchevel this Friday 16 February. A good way to come and discover this race open to all. The best provisional times of the 2018 Grand Slam are held by Yoann Sert in 1h07min05s and Géraldine Bau in 1h30min08s.