ACT 3 - PLUM MOONtain RACES COURCHEVEL - Monday 9 March 2020

A successful 1st edition of the Plum MOONtain Races Courchevel: Corinne Favre and Yoann Sert win.

This new race format was held in ski mountaineering over 3 rounds every full-moon Monday, except for 10 February, which was postponed to Friday 14 February because of a storm. This 4,800 m course with 820 m of elevation gain starts from Courchevel Village and ends at the Col de la Loze at an altitude of 2,304 m. At the finish, a good soup from the cauldron prepared by Serge Burnichon, manager of the mountain restaurant “Le 1928”, and his whole team revives the competitors’ taste buds. The final was held this Monday 9 March with only 41 competitors at the start. It must be said that a particular international context and capricious weather outweighed the motivation of many runners. Snow showers and strong gusts of wind raged all day, causing a temporary interruption of the lifts on the upper part of the ski area. Yet the lulls had been forecast for the end of the day, with the return of a starry sky and above all the presence of the supermoon, located 357,122 kilometres from the earth. As if by magic, and to close this 2020 edition with a bang, the gusts stopped completely at the summit a few minutes before the start of this last climb of the season. The blanket of fog gradually cleared to reveal the first supermoon of the year, called the “worm moon”; observations have shown that earthworms begin to emerge from the thawed soil at this time of year. A sign of the warming temperatures that herald the arrival of spring.

The last round of the year goes to Yann Gudefin and Corinne Favre

In this particular context, Yann Gudefin won in 40min51s, which allowed him to enter the final top 10. He was hotly pursued by Jérémy Loret of the ESF Crest Voland (42min31s) and David Poncet (43min08s). The overall standings were not shaken up: Yoann Sert came out the big winner of this 1st edition in 36min53s ahead of Joris Perillat-Pessey second in 37min04s and Gédéon Pochat 3rd in 37min27s.

In the women’s race, a clean sweep for Corinne Favre: 3 appearances, 3 victories and the climb record in 47min21s. She completed this final race in 48min03s ahead of Mallaurie Mattana (51min53s), who came especially from Serre Chevallier. Sonia Boussoz completed the podium in 52min23s. In the overall standings, the medal-winning trio is made up of Corinne Favre, Candice Bonnel (48min28s) and Sonia Boussoz (50min18s).

The ESF challenge saw no change this Monday. Despite the victories of Pascale Gachet Mauroz (ESF Courchevel Village) in 1h06min59s and Jérémy Loret (ESF Crest Volant) in 42min31s, in the end the ESF of Valmorel and La Clusaz are in the spotlight with Candice Bonnel and Joris Perillat Pessey respectively.

This final climb had the honour of welcoming the managers of our binding partner “Plum”, Albert and Gwenael Felisaz, accompanied by part of their staff.

The winners of this season 1 will be rewarded on 18 March at the grand fancy-dress final of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel, which will be followed by an exceptional concert by Shy’m.

Curtain call for this new ski mountaineering event, which counted 165 starts with a total of 130 different participants ranked. This finish at the summit of the Col de la Loze will be on the programme again for cyclists from 10 May for the “Eiffage Col de la Loze Time Trial”, followed by 2 other dates: 12 July and 23 August.

Silva MOONtain Races Courchevel in trail running format

After a 5-year absence, the full moon will also be back this summer on Wednesdays 8 July, 5 August and 2 September for trail runners, who will be able to compete in the “Silva MOONtain Races Courchevel” starting from Courchevel Moriond up to the Grand Plan refuge (2,280 m) at the gateway to the Vanoise National Park.

Next dates:
- 13th round of the Millet Ski Touring Courchevel: Wednesday 11 March
- Millet Ski Touring Courchevel final with Shy’m: Wednesday 18 March
- Dynastar X3 Courchevel: Sunday 19 April
- Eiffage Col de la Loze Time Trial: Sunday 10 May
- Silva MOONtain Races Courchevel: Wednesday 8 July