Garriver Finally Wins the CCC

Press Release / 29.08.2021

After two years of anticipation and preparation, trail running enthusiasts from around the world were finally back to the start line of the UTMB.

After a moving tribute to the runner deceased on the TDS®, but also in the memory of Andrea Huser and Emma Rocca, two athletes who have been part of the UTMB® race in the past few years, as well as Jin Liang who was supposed to be on the start line this year, the elite athletes took off from the Place du Triangle de l’Amitié, followed by a second wave of regular runners 30 minutes later, and a third wave at 06:00PM CET.

In total, some 2,300 runners experienced the thrill of the start line in Chamonix, with Frenchmen Xavier Thévenard and François D’Haene, both triple winners, at the front, alongside American Jim Walmsley and Tim Tollefson,  The women's favourites were Courtney Dauwalter, defending champion, Ragna Debats or Audrey Tanguy and Camille Bruyas. On the program: 170km and 10,000 meters of elevation gain, which will take the peloton through 3 countries – France, Italy and Switzerland.

Thibaut Garrivier Finally Wins the CCC

Before the start of the queen race, UTMB®, the CCC® race set off at 09:00AM CET this morning from Courmayeur (ITA), with 1,900 runners ready to take on a course of 101km and 6,100 meters of elevation gain. Stian Angermund from Norway dominated the first half of the race. As an expert of the courses around the Mont-Blanc, having won the OCC in 2019 and the Marathon du Mont-Blanc this year, the Norwegian led the peloton until Champex-Lac, where the ‘race really starts’ according to the specialists.

New to this distance, Angermund lost ground  because of an injury to a hip. The Frenchman Thibaut Garrivier, 2nd in the same distance in 2019, took the lead on the ascent to la Giète and reached the summit first (66km), leading by 3 minutes. A lead from that point that he didn’t give up, to take home the victory in 10h 23. “I come today with extra motivation. I’ve been injured for almost 12 months, and you often get back stronger after an injury. I think that is my case”, explained the winner on the finish line.

Always in the top 10 since the beginning of the race, the experienced Scott Hawker from New-Zealand, 3rd on the UTMB® in  2019, approached the race patiently and climbed up the classification to sprint to the finish and finish second in 10 h47. “The were so many runners faster than me this morning at the start that I told myself not to be carried away by their speed”, enthused the man from Christchurch, who started his ‘remontada’ mid-course, to finish 14 minutes after the winner.

Frenchman Thibaut Baronian who challenged himself for the first time on such a long distance, perfectly managed this new experience, taking third place in 10h53 and in the women’s category, the Spaniard Marta Molist Codina won the race.

See All Stories On This Race