How Ruth Croft won her 2nd Mont Blanc Marathon
The Black and Yellow scored high in the several races of the Mont Blanc Marathon weekend in Chamonix (FR).
For the second year in a row, New Zealand athlete Ruth Croft executed the perfect race to take the win in a race that had the deepest field so far this year, according to the ITRA points of the top 10 female athletes on the starting line. Here is how things unfolded with her:
“Hot as a pistol, temperatures definitely meant that staying hydrated and cool was going to be important. Also, coming off Trail World Champs I wanted to race more aggressively and make sure I kept contact with the leaders.
With this in mind, I planned to execute a similar race strategy as last year. I sat just off the leaders and got through to Le Tour aid station at 28km in one piece, which I believe is where the race really starts.
At that point I was sitting in 4th but I passed Azara (ESP), and Eli (NOR) going through the aid station. The hunt was then on for the leader Silvia (IT) who I was told had a 2-3 minute gap.
From Le Tour up to La Flégère we still have a long climb and the heat of the day was starting to kick in. Luckily my climbing legs had come out to play, which felt like their first appearance all season. I was able to get into a good rhythm and passed Silvia with about 7km to go. Then there was no looking back until I crossed the line in 4h34’ in first.
I was stoked to be able to follow up last year’s result, but it could not have been done without the awesome group of people that crewed our team all over the course yesterday.
I now have a three-week break before my next race. Short and fast... the Dolomite Skyrace.”
More results from the SCOTT Running Team
Ruth Croft was far from being the only one to shine this weekend.
Elisabeth Borgesen from Sweden kicked off the weekend taking a very strong 6th place in the 90km, starting at 4am on Friday morning (28.06.2019). This is a very promising result for the athlete who will return to Chamonix at the end of August to compete in the TDS.
On Friday evening, took place the VK, where Iris Pessey from France stormed out to take a most excellent 2nd place, after winning the Monte Rosa double VK the week end before, and taking silver at the VK French national champs two weeks prior.
On Saturday, Iris Pessey laced up her shoes one more time to race the 10k resulting in another second place for the weekend. Heloise Feraud was also racing and won the youth category, placing 6th overall.
Last but not least, Adrien Michaud and Arnaud Bonin ranked respectively 12th and 15th which are both excellent results for the two French runners, backing up their 1st and 3rd place at the Maxi race Marathon a few weeks back.