Well as I said, this weekend would be a reality check...........
Defending world champion Patrick Blanc, current European champion Florent Perrier and espoir world champion Nicolas Bonnet all were on the start line, along with a string of other top French racers for the French Vertical Championships on Saturday.
The course was going to be 1000m of climbing, but was reduced to 750m vertical (thankfully!). It was all on a groomed run and most of the course was pretty steep, with a few flat sections.
Now I would like to not count the 7 or 8 espoirs (21-23yrs old) that finished in front of me and say that I was 14th, but I think saying I placed 22nd is a much fairer representation of my placing. The winner, Florent Perrier finished in 24mins and I was 4min59sec behind, about 29mins. Well the placing was not what I had hoped for, I am really happy with my time! Sorry, no photos........
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3 comments:
Hi Grant, I just checked your blog today; had no idea you were racing in Europe. Very enjoyable to read. keep up the posts.
It looks like your ascent rate for the vert race was about 85 feet per min., which is about what Patrick Blanc did when he won World's in '06. Different course and all, but damn, your time was impressive. nice work!
Hey Scott, stoked you found the site! Thanks, I am pretty happy with my time. It was pretty steep, so I think that makes the times faster?
Nice job winning the teams race! How was the Sunlight race???
Am I going to see you here at the end of February?
Thanks Grant, the teams race was a lot of fun. my partner, Brandon, is super strong and even broke trail for 2000'.
Sunlight was awesome! The course suited me well and it looks like I will see you in Feb. I managed fifth place, three minutes back from 1st (Ethan). The level of racing was really intense. At the second transition, there must have been 8-10 racers there with the lead group.
I've never seen so many race suits at the start line. Even saw quite a few Trab World Cup skis and a couple of Dynafit Lo Tech's!
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