Marathon du Mont Blanc


The Marathon du Mont Blanc is an annual marathon distance alpine trail running event held in Chamonix, France. The Marathon du Mont Blanc race is the titular event but the name also refers to the group of longer and shorter distance races one or more of which competitors can compete in over a three-day period starting on the last Friday in June.
The marathon was first run in June 2003, however the shorter distance 23km du Mont-Blanc, which utilizes part of the same route as the marathon, has been run annually since 1979.

Overview

The 23km du Mont-Blanc was founded by Georges Costaz, the President of the Club alpin français Chamonix in 1979. In 2003, on the 25th anniversary of the first running, the Marathon du Mont Blanc event was added to the race schedule. The following year the 10 km du Mont-Blanc event was added and in 2011 the KM Vertical was also included. In order to meet the requirements for hosting the Skyrunning World Championships in 2014 the 80 km du Mont-Blanc was added to the race schedule as a test event in 2013. The event also offers the "Mini Cross" for 7 to 15-year-old competitors.
The race is currently administered by Club des sports de Chamonix

Races

KM Vertical du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 3.8 km

Total Ascent: 1,000m

Start Time: 14:00

Course cut-off: N/A

Number of entries: Unknown

10km du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 10 km

Total Ascent: 325m

Start Time: 13:00

Course cut-off: Unknown

Number of entries: 1,500

23km du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 23 km

Total Ascent: 1,665m

Start Time: 08:00

Course cut-off: 5 hours

Number of entries: 1,000

Marathon du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 42 km

Total Ascent: 2,730m

Start Time: 07:00

Course cut-off: 9 hours

Number of entries: 2,000

80km du Mont-Blanc

Distance: 83.7 km

Total Ascent: 6,026m

Start Time: 04:00

Course cut-off: 24 hours

Number of entries: 1,000

Course Description: Starting on the Place de l'Église in Central Chamonix the route climbs via Refuge de Bel Lachat to Le Brévent, the runners then descend to Plan Praz. From Plan Praz the course traverses the Aiguilles Rouges to La Flégère and via Lac des Chéserys and Col de Montets to Le Buet.

From Buet the trail climbs around 1,300m to the Col du Corbeau and then descends via Col du Passet and Chalets de la Loriaz to Vallorcine.

From Vallorcine the route climbs steeply via Col des Posettes to Aiguillette des Posettes before descending just as steeply via Le Tour and Argentière to Les Bois.

The trail then makes the last major ascent via Les Mottets and Gare du Montenvers to Signal where the runners traverse to Refuge du plan de l’aiguille before descending to the finish in Chamonix.

Duo étoilé

Distance: 17 km

Total Ascent: 1,315m

Start Time: 21:00

Course cut-off: 4:30 hours

Course Description: Starting from the center of Chamonix, the first kilometers will lead you to the Arveyron before taking the path of the crystalliers to join the Planards and the path leading to the alpine pastures of Blaitière. From there you will continue in direction of the refuge of the Plan of the Aiguille before descending on Chamonix by the same way as the 80km of the Mont Blanc.

Results

The winners of the Mont Blanc Marathon have been as follows.
YearMenTimeWomenTime
2003Eric Lacroix3:21:04Evelyne Mura4:04:43
2004Silvio Mannino3:44:20Corinne Favre4:22:02
2005Pascal Giguet3:34:05Mariya Ostrovska4:38:49
2006Nick Sharp3:35:45Liliane Cleret4:43:35
2007Nick Sharp3:27:26Carole Toigo4:31:06
2008Jean-Yves Rey3:52:41Christiane Lacombe5:16:04
2009Christophe Assailly4:03:23Maud Giraud4:54:02
2010Nicolas Pianet3:56:57Maud Giraud4:41:40
2011Nicolas Pianet3:56:42Stéphanie Jiménez4:39:36
2012Kilian Jornet3:38:24Maude Mathys4:28:17
2013Kilian Jornet3:30:41Stevie Kremer4:03:16
2014Kilian Jornet3:23:39Elisa Desco3:53:33
2015Marc Lauenstein3:48:35Elisa Desco4:35:10
2016Cedric Fleureton4:04:23Ida Nilsson4:46:18
2017Kilian Jornet3:45:45Megan Kimmel4:40:36
2018Kilian Jornet3:54:54Ruth Croft4:37:30
2019Davide Magnini3:47:13Ruth Croft4:34:44