We all love a bit of Kilian, so we’d thought we’d share this lovely video with you from the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc back in 2011. It’s fair to say that the race that year was one of the most closely contested, as well as challenging for the raft of international competitors that turned up to Chamonix to do battle against one another.
Kilian took the race out in the end, which saw a large proportion of the top American runners pull out. We’re not going to get into that debate again, but we hope you just enjoy the video and the sheer beauty of this course, which along with Western States in the US, is regarded as one of the premiere 100 mile races in the world.
Kilian also had this to say about the race, “The weather conditions were really tough. We set off with rain and snow in the highest areas, which made the first part of the race particularly tough. This context, however, brought about some remarkable moments, such as the sunrise in Col de la Seigne, the light, the moon still visible, the sun, the snow and some impressive colours. It was an incredible moment.”
Kilian also points out that it was a special race in the sense that “almost until the end, I ran together with a group of three other runners who are all close friends. It was great to share all that time with them.” He’s referring to a group formed by Iker Carrera, who finished in second position with a time of 20:45h, Miguel Heras and French Sébastien Chaigneau, who arrived third with a time of 20:55h. For the record, the podium results that year were as follows:
1. KILIAN JORNET. 20:36 h. (Team Salomon)
2. IKER CARRERA. 20:45 h. (Team Salomon)
3. SEBASTIEN CHAIGNEAU. 20:55 h. (Team North Face)
1. Elisabeth HAWKER. 25:02 h. (Team North Face)
2. Nerea MARTINEZ. 27:55:34 h. (Team Salomon)
3. Darcy AFRICA. 28:30:28 h. (Team Pearl Izumi)
