A memorable edition of the Trail du Grand Ballon in the snow The 6th edition of the Trail du Grand Ballon, starting and finishing in the small ski village of Le Markstein at an altitude of 1157m, was unforgettable. The valley around La Bresse and Gérardmer was lush and green. But as we gained altitude, the snow became a little more present. From 900 metres upwards, there was snow. And around 35% of the trail was above this limit…
On Saturday, more than 850 runners set off on a 50 or 70 km ultra through the Hautes Vosges. Because of the extremely difficult snow conditions, finish times were on average more than an hour slower than usual. Over the 70km, Antoine Gondrantellier won in 7 hours 31 minutes, while Belgian Manuela Soccol was the fastest woman in 8 hours 34 minutes, coming 23rd overall. The oldest participant was Christian Goodeau (69), who crossed the finish line after 12:33. The low number of withdrawals is remarkable. Over 92% of participants managed to finish within the time limit despite the extremely difficult conditions.
With more than 2,200 runners taking part over the 6 distances, this was the first trail to be fully booked.
Key figures:
> 2200 participants / 32% women overall / 10% women over the 70 km and 64% women over the 10 km.
> A total of 4.3% withdrawals, which is very low.
> 14 different nationalities entered. The best represented were France (1314), Belgium (883), the Netherlands (152), Germany (45) and Switzerland (16).
The next edition of the Trail du Grand Ballon will take place in 2025 on 26-27 April, with registration opening on 15 October 2024.
