It's Friday morning and I'm here in Chamonix for the Hoka UTMB 2024. There's already been plenty of action going into the weekend, and the big news so far comes from yesterday's 55 km race from Orsières to Chamonix, known as the OCC.
The race got underway at 8:15 a.m. and China's Miao Yao went for an early lead less than an hour later. She was soon caught up by American runner Tabor Hemming and Judith Wyder of Switzerland, but surged again heading into the course's high point and maintained her lead until the end, making history as the first-ever Chinese woman to win the OCC.
With a finish time of 5:54:03, Yao came in six minutes ahead of Wyder in second, with French runner Clémentine Geoffray rounding out the podium. Hemming DNFd about 10 km from the finish line.
Over in the men's race, Christian Allen of the US made a strong start ahead of the pack. Meanwhile, American runner Eli Hemming teamed up with Switzerland's Remi Bonnet to chase him down and on the second big climb managed to drop Bonnet and pass Allen who eventually wilted and withdrew towards the 50th kilometer. Hemming kept his lead and became the first American to win the OCC, three minutes ahead of Italy's Francesco Puppi with Francisco Martinez of Spain taking third. Bonnet DNFd after a nasty fall.
This morning, the sun is shining and the temperatures are set to rise to the low 80s here in town, posing a challenge for the runners in the 100 km CCC race which left Courmayeur just over an hour ago. The men's race leaders are currently making their way down from the first climb about 14 km into the course with Sweden's Petter Engdahl and Greece's Peter Frano taking the lead. The women's leaders are just reaching the top of the first climb with Heather Jackson (US), Rosanna Buchauer (Germany), Toni McCann (South Africa) forming a three-pack off the front.
The main event – 106-miles around Mont Blanc – kicks off at 6 p.m. tonight with and there's no rain forecast until Saturday afternoon so the elite runners should be able to keep their waterproof jackets in their bags. I'll be following the elite runners overnight through three different countries and reporting live on their progress. Find out who's starting and who's hoping for a podium spot and follow along here at Advnture with our live coverage.
