ANNECY, FRANCE — All eyes were on Bagà, Catalonia last weekend for Marato Pirineu and the homecoming of Kilian Jornet to his childhood trails.
On the technical 45km route through the incredible Cadí Moixeró Natural Park a front group including Nicolas Martin, Bhim Gurung and Jornet were soon at the front dictating the pace. A pace that never waned even as the runners tackled the route's 2500 meters of ascent.
With 10km to go it was Jornet and Martin who had put a little daylight back to the chasers. From there the two pushed each other to the limits with Jornet finally taking the win in 3:44:28 – just 26 seconds ahead of the Frenchman. Amazingly, it was Kilian's second win and course record in a week – coming just 6 days after his Highland heroics at Skyline Scotland. Salomon athlete Bhim Gurung was 3rd with Tom Owens and Tofol Castanyer 8th and 9th respectively.
Jornet wore a signature S/Lab ME:sh shoe, a prototype S/Lab T-shirt, S/Lab Sense Shorts and an S/Lab Ultra vest.
Meanwhile, on the women's side, Ruth Croft won with Salomon athletes Laura Orgue and Glykeria Tziatzia 3rd.
Pablo Villa takes the Ultra Pirineu crown
In the 110km Ultra Pirineu there were crazy scenes when local favorite Pablo Villa pulled off the biggest win of his career. The Spanish Salomon athlete took victory in a time of 12:30:19 – beating a stacked field that included Cristofer Clemente (DNF), Luis Alberto (6th) and Pau Capell (10th). Villa had to dig deep to hold off a closing Dmitry Mityaev – the Kazakstan athlete finishing just over 3 minutes behind in a nail biting finale.
Villa wore the S/Lab Sense Ultra shoe, an S/Lab Sense T-shirt, S/Lab Sense Shorts and an S/Lab Ultra vest.
Elsewhere Salomon South Africa Athlete Christiaan Greyling finished 12th.
Salomon Young Gun Jan Margarit wins Nit Pirineu VK
Also at Ultra Pirineu, the Nit Pirineu night-time vertical kilometer was won by Salomon Young Gun Jan Margarit in 38:18. The young Spanish runner has had a real breakout season in 2017 and will definitely be one to watch for 2018.
