Thousands of trail runners descended on Salomon’s home town of Annecy in the beautiful French Alps this weekend to take on the various races of the Salomon GORE-TEX Maxi Race. Set on the shores above Lake Annecy, the weekend features races ranging from 10km all the way up to the 114 km Ultra Race.
Salomon athlete Michel Lanne turned in a fantastic performance in the 82km Maxi-Race, winning in convincing fashion in eight hours, 40 minutes and 37 seconds. Lanne, who lives in the area and works as a member of the local mountain rescue team, was more than 20 minutes ahead of the 2nd place finisher. He wore a special shirt that paid tribute to the Salomon Foundation, which supports both mountain professionals and athletes who have been injured in accidents and the families of individuals in those professions who have passed away.
Lanne was not the only one wearing the special Salomon jerseys. More than 100 Salomon employees took part in the various races over the weekend wearing this special piece of apparel, which was created at Salomon’s Annecy Design Center.
One of them was Salomon’s Product Line Manager for Trail Running Footwear, Mike Ambrose, who ran to an impressive 10th place result in the Ultra Race. He finished in 15 hours, 25 minutes and 37 seconds.
In the women’s 82 km relay, Salomon employees Romy Mey and Clemence Copie teamed up to finish 2nd. Both women work in Salomon’s apparel and gear product team.
Another Salomon employee, German sports marketing manager Silvia Felt, finished 2nd in the women’s XL Race that covered 84 km over two days.
In the 82 km relay race, Salomon Foundation runners Jonathon Thiery and Aranaud Deletraz were the winners in eight hours, 43 minutes and 6 seconds.
Special congratulations to Salomon employees Christian Merle and Stéphane Latruffe, who dedicated more than 26 hours to finish the ultra-race.
Salomon ultra-running athlete Francois D’haene had a tough weekend, suffering a sprained ankle in the ultra-race. He was forced to abandon while leading after 40km. D’haene said he was disappointed to withdraw from the race, but didn’t want to risk the entirety of his season by racing for 60 km more. He later joined runners in the race village, adding to the atmosphere of the event.
Visit this blog again soon for a full recap video showing the journey of our employees as they prepared for the race.
