[Editor’s Note: This article was written by guest writer and runner, Deki Fourcin.]
At 5:15 a.m. on the final day of the 2024 Competition des Templiers, the headlamps of two,500 runners surged by way of the darkness as they started their journey by way of the guts of the Grands Causses Regional Pure Park in France’s Aveyron, for the 2024 Les Templiers, or the Grand Path des Templiers because it’s extra formally referred to as. Precisely 6 hours, 38 minutes, and 14 seconds later, Thomas Cardin (France) crossed the end line to win the boys’s race. Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) dominated the ladies’s race, ending in 7 hours, 42 minutes, and 24 seconds.
After a rocky begin to the week, when torrential rain and flooding threatened to disrupt the occasion, Sunday’s race was blessed with balmy temperatures, sunshine, and largely dry trails. The course covers 80.4 kilometers (50 miles), with 3,429 meters (11,250 ft) of elevation achieve, setting off from Millau and passing by way of the forests, canyons, and caves of the Causse Noir, the Causse Méjean, and the Larzac plateau earlier than returning to Millau once more.
The race noticed a major enhance within the prize cash awarded to the highest 10 finishers, with the primary, second, and third locations receiving €10,000, €4,000, and €3,000, respectively.
The beginning of the 2024 Grand Path des Templiers. Picture: Greg Alric
The 2023 version noticed Julie Roux from France and the U.Ok.’s Jonathan Albon on the highest step of the rostrum. With neither selecting to return to defend their titles, the door was vast open for 2 new names to be inscribed on the checklist of champions.
Les Templiers is the climax of the three-day pageant and is France’s oldest path race. It’s recognized for drawing in a star-studded lineup, and in its thirtieth yr, the 2024 version was no exception.
Within the girls’s race, followers have been anticipating a showdown between the French duo of Clémentine Geoffray and Blandine L’Hirondel, nevertheless it was Adeline Martin (France) who took the early lead, dominating the race by way of 65 kilometers (40 miles). Fielder bid her time, pouncing throughout the closing part to take the lead. She elevated her lead by way of the later levels, flying down the ultimate descent into Millau and crossing the road because the champion.
The French delegation was robust within the males’s race too, with Théo Détienne taking an early lead earlier than Thomas Cardin took the reins round midway by way of the race. Cardin, who completed fourth in 2023, was a powerful favourite, and his win marked the top of a six-year drought of French winners within the males’s race. By the race end, Cardin had completely run away with the race, ending almost 20 minutes forward of second place.
2024 Grand Path des Templiers Ladies’s Race
Adeline Martin (France) and Jennifer Lichter (U.S.) handed by way of the 8k mark collectively, adopted by Norway’s Sylvia Nordskar, France’s Blandine L’Hirondel, and New Zealand’s Caitlin Fielder. By 23k, a lead group together with Martin, L’Hirondel, and Lichter had shaped, coming by way of simply in entrance of Nordskar, Clémentine Geoffray, and Fielder.
Martin used the following 500-meter climb to the Massabiau checkpoint at 29k to her benefit, pulling away barely from L’Hirondel and Lichter. Sizzling on their heels, Geoffray and Fielder made positive that the rostrum stayed in sight.
The passage by way of Roquesaltes at 44k noticed Martin enhance her result in nearly three minutes, with Lichter and L’Hirondel holding onto second and third positions. Over the midway level of the course, however with greater than half of the elevation achieve left to climb, lower than three minutes separated positions two to seven. Nothing could possibly be taken with no consideration, and the whole lot was nonetheless at play.
Martin held on to the hole on the following descent and the climb up and over to the La Salvage checkpoint at 56k. L’Hirondel, Nordskar, Fielder, and Lichter continued their pursuit of Martin there. The group saved their positions by way of the following couple kilometers, however then after that Fielder and Nordskar moved as much as second and third, closing in constantly on Martin.
Fielder and Nordskar made their transfer on the steep descent into Massebiau at 70k, storming onto the following climb in first and second earlier than Fielder disconnected from Nordskar to take the final word lead. L’Hirondel and Geoffray have been additionally there, now battling for third place. At this level, longtime chief Martin had dropped again within the discipline by a bit.
Some 10 kilometers later on the end, Caitlin Fielder crossed the road in first, holding a slim 2.5-minute lead on the remainder of the sector. Sylvia Nordskar remained the second-place lady, additionally by a reasonably slim margin to 3rd place, Blandine L’Hirondel.
Solely 90 seconds later, Clémentine Geoffray completed fourth, and about 10 minutes handed earlier than fifth-place Jennifer Lichter subsequent crossed the road. After main the race for thus many kilometers, Adeline Martin finally took eighth.
The 2024 Grand Path des Templiers girls’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Sylvia Nordskar, 1. Caitlin Fielder, 3. Blandine L’Hirondel. Picture: Cyrille Quintard
2024 Grand Path des Templiers Ladies’s Outcomes
- Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) – 7:42:24
- Sylvia Nordskar (Norway) – 7:45:05
- Blandine L’Hirondel (France) – 7:48:13
- Clémentine Geoffray (France) – 7:49:46
- Jennifer Lichter (U.S.) – 8:00:52
- Anna Stiina Erkkilä (Finland) – 8:01:02
- Marie Goncalves (France) – 8:01:25
- Adeline Martin (France) – 8:08:28
- Marine Quintard (France) – 8:24:14
- Kim Schreiber (Germany) – 8:31:15
Caitlin Fielder, the 2024 Grand Path des Templiers girls’s champion. Picture: Cyrille Quintard
2024 Grand Path des Templiers Males’s Race
It was France’s Théo Détienne who took cost early on, passing by way of the 8k checkpoint round a minute forward of the pack. There was some buying and selling of locations within the early miles, however by 23k, Détienne was two minutes forward of Thomas Cardin and Robin Juillaguet, each of France. Simply behind, the lead peloton of 11 runners was nonetheless going robust, leaving the way in which open for anybody hoping to make a transfer.
By 29k, though the runners have been much less bunched, there wasn’t a lot change to the order, with the highest three holding agency, adopted by Aziz Yachou (Morocco) and Sébastien Spehler (France). The solar was rising over the mountain peaks as runners approached St. Andrée de Vezines at 36k, and a determined-looking Détienne got here by way of the village after two hours and 44 minutes of racing, with Yachou, Cardin, and Juillaguet in scorching pursuit, round 1.5 minutes later.
Cardin used the passage to 44k to his benefit, catching up with the chief, then taking the lead throughout the descent after that. Yachou and Juillaguet had additionally gained on Détienne, which means that with 30k to go, the highest 4 runners have been all inside a minute of one another.
The part as much as La Salvage at 56k climbs onto the Larzac plateau, that includes technical singletrack and almost 500 meters of elevation achieve over 8k. For the primary time, there was a transparent distinction between the highest three locations, with six minutes separating Cardin, Yachou, and Juillaguet. By the point Cardin arrived at Mas de Bru, with 16k to go, it appeared that his victory can be simple, having prolonged his lead over Yachou to 6 minutes.
Cardin continued to energy on in his victory quest, storming tirelessly up the ultimate climb. By the point he reached the highest, 7k from the end line, he was over 17 minutes forward of Miguel Arsénio (Portugal), who’d overtaken Yachou to maneuver into second place. Subsequent to the highest, and proper on the heels of Yachou, was Andreu Simón (Spain), and simply behind, Détienne, decided to not lose sight of the rostrum. Simón had began the race extra simply, transferring up into and thru the highest 10 because the race progressed. Right here, he’d positioned himself in podium competition.
Within the final kilometers, Simón overtook Yachou, to maneuver into third place. This finally settled the highest 5 positions for the final downhill to the ending arch, with Thomas Cardin storming over the road forward of second-place finisher Miguel Arsénio, adopted by Andreu Simón in third place.
Rounding out the highest 5 have been Aziz Yachou and early chief Théo Détienne. Sébastien Spehler finally completed effectively exterior of the highest 10.
The 2024 Grand Path des Templiers males’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Miguel Arsénio, 1. Thomas Cardin, 3. Andreu Simón. Picture: Cyrille Quintard
2024 Grand Path des Templiers Males’s Outcomes
- Thomas Cardin (France) – 6:38:14
- Miguel Arsénio (Portugal) – 6:57:34
- Andreu Simón (Spain) – 7:02:20
- Aziz Yachou (Morocco) – 7:03:14
- Théo Détienne (France) – 7:04:04
- Benoît Cori (France) – 7:08:21
- Goulwen Kerneguez (France) – 7:09:25
- Kevin Vermeulen (France) – 7:16:17
- Gautier Bonnecarrère (France) – 7:18:28
- Hugh Chatfield (U.Ok.) – 7:19:35
