Road to Dements: Skyrace® des Matheysins
Five races, five female winners, four male winners. More excitement and equality, impossible. We’re in for a heart-stopping Merrell Skyrunner® World Series, with everything to play for at the Skymasters, or so we hope and wish.
If the Andes Mountain Skyrace in Chile had us glued to our screens from the other side of the Atlantic, last Sunday had us fully immersed in the fantastic streaming prepared by Olivier Coudert and his team. The scenery, the images, the race itself were spectacular… Skyrunning in its purest form, raising the bar with each event, with new athletes joining the 2025 circuit and others solidifying their positions in the overall standings, all aiming to reach the Skymasters in Eslida and Aín and fight for the final classification.
With a challenging week weather-wise in the Isère department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with lots of snow at the highest points of the race, the course had to be modified. Strong winds and cold temperatures at altitude meant avoiding the technical ridge “L’Oreille du Loup” and the vertical climb to Le Perollier, “the Devil’s Garden”. Despite these changes, the race remained as demanding and tough as ever.
With the traditional shotgun start, the race kicked off at a blistering pace, tackling nearly 25 km with +/- 2000 metres of elevation gain, summiting the spectacular snow-covered ridges and peaks with winds exceeding 80 km/h in some spots: Perolier (2183 m), Tabor (2389 m) and Piquet de Nantes (2216 m). The final section of zigzag descents always provides spectacular overtakes, despite the usual debates about their “legality”, but they are a real spectacle.
The women’s race started with French runner Julie Roux(Salomon) leading until km 7, overtaken on the long climb by the star of the day, Lucille Germain from Nnormal, who after summiting Perolier with just over a minute’s lead, never relinquished the lead until the finish line. Behind her was Patricia Pineda, with Greta Garcia and Marta Martínez Abellan a bit further back, who overtook the Andalusian before leaving the snowy peaks. The descent solidified Lucille’s first place and Julie’s second, with Marta Martínez overtaking Greta García to complete the women’s top 5. Balearic runner Bel Calero and Ainara Alcuaz from the Euskal Selekzioa also made it into the top 10, with some favourites like Hillary Gerardi (12th), Lide Urrestarazu (15th) and Cèlia Balcells (20th) missing out on the top spots.
The men’s race was no less thrilling, with Frederic Tranchand(Merrell), fresh from his South American adventure, leading the early stages, although it was the Brit Jakob Adkin (New Balance) who summited Perolier (2183 m) first, opening a gap on the chasing pack, which included the day’s star, Italian skymo specialist Alex Oberbacher from La Sportiva, followed by top contenders Luca del Pero, Roberto de Lorenzi, Tranchand himself and Jan Torrella, the current U23 circuit champion who won the Half Marathon of the Dements in Aín last November.
The first descent was decisive in determining the winner, as Oberbacher took the lead and never looked back, neither on the remaining peaks nor on the final descent, finishing two minutes advantage at the Sant Honoré finish line. The battle for second place went to Roberto Delorenzi, with a spectacular Jan Torrella close behind, completing the podium with impressive downhill times for a 22-year-old, confirming that his move to the Salomon International team is no fluke. The top 5 was rounded out by Luca del Pero, who couldn’t secure a hat-trick of wins but remains the strongest in the circuit so far, and an impressive Frederic Tranchand, who can’t fighting for a poker of wins at the Skyrace des Matheysins, is proving to be a strong contender for the overall victory this year.
The top 10 was completed, in order, by Jakob Adkin (New Balance), Ibai Larrea (La Sportiva / Euskal Selekzioa), Daniel Antoniolli (Scarpa), and the French runners Romain Discher and Lucien Mermillon. Other notable elites included Aitor Ajuria (11th), Aitor Blanco (13th), Jules Delabelle (14th), Lorenzo Rota (16th), Dimas Pereira (18th) and Italian Roberto Beltrami (22nd).
Special mention to Jan Torrella, who took the U23 category win, once again showing his credentials to fight for the U23 Esteban Olivero trophy, followed by Lucien Mermillon (FRA).
It’s worth noting that some favourites were out of the top spots, highlighting that this is skyrunning in its essence, where weather, the toughness of the course, and the level of skyrunners worldwide are incredible.
It was a joy to enjoy high-quality streaming, considering the effort it takes for any organisation to secure the financial resources to make it happen. As they say… we “keep at it”, fingers crossed, working hard and hoping for support from private companies.
Here’s the overall standings after five races:
KAILAS PENANG SKYRACE®
Next week, we’re travelling to the Asian part of the Merrell Skyrunner® World Series, flying to Malaysia, specifically Georgetown. Kailas Penang Skyrace®, event with four distances: 5 km with +/- 523 m, 10 km with +/- 972 m, 50 km with +/- 2772 m, and the Skyrace, which despite having a maximum altitude of 850 m, accumulates 2400 m of elevation gain in just 30 km, making it a continuous up and down challenge, through exotic and demanding mountain and jungle trails, with extremely humid weather, temperatures between 24ºC and 32ºC, making hydration crucial for tackling the race successfully, a real challenge.
Additionally, Penang will surely surprise with its local flora and fauna, exotic orchids, wildlife farms, countless waterfalls, and of course, its attractive street food.
Besides a few Europeans, local runners will surely be in the spotlight. Adventurer Iris Pessey (FRA-Scott) leads the list of favourites along with Australian Simone Brick, and locals Lim Siok Har, Lee Yee Shi and Tahira Njmunisaa.
In the men’s race, watch out for Daved Simpat (MSL), Soma Otagiri (JPN), Ricardo Scarlet (ITA), Nhon Do (VIE), Yusuf Abdul Manan (MSL), Luvsansharav Natsagdorj (MGL) and Australian Blake Turner.
The Kailas Penang Skyrace® also counts towards the U23 Esteban Olivero trophy, 10km race, giving athletes like British Betty Bergstrand, American brothers Rio and Benjamin Townsend, Malaysian Daaraneshwaran Siva Kumar and Spanish Scarpa team member Marcos Villamuera a chance to compete.
