Archive for category: Communiqué de presse (EN)

To follow the race live:www.lechappeebelledonne.com/live/

The start of L’Echappée Belle will be this coming Friday, August 20th, at 5:00 a.m. at Domaine de Vizille in Isère for the runners of the Intégrale race who will set off for 149kms and 11,400mD+ all the way to Aiguebelle in Savoie. They will be joined on Saturday 21st by the trail runners of the 2 other events : 84kms starting from Fond-de-France at 5:00 a.m. and 62kms from Allevard at 9:00 a.m.
New in 2021 : the White Rock Skyrace, a wild trail of 21kms and 2,000mD+ opened to 150 selected runners.
The Echappée Belle is showing full, with over 2,000 runners coming from all over the world (27 nationalities represented) who will be running through the Belledonne mountain next week-end.

The Echappée Belle: an extraordinary adventure in an exceptional landscape !

The Echappée Belle offers a complete crossing of the Belledonne mountains with more than 40 kms continuously above 2,000 m and few descents in the valley. It seduces by its beauty, fascinates by its technicality, worries by its difficulty … and attracts more and more runners from all over the world. After 8 editions, it has become one of the essential races in the trail world.

The full crossing will leave from Domaine de Vizille on August 20th, 2021 at 5 a.m. The first runners are expected in Aiguebelle on Saturday morning around 9 a.m. The other 2 races, 84kms and 62kms, will start on August 21st from Fond-de-France and Allevard, to reach Aiguebelle. The Skyrace will take place in Fond-de-France on Friday August 20th (start at 9:00 a.m.).

2021 novelties

• A start from Fond-de-France for the Traversée Nord, followed by a climb in the magnificent valley of the Grande Valloire, a trail near the 3 lakes, Blanc, Noir and Glacé, followed by a beautiful series of passes of Valloire (2,751m) and Comberousse (2,669m) before reaching the Moretan (2,503m) and the Integral race course.
• The White Rock Skyrace, 21kms and 2,000mD+, starting from Fond-de-France (Haut-Bréda). A 100% Belledonne typical technical itinerary with an agenda of: a wild course, rocks, a breathtaking view of the 7 Laux lakes and the Belledonne summits, the ascent of the White Rock (2,928m), rocks, rocks … With a beautiful race battle ahead on it’s first edition.

Exceptional elite level participation on this 9th edition with in particular 15 runners above 800 ITRA points!

 High level for this 1st edition of the Skyrace ! The world runner-up and trail France champion, Nicolas Martin will be at the start line together with the Swiss ski-mountaineering and long distance runner expert in skyrunning Egli Pascal, his compatriot Julien Ancay, the Belgian Jerome Vanderschaeghe, Lucas Dupuy from the Team TrailHero Dynafit, Paul Burette, Joris Botton, used to Echappée Belle and Benjamin David, winner of the 2015 Intégrale race. The battle should also be great on the women side with the participation of Manon Benoît, of the former elite orienteering race runner Carole Klein, of Anne-Cécile Thevenot and of Lena Bonnel, member of the French Dynafit ski-mountaineering team.

On the 149kms, lots of competition, a very homogeneous elite plateau for men and women : Edouard Laudier, winner of the 2019 Parcours des Crêtes, the Portuguese Guilherme Lourenço and David Quelhas, the winner of the 2014 Echappée Belle Intégrale Sangé Sherpa, the Canadian Jean-François Cauchon, Thibault Marquet and Mikael Pasero. 
As for women, Sandrine Béranger, 1st woman at the 2013 and 2018 Echappée Belle, comes to put her title on the line and should find competition from the Spanish Silvia Ainhoa Trigueros Garrote, Irina Malejonock and the former foil champion Claire Bannwarth.

On the 84kms, pay attention to : Arnaud Lesprillier, Emilien Schiavo and Benoît Amiot.

On the 62kms, we will in particular see again : Ludovic Collomb, Gaëlle Decorse, 1st woman on this race in 2018 and Esther Eustache.

> To learn more on the race favorites : www.lechappeebelledonne.com/favoris-2021/

An adventure to experience with family or friends !

All public and those accompanying the runners can go and watch the runners pass by at different points of the course and take part in the many activities, especially at the Pleynet, Super Collet, Pontet and Aiguebelle aid stations. Shuttles to access the sites are organized between Allevard and Super Collet, Bourget-en-Huile and Pontet (mandatory), Pinsot and Gleyzin (mandatory). Concerts, introductions to climbing and orienteering, electric mountain biking, pony rides, wooden games, children’s races … the activities are numerous, free and open to all. It is possible to eat at most of the sites and thus wait for the runners in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

> Full program : www.lechappeebelledonne.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ProgrammeEB2021.pdf

Sanitary pass mandatory at most of event sites.

Follow the race live

2 live TV events with Alpes Ishere :

• Friday August 20th from 18:30 till 20:30 from the Pleynet (halfway through the race)
• Saturday August 21^st from 18:30 till 20:30 on the finish line site in Aiguebelle

Broadcast on Facebook and on TNT canal of Télégrenoble (Canal TNT 38, Orange (30/348), Bbox (30/316), SFR (477), Free (30/903))

To follow the runners and get informed over the 3 days : www.lechappeebelledonne.com/live/

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Key figures :

• 2,139 runners for all races
• 11% foreigners / 27 nationalities (with a strong representation from Belgium : 47% from all foreigners)
• 91 French departments represented
• 600 volunteers.

The 9th edition of Echappee Belle, Ultra Crossing of Belledonne, will take place on August 2021, 20th, 21st and 22nd

In 2019, registration for Echappée Belle Intégrale was complete in 23 hours, and for the North Crossing in 7 days. We have a possibility to increase the number of places. But since we committed for a sustainable management of the race and we would like to prevent pushing on paths, to limit soil erosion, and preserve friendliness and pleasure.

Increasing prominence of Echappée Belle last years makes us think that 149km could be completed in few hours only, and the North Crossing (87km) in 2 or 3 days maximum.

This situation might create several inconveniences such as:

• Disappointment of those who did not have a chance to register;
• Registerrations on the spur of the moment without assessing how challenging the race is;
• Disappointment of people who could not register and are not able to run as their trail buddies do;
• Incomplete information provided during registration might trigger addition treatment time for our volunteers;
• International trainers who miss the opportunity to register because of jetlag.

In order to avoid pushing and to give equal opportunities to all to participate to Echappée Belle, we decided to establish the principle of selection by the draw for 149km and 87km races.

• The registration period will last 15 full days.
• Results will be available few days later.
• Registrations in a group are possible: in this case, ALL group members are chosen in the lottery, or any member of the group is chosen.
• Reasonable number of places are specifically reserved for female runners to encourage women to register and participate.
• Same for international runners.
• A defined number of 50 places are reserved at the discretion of organizers for volunteers, certain journalists, partners, etc.
• All who were not selected in the lottery will be placed on waiting list which will be used to continue registrations in case of cancellations.

This operational mode is complex, but it seems to us a better option to guarantee efficiency of the registration process by our amazing team of volunteers, as well guaranteeing quality of Echappée Belle.

This year, the insurance is included in the registration. It comprehends helicopter transportation, mountain rescue services, repatriation. For few more euros, you can have a possibility to extend insurance to one-year period and be covered during all your trainings and sport events.

3 time winner of UTMB and 4 time winner of the Diagonale des Fous, François D’Haene is a giant among the ultra-trail running world. After the Hardrock 100 in USA mid july, he’ll run the Echappée Belle, ultra crossing of Belledonne, August 23rd in Vizille, Isère.