Athletes of this 17th edition
September 7th was a long-awaited day for the mushers’ community. Indeed, this day marked the official opening of registrations for the 2021 edition of La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc. The previous one had shown the strong interest of the mushers for the race, since all the bibs had been filled in a few hours. Also, everyone was expecting a similar show of interest this year.
Nevertheless, the craze has exceeded all expectations this year. Indeed, in barely 10 minutes, the 65 available bibs (25 on La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc and 10 on each of the 4 trophies) had found takers. And on La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc, no less than 14 mushers were placed on the waiting list.
The rush for entries was such that some of the big names in the sport of sledding were unable to secure their ticket. In order to guarantee the highest level of competition, the race management decided to offer 3 wild cards to the first 3 top mushers on the waiting list, thus bringing the total number of mushers to 28 in an exceptional way.
It is with a deep enthusiasm, that the organizing team unveils the official list of mushers who will take part in this new edition which promises to reach an high level!
This year, 68 mushers will take the start among 5 races available:
• La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc, the main race, from the 9th to the 20th January,
• the Trophy 1 from the 10th to the 12th January,
• the Trophy 2 from the 13th to the 14th January,
• the Trophy Eukanuba from the 16th to the 17th January,
• the Trophy 4 from the 18th to the 20th January
The French mushing will of course be very well represented, with 16 teams behind its undisputed leader, the four-time champion Rémy Coste. In the Open category, he will have a lot to do to win a mythical fifth title against the vice-champion of the last two years, the Spanish Iker Ozkoidi, the Norwegian Sissel Wolf Wølmen, who comes back to the race after having finished 3rd in 2019, without forgetting two German mushers: the legend Heinrich Winter (4th in 2019) and the sprint specialist Detlef Oyen (4th in 2020). In the Limited category, French riders Cindy Duport (champion in 2020) and Christian Perlwitz (2nd in 2020) will have to deal with a very experienced Norwegian rookie: Hans Lindhal.
If the race promises to be very tough again, the huge colony of Siberian Huskies should ensure a good battle for the Best Nordic Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region prize.
There are still more than 3 months left for the already highly motivated teams, to perfect their skills and meet again for the 17th edition of La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc from the 9th to the 20th January 2021.
