Stage 2 – La Chapelle d’Abondance

Eric Grosbois wins the Haute-Savoie Trophy.

Sunshine and bitter cold at -10° for the 2nd stage of La Grande Odyssée VVF, but the spectators who flocked to La Chapelle d’Abondance (Haute-Savoie) on Monday had a day full of spectacular mushing events. The Children’s Odyssey with Crédit Mutuel, at the start of the afternoon, won over the public with 18 young schoolchildren from Evian taking part in the event. It was a great introduction to sled dog racing over a 2km course.

This was followed by the start of the main event, which doubled as the final stage of the Haute-Savoie Trophy, with Eric Grosbois taking victory in 55 minutes 51 seconds. The musher from the Ardèche easily won the overall race in 2 hours 14 minutes and one second ahead of his compatriot Valentin Rouvier, who came 2nd in the day’s race, and the 8 other participants in the Trophée Haute-Savoie.
Finally, it was Spain’s Iker Ozkoidi Garcia who won today’s second stage of the queen event in 50 minutes 32 seconds, while Jean Combazard confirmed his position as Suzuki-sponsored leader by winning the Nordic category in 59 minutes 17 seconds. In the overall standings, Elsa Borgey, who came 2nd today in 52 minutes 41 seconds, remains the event leader ahead of her compatriot Cindy Duport, who also finished on the podium today. In the Nordic category, the rankings remained unchanged, with Italy’s Matteo Fossati and France’s Cécile Durand completing the podium.

The route presented no major difficulties for these seasoned mushers, with a positive difference in altitude of 260m. Nevertheless, for some of the competitors, it was the start of the season and their dogs had to get used to the presence of the public along the route and, for some, even to the snow. ‘My dogs are used to running alone in the forest, they haven’t seen snow yet this year and tend to stop when there are people around,’ explains Gilles Olivier, the Belgian musher who finished bottom of the event. ‘We need to give them time to acclimatise,’ he concludes philosophically.

See you tomorrow, Tuesday 14 January at La Chapelle d’Abondance for the third stage of La Grande Odyssée VVF.

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