Vincent Dupré, the president of the organizing club, and the approximately 65 volunteers those around him could display a broad smile on this December 1st. THE Senlis Trailwhich they offer every year has once again beaten all records. And in particular that of the number of participants, with more than 1800 starters this year compared to 1452 last year.
It is true that a little novelty has been added to the traditional Sunday races. Xtrem Challenges has in fact for the first time organized a night race, over 10 kilometers, this Saturday, November 30, in Senlis. It was a superb success with more than 500 participants. “We are all very satisfied with this great first,” confides Vincent Dupré. The atmosphere of this event, more family-friendly than those of the next day, really delighted us. We will do it again next year!”
Rémi Gérard wins the 10 kilometers
This first night of the Senlis Trail saw the success of Rémi Gérard who only took 37’36” to cover the ten kilometers. Running in the dark is obviously not a problem for him! He is very easily ahead of Thibaut François, his runner-up who, however, also went very quickly (38’13”). Antoine Barbier completes the podium in 39’34”.
On the women’s side, Anne-Claire Fourdraine once again made a splash by covering the distance in 46’07”. However, she had to pull out all the stops to overcome Axelle Idelot, who was only two seconds ahead of her. Kathleen Lesieux completed the podium in 47’42”.
Damien Pontoizeau flies over the 15 kilometers
After the night, the day, Sunday morning. It was rather cool but the athletes know what they have to do to warm up the engine before the starter releases the peloton. Or rather the two pelotons because the participants had the choice between running 15 or 29 kilometers.
Véronique Ludmann, the deputy mayor of Senlis in charge of sports, was present at the start. But she wisely opted for… observation. However, she trains regularly. But, this time, she was content to congratulate the organizers and encourage the runners. “It’s a very good test,” she judges. And perfectly put together by Vincent and his team.”
Victory, over the 15 kilometers, went to Creillois Damien Pontoizeau who took less than an hour to cover the distance (58’37”). “It’s a plane, this guy,” appreciates Maurice, who came to accompany her children. He finished at a speed…” It is not Sébastien Longé who will contradict Maurice, he who had to concede almost 3 minutes to the winner. But his time (1h01’08”) remains excellent. Just like that of the third, Lucas Das Neves (1h01’19”).
Tiphaine Germain dominates among women
Among the women, Tiphaine Germain left her opponents no chance by running the distance in 1h07’29”. His runner-up, Claire Cotigny, was unable to do anything (1h09’12”). Delphine Hubatz (1h15’24”) completes the podium.
Finally, on the main event, that of 29 kilometers, success went to Mathieu Leroux, who only needed two hours to cover the distance. His time (1h56’17”) is simply exceptional! He is more than 5 minutes ahead of his runner-up, Frédéric Lefèvre (2h01’42”), and by more than 7 minutes the third, Thomas Bertaux (2h03’14”).
On the women’s side, success fell to Carole Stéphan (2h24’55”) who is ahead of Anne-Sophie Soubeyre by almost 6 minutes (2h30’54’) and third, Juliette Janicki, by almost 10 minutes. (2h34’48”).
