Francesc Solé wins Andorra Ultra Trail again

Thursday, July 2, 2015 

On Saturday, Francesc Solé reached the finish in Ordino as winner of the Andorra Ultra Trail after 170 km over an altitude range of 13,500 meters and 31:09 hours.

Between 7am on Friday and 8am on Saturday, over 1600 competitors started in four races between single and quadruple marathon.

The Andorran Ultra Trail lead, for the seventh time now, on tracks through valleys, over passes and tops of the small country in the Pyrenees. The first to arrive were the winners of Celestrail, a double marathon ranging over 5,000 meters of altitude, after a midnight start on Friday night. Marc Casal made it in only 10:06:59, followed by Guillaume Beauxis with 10:35:29 and Nicolas Cerisier in 11:57:04. Olatx Alvariño won the women's competition in 13:28:45, well ahead of Sandra Castellanas at 14:51:17, and Eva Belles at 15:41:27. Marató ^{((en))Catalan language: ‍Marathon} — 42.5km, 3,000m altitude — began at eight in the morning on Saturday with the first, Marc Pinsach, finishing in 4:35:12, and Núria Picas in 5:23:05. While winning the women's competition Núria Picas completed her series of four mountain marathons within four weeks.

Then it was Francesc Solé winning the main event "Ronda dels cims" ^{((en))Catalan language: ‍Round the peaks} — 170km, 13,500m altitude — in the outstanding time of 31:08:58. He was followed an hour later by Jérôme Lucas, 32:08:41; and Nahuel Passerat, 33:02:02. Nerea Martínez reached the goal in the women's race in 38:47:44, overall 13th, and more than seven hours ahead of the second Irina Malejonock at 46:01:38, and Marta Muixí at 46:34:48. Finally 162 runners completed the race which makes about 45 percent of the 357 participants.

The "Mític" ^{((en))Catalan language: ‍Mythic} race over 112km and 9,700m started at 10pm on Friday; its winners were after 18:56:53 hours, Eduard Barceló, men; and, deep in the night, after 27:35:34 hours, Roser Español, women. On places two and three followed Eva Zbornikova and Agnès Francastel. Second in the men's race was Ion Azpiroz in front of Julien Jorro and Jordi Lopez who finished both together with the same time.

On Sunday more than 600 participants walked a solidary trail of 10km meant to include the less mobile. Finally, the last to cross the line was Eric Desgeorge on Sunday at nearly midnight after 64:39:08 hours.

Sources

• "Crono Andorra Ultra Trail Vallnord (ranks & times)" — Vallnord, July 1, 2015 (date of access) (Catalan)
• "Andorra Ultra Trail Vallnord (startpage with data about tracks)" — Vallnord, July 1, 2015 (date of access)
• Clément Excoffier. "Chaleur et record de participation pour l’Andorra Ultra Trail Vallnord 2015 (Andorre)" — Lepape Info, June 30, 2015 (French)
• "Núria Picas és la vencedora en la Marató dels Cims amb la sortida i arribada a Ordino" — Regió7, June 28, 2015 (Catalan)
• "Més de 600 corredors a la cursa solidària de l’Andorra Ultra Trail" — Bondia (newspaper), June 28, 2015 (Catalan)
• Jordi Pasques. "L’Andorra excursionista" — Diari d'Andorra, June 27, 2015 (Catalan)
• @Eizquierdo68. "Nùria Picas y Francesc Solé correrán la Andorra Ultra Trail Vallnord 2015" — El Correo, May 25, 2015, 09:33 (Spanish)