This week is so fun. There’s incredibly competitive racing ever day in the lead up toward UTMB. On Friday, August 26, the 2022 CCC race took off from Courmayeur, Italy, through Champex-Lac, Switzerland, and to Chamonix, France. The course totaled 6,100 meters (20,000 feet) of elevation gain across 101 kilometers (63 miles), all while going the opposite direction from the earlier-in-the-week TDS race.
You can also check out more results from the week’s UTMB Mont-Blanc festival:
2022 CCC Men’s Race
The early part of the race was in heavy rain, but that did nothing to slow Petter Engdahl (Sweden, lives in Norway). He was at or near the front from the start, and kept that winning pace up the rest of the way. It was a dominant win in 9:53, the race’s first sub-10 hour finish on this version of the course.
Thibaut Garrivier (France) held the prior course record at 10:23 from 2021. As for race winner Engdahl, this was the 28-year-old’s longest race yet, though he was third at last year’s OCC.
2021 OCC winner Jonathan Albon (U.K., lives in Norway) was perhaps the pre-race favorite, even with the added distance. But instead of chasing down Engdahl, he had to hold off third-place Andreas Reiterer (Italy). Albon finished second in 10:16 and bowed to the race winner at the finish, and Reiterer was third in 10:23. Reiterer was fourth here a year ago in a slower race.
The 2022 CCC men’s champion, Petter Engdahl. Photo: UTMB/Michael Cottin
The rest of the top 10 included:
4 – Jia-Sheng Shen (China) – 10:29
5 – Peter Fraňo (Slovakia) – 10:35
6 – Andreu Simon (Spain) – 10:40
7 – Jean-Philippe Tschumi (Switzerland) – 10:46
8 – Raul Butaci (Romania) – 10:47
9 – Aritz Egea (Spain) – 10:56
10 – Baptiste Chassagne (France) – 10:59
How much faster was this year’s race? Last year’s 10th placer finished in 11:30.
As with TDS and OCC, no American man made the men’s top 10, and that’s certainly a disappointing collective result for the group. The top five American men were:
13 – Caleb Olson – 11:13
16 – Stephen Kersh – 11:15
39 – Grant Barnette – 12:07
58 – Ben Robinson – 12:56
119 – Ryan Wattles – 14:05
Mario Mendoza was 135th in 14:24, but fellow American runners Matt Daniels and Hayden Hawks did not finish.
The 2022 CCC men’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Jonathan Albon, 1. Petter Engdahl, and 3. Andreas Reiterer. Photo: UTMB
2022 CCC Women’s Race
Like men’s winner Engdahl, Blandine L’Hirondel (France) was out front for the entirety of the race too. Last year’s OCC winner and course record holder, L’Hirondel slayed this one in 11:40, and that too was a new course record. At 31 years old, L’Hirondel was recently fourth at the Golden Trail World Series race in Norway. Miao Yao (China) ran 11:57 in 2018 to set the previous course record.
This one was really close. Sunmaya Budha (Nepal) made up time on L’Hirondel through the second half of the race and finished an oh-so close second place in 11:45. It was a bit of a breakthrough for Budha. Last time out on a big European stage she was 32nd at the 2019 Marathon du Mont Blanc.
2021 CCC runner-up Abby Hall (USA) was third in 12:12, again proving masterful at this big mountain course.
The 2022 CCC women’s champion, Blandine L’Hirondel. Photo: UTMB
The rest of the top 10 included:
4 – Jazmine Lowther (Canada) – 12:19
5 – Rosanna Buchauer (Germany) – 12:24
6 – Henriette Albon (Norway) – 12:35
7 – Erin Clark (USA) – 12:40
8 – Meg Mackenzie (South Africa) – 12:40
9 – Taylor Nowlin (USA) – 12:53
10 – Johanna Antila (Finland) – 13:00
Like the men’s race, this one too ran much faster than in 2021. Last year’s 10th-place finisher ran 14:37.
The USA placed three women inside the top 10, shown above, and several more just outside the top 10.
11 – Tara Fraga – 13:01
13 – Helen Mino Faukner – 13:08
14 – Hannah Allgood – 13:24
19 – Emily Schmitz (USA, lives in Colombia) – 14:02
25 – Corinne Shalvoy – 14:28
Cat Bradley and Kelly Wolf were among the drops.
The 2022 CCC women’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Sunmaya Budha, 1. Blandine L’Hirondel, and 3. Abby Hall. Photo: UTMB
