There are less than 24 hours left until the highly expected Marathon du Mont-Blanc begins with its 90 km du Mont-Blanc.
While Killian Jornet decided to sit out this year's race, there are still many ambitious runners who aim at winning the prestigious race.
Mont-Blanc does not escape the brutal heatwave that is currently affecting France, so all runners need to be extra careful.
The heatwave is affecting Chamonix
During summertime, the mountain is usually seen as the ideal getaway from the heatwave.
However, the June heatwave that is currently affecting the most part of France has also arrived in Chamonix.
The peculiarity of this heatwave is its precocity, as this much heat was never seen in June in the Alps.
At the bottom of the valley, between Chamonix and Bourg-Saint-Maurice, the temperature reaches 35 or 36 degree Celsius.
"In the 90s, to observe a 33 ° in the valley was exceptional, now it is regular", considers Gilles Brunot to Météo France.
Nevertheless, if the differences in temperature between the plain and 1000 m altitude are minimal, beyond the mountain plays its air conditioning effect.
Heated and fierce competition at the Marathon du Mont-Blanc
As of last year, the Marathon du Mont-Blanc is part of the Golden Trail World Series.
This year, the first race of the Golden Trail World Series was the Zegama-Aizkorri Mountain Marathon on the 2nd of June and it was predictably won by Kilian Jornet.
However, with Kilian Jornet choosing to not participate in the Mont-Blanc Marathon, the men's field is wide open.
According to Endurance SportsWire, three runners from Team Salomon—Poland’s Bartlomiej Przedwojewski, France’s Thibaut Baronian and Norway’s Stian Angermund-Vik—will all be favourites for this year's edition of the Marathon du Mont-Blanc.
On the women's side, the Zegama-Aizkorri Mountain Marathon was surprisingly won by Norway’s Eli Anne Dvergsdal, as Zegama was her first marathon ever.
Dvergsdal will face fierce competition from Ruth Croft, who won the Marathon du Mont-Blanc in 2018.
See all the results for the 2018 Marathon du Mont-Blanc here.
