Jon Albon wins CCC race at the UTMB

Norwegian-based Brit conquers 100km event on Friday to add to his large list of trail ultra achievements

British ultra-runner Jon Albon has won the prestigious CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix) race during the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc week in France.

The 34-year-old Norwegian-based runner clocked 10:14:25 in the 100km trail event ahead of Jiasheng Shen of China (10:22:30) and Dakota Jones of the United States (10:41:40).

Yngvild Kaspersen of Norway won the women’s race in 11:51:22.

Albon, who finished runner-up last year, said: “I had thought about a number of strategies for nutrition, which had been my weak point last year, and the main objective was to gradually expend my energy to last the whole race.”

Albon chased down long-time leader Shen and added: “On the way out of Champex-Lac, I tried listening to music to give me the strength to launch the ‘remontada’ against Jiasheng Shen. With the help of my wife Henriette at the feed stations, I was able to gain time and perform even better.”

Kaspersen said: “I can’t believe it, it’s a dream come true! At the start line, I wasn’t in the best of shape and even wondered if I was going to be able to finish the race. I’m so happy!”

She added: “It’s the Viking spirit that drives us!”

In the blue ribbon UTMB race itself, British runner and one of the race favourites, Tom Evans, withdrew at Courmayeur.

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