Run on Legendary Passes

Climbing a pass is writing a piece of your story 📜

In the world of outdoor sports, there's a type of challenge that fascinates, sometimes obsesses: the ascent of a legendary pass🦾. It's a kind of test where each stride or pedal stroke becomes a duel between yourself, the slope, and the air which 🫁, let's face it, becomes increasingly scarce at high altitudes 🌪️. It's the only type of race where time no longer matters as much, because you're not just racing for yourself, but for a summit. At the finish, it's not the arch or the spectators that captivate you, it's the panoramic view 👀. The Mont Ventoux Kookabarra, for example, attracts hundreds of runners every year for its demanding half marathon, 21 km with over 1,610 m elevation gain, a steady 7.5% gradient, and a finish on a nearly lunar summit 🌚. This type of race is no small feat: it pushes you to your limits, testing your boundaries and making you discover if, yes or no, you know how to surpass yourself! The ascents challenge both your mind and your legs, but offer something very rare: the feeling of accomplishment ❤️‍🔥. It's no coincidence these passes have become legendary: they embody the boundary between human effort and the majesty of nature. Moreover, no sport is left behind, the bicycle, gravel 🚵‍♀️, road running, trail all have their place! 🏃‍♀️

©HauteRouteAlpes

In France or elsewhere, the whole world tries to race to the sky 🌏

It's not just in France that the cult of ascent is gaining popularity, in fact, this new hobby extends far beyond borders 🗺️. Of course, the Alps and the Pyrenees are well-known playgrounds that encourage many French runners to take the plunge. The Climb of Alpe d'Huez, The Challenge of Col du Portet, The Haute Route des Alpes in Megève, and The Grenoble Cyclosportive have all become annual events 📆. However, Finishers knows, it's not the only country full of roaring climbs, waiting to be tackled by hundreds of runners! Whether for road, trail, or even triathlon formats, like the challenging NordseeMan Norwegian 🇧🇻. In the United States 🇺🇲, the phenomenon takes another shape: in the Rockies, on the ridges of the Colorado or Oregon, endless trails where you no longer count elevations or kilometers, passing through forests 🌲, high plateaus, and rocky passes. From the atmosphere of the Broken Arrow Skyrace, a UTMB® event held in the Squaw Valley mountains in California ⛰️, to the Leadville 100, renowned for its extreme elevation, to the Wy'east Wonder Parkdale in Oregon, on Finishers, challenges await you, my dear padawan! 🧌

©Wy'estWonder

When passes give birth to legends! 🫅

Passes are challenges to overcome, and sometimes in this quest, some runners leave behind a legendary mark: Recently, we have the incredible example of Anaïs Quemener who conquered the Mont Ventoux Half Marathon Kookabarra in 1h 51min 36s, securing her second victory by setting a record on the Giant of Provence and its 1610 m elevation gain 🥇. In July 2024, pro triathlete Alanis Siffert won the Alpe d'Huez Triathlon 🏊‍♀️, in long-distance format, completing the race in 6h 20min 31s, leading her competitors by a quarter of an hour ⏱️. On the cycling side, we can't overlook the legendary Tour de France, like in 2022 when Tom Pidcock, still very young, surprised everyone: he broke away from the peloton at the summit of the Galibier, attacked solo on the descent, then claimed victory at Alpe d'Huez, becoming the youngest stage winner on this legendary climb! 💪 And how can we talk about legendary ascents without mentioning Kilian Jornet ! 👑 We can't count his exploits; whether it's on the Tromsø Skyrace in Norway, which he co-created, or on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc where in 2022, he became the first participant to finish in under 20 hours... 🤯 But no one will tell it better than the "mountain" or "altitude" themes! 😉

©SemimarathonduMontVentouxKookabarra