More than 27 hours after winning his third Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, Francois D’haene greeted the race’s final finisher on Sunday.
At the Chamonix, France ultramarathon around Mont Blanc, the 31-year-old Frenchman congratulated Emil Duch, the race’s final competitor, at the awards ceremony adjacent to the finish line. D’haene won the 167.5K ultramarathon in 19:01:54 while Duch, from Poland, came through with 15 minutes to spare in 46:15:23. The time cutoff for UTMB is 46.5 hours.
The first finisher greets the final finisher. We are all equals. #UTMB pic.twitter.com/GYoV0kpX82
— iRunFar (@iRunFar) September 3, 2017
“When the last UTMB finisher is welcomed by the winner… that’s when the magic happens!” the race wrote on Facebook. iRunFar also captured the scene near the finish line of D’haene greeting Duch, describing the moment as “we are all equals.”
男子優勝のフランソワ・デンヌ François D'Haene に伴われて最終ランナーのEmil Duchさん（ポーランド）がステージへ。 #UTMB pic.twitter.com/uCJO6LJzyW
— Dogsorcaravan (@Dogsorcaravan) September 3, 2017
D’haene’s other UTMB victories came in 2012 and 2014. The final finisher of the 2017 UTMB came in around the time of the awards ceremony for the top-10 men and women, which included Canadian Alissa St Laurent, who finished sixth overall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYic8QqhLmS/
Duch’s official placing is 1686th overall as there 851 DNFs at the race that began at 6:30 p.m. local time on Sept. 1. A total of 2,537 starters began the race, which starts and finishes in Chamonix with passes through Switzerland and Italy along the way.
Canadian Running‘s coverage of the 2017 UTMB
– Alissa St Laurent hopes second time’s a charm at the 2017 UTMB
– How to qualify for UTMB racing in Canada
– Cancer-beating Canadian takes on world’s most famous, and daunting, ultra
– Top Quebec ultrarunner’s big-time mileage ahead of toughest race of his life
– Interactive course map and elevation profile feature
– How to follow the 2017 UTMB (live stream included)
– I retired from the Canadian Armed Forces with a serious knee injury. This year I’m running up mountains at the UTMB
– The start of the 2017 UTMB looked like a scene from a track race
– Alissa St Laurent’s Canadian Running Instagram takeover
– Must-see photos from the 2017 UTMB
– Interview: My boyfriend proposed to me at the 2017 Ultra-Trail Du Mont Blanc
– Alissa St Laurent places sixth at the 2017 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc
– Canadian results from the 2017 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc
