Patrick Bohard, 51 years old from Villers Le Lac ( Le Jura) is the winner of Tor des Géants 2015 with the time of 80 hours and 20 minutes, almost a record, if you match it with the hostile weather.
The French athlete was among the protagonists of Tor 2013, when he finished the race in 5th position with a time of 78h47m after a beginning of the race that he defined “a catastrophe”. This year he run with more attention to alimentation and with a strategy that was to do the first part of the race with more cau- tions and give it all in the second part. This is more or less what happened during his Tor, even if, of course, the bad weather changed his plan a bit.
Patrick was in Aosta Valley in July to train on the path between Courmayeur and Donnas and in August for the part between Donnas and Courmayeur.
“I came mostly to get used to the high quote; in Jura, where I live, peaks do not go higher than 1700 meter. Tor des Géants, instead, is 100% mountain.” Bohard, anyway, trained all year long on the Jura, including a cross-country ski performance of 272 km in 22 hours.
This French athlete, who for a living is a Hotel Manager and who started run- ning just in 2008 ( thing that teaches that there is no need to be young to arrive to big achievement), arrived at the finish line tired but happy. Not a big talker in general, he was not at the finish line either. Great was the commotion and the thanks to the whole Aosta Valley which supported him all along the race.
Second position for Gianluca Galeati, born in 1983, member of Team Tecnica and coming from San Pietro Terme ( Bologna) He started running 7 years ago, passing briefly from the road to the paths. In the big international races, such as 2013 Utmb, he has always been in the first positions among the Italians. At Tor he already was 7th last year, position that he definitely improved this year arri- ving just 24 minutes after the winner. It looks like a lot, but it is a very small di- stance in a 330 km race.
For a living, he is a quality controller: here, he showed all his own quality. At the finish line a very special dedication to his next coming daughter and a big thanks to the organization and the volunteers that helped him realize a dream in truly hard conditions. To welcome him, his companion and Franco Collè, win- ner last year, who seemed to be even more moved than his “colleague” in the race.
On the third place of the podium another French, Christophe Le Saux, welcomed with huge applauses, with a total time of 81 hours and 19 minutes. The French runner is almost home here: he trains on this paths, he takes part in lot of races around the Mont Blanc and he was on Tor podium 4 times.
The three can now finally rest, but the road is still very long for all the other Giants!