After 11 days of competition, in extremely harsh weather conditions, the 2013 edition of the Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont-Blanc (GDO) finished today with the victory of Czech Jiri Vondrak who covered the 1 000 km distance and 30,000 meters of vertical in 42h22’39’’. Slovak Milos Gonda came second at 27’08’’ and the first Frenchman Jean Philippe Pontier (who won the first leg) followed in third place. The first woman overall was Isabelle Travadon.
The Grande Odyssee international dog sled competition saw 17 professional mushers compete this year and has attacted more public interest than ever, despite the poor weather and extremely cold temperatures, highlighting the increasing popularity of the sport.
Silvia Furtwangler comments on the race
A testement to dog sledding entering the mainstream with media attention is that, to the surprise of many, an antidoping test was carried out yesterday by the Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD) on a selected mushers. A first in the world of dog sled races. According to Dominique Grandjean, directeur de course, this test was either requested by the AFLD or the Federation. Henry Kam, President of the GDO, welcomed the test.
The 10th edition of the GDO will take place from 11st to 22nd January 2014. In the meantime PistHors wishes all mushers and their dogs a good rest.
Thanks to Gigi for this article.