The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I love to climb”
Stevie Kremer won the combination title at the Mount Blanc Marathon races in Chamonix, France Friday, June 27 through Sunday, June 29, placing second in the Vertical Kilometer and third in the Mont Blanc Marathon.
It was a hectic weekend for Kremer, arriving in Chamonix on Thursday and then lining up Friday evening for the Vertical Kilometer race. Kremer has never competed in a Vertical Kilometer race but admits that running uphill is her bread and butter.
“I did the Vertical Kilometer to try something new,” says Kremer. “I love to climb.”
The Vertical Kilometer race is one kilometer up, or over 3,000 feet of climbing, over a three-kilometer course. Essentially, you just go almost straight up with no break at all mixing in running, power-hiking, maybe even some scrambling and a little bit of hand-hold-assisted climbing.
“It’s a combination of everything,” says Kremer. “You can run most of it, some people power-hike, but I prefer to keep running with some hand-holds at the very top near the finish.”
Kremer took to the new race like a fish to water, climbing the course in a time of 41 minutes and 37 seconds to place second, eight seconds behind heavily decorated Catalan Vertical Kilometer runner Laura Orgue-Vila.
“I was not expecting that,” admits Kremer of her finish. “I loved it.”
After a day of rest Saturday, Kremer returned to the start line again to compete in the Mont Blanc Marathon, a 42-kilometer race with a healthy dose of climbing as well, including one last solid climb to the finish line. Kremer won the race last year. Unfortunately for Kremer, weather forced race officials to change the course.
“It typically ends with a climb but the new course finished with a six-kilometer downhill,” says Kremer. “That’s when the race said bye-bye to me.”
The course started with a moderate climb, followed by a downhill and more of the same before turning up for an extended climb.
Kremer spent the majority of the first stretch hovering between fifth and seventh place but when the course hit the first significant climb, Kremer made her move.
“When the climb hit, I moved into the top three,” says Kremer.
She proceeded to trade off in the lead with the other two runners taking over in front on the climbs and moving back on the descents but when the final descent came, she remained in third place until the finish crossing with a time of three hours, 55 minutes and 36 seconds, three minutes, just over two minutes out of first place.
“I was a little bummed, I think I could have done better,” says Kremer. “I don’t think I pushed enough on the downhills early in the race. I wished I had pushed myself a little more.”
But with a second place in the Vertical Kilometer and a third in the Mont Blanc Marathon, Kremer finished with the combination title.
“That made up for my third-place finish,” says Kremer.
Kremer returns to the European circuit in August when she will compete in another Vertical Kilometer race in Italy on August 3 and then heads to another Skyrunning Series race, the Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland, on August 10.
As of right now, Kremer leads the overall Skyrunning Series standings and is the defending champion, but she is unsure if she can retain her title.
“I don’t know,” says Kremer. “The girls this year are so fast.”
