The 2023 Diagonale des Fous, or “Diagonal of Fools,” kicked off at 9 p.m. native time in Saint Pierre, on the south coast of Réunion Island, a French division within the Indian Ocean, on Thursday, October 19.
The distinctive 165-kilometer (102 miles) traverse, the longest race within the weekend-long Grand Raid Réunion pageant, begins on the south aspect of the island with a partial ascent of lively volcano, Piton de La Fournaise, and follows a spectacular route via UNESCO World Heritage Websites and the lands of Réunion Nationwide Park to complete on the north coast within the capital metropolis of Saint-Denis. The race takes in roughly 10,000 meters (32,800 ft) of climbing and as a lot descending, on brutally technical terrain, and is seen as some of the tough 100 milers on the worldwide race calendar.
This 12 months’s race had a promising line-up, together with UTMB’s 2022 winner, Katie Schide, and 2023 third-place man Germain Grangier. Followers have been additionally thrilled with a stunning late addition — four-time Diagonale des Fous winner François D’Haene, who has been absent from the scene for a time on account of damage and was noticed on the beginning line sporting a hand-written bib.
Whereas ladies’s favourite Schide didn’t disappoint, with a commanding win over robust rivals together with France’s Camille Bruyas; it was 2023 Hardrock 100 champion Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz who got here out on prime within the males’s race, with the same runaway victory to what we noticed from him at Hardrock.
Learn on to see how each these races performed out.
2023 Diagonale des Fous Ladies’s Race
Katie Schide has had two excessive profile second-place finishes this season — on the Western States 100, the place the American residing in France completed within the second quickest ladies’s time ever on the historic route, and at OCC, the place she demonstrated her versatility by stepping down a distance and nonetheless competing on the highest degree. At Diagonale des Fous, it was clear from the beginning that she could be exhausting to beat — main from the get-go, and at all times with a cushty hole on 2022 Les Templiers winner, Camille Bruyas, of France, in second.
Schide took it out exhausting from the primary climb, and by Notre Dame De La Paix at 28k, already had an 18-minute lead on Bruyas. She gained much more floor on the second leg of the climb as much as the race’s excessive level, Croisée Coteaux Kerveguen at 63.5k, the place she topped out 29 minutes forward of her chaser. Previous the 100k level at Ilet À Bourse, she had stretched her lead additional to an hour and 12 minutes, at this level wanting unimaginable to catch.
Whereas Schide was out on her personal for nearly everything of the race, so too was Bruyas, who at all times had a giant hole on the remainder of the sector and by no means seemed to be at risk. Summiting Croisée Coteaux Kerveguen at 63.5k, she was 23 minutes away from Réunion Island’s personal Emilie Maroteaux in third. It was a better battle for third place, with Germany’s Eva-Maria Sperger following scorching on Maroteaux’s heels, simply two minutes behind at that time.
Schide continued her tour de drive for the remaining 60k or so of the race — which had fewer massive climbs, however coated ankle-breaking volcanic terrain — and finally completed in 27:31:08, an hour and 26 minutes away from Bruyas in second. Bruyas completed with a fair larger lead on Maroteaux in third. After some shut working and buying and selling of locations with Sperger earlier within the race, Maroteaux managed to drag away, securing the ultimate podium place and the primary native residence within the ladies’s race with one other massive margin.
Katie Schide, the 2023 Diagonale des Fous champion. Photograph: CANAL GRAND RAID
2023 Diagonale des Fous Ladies’s Outcomes
- Katie Schide (U.S., lives in France) ─ 27:31:08
- Camille Bruyas (France) ─ 28:57:48
- Emilie Maroteaux (Réunion Island) ─ 30:38:02
- Eva-Maria Sperger (Germany) ─ 32:41:36
- Laure De Jacquelot (France) ─ 33:16:12
- Marcelle Vienne (Réunion Island) ─ 33:22:01
- Geraldine Prost (France) ─ 33:45:33
- Julia Harnie (France) ─ 34:42:23
- Sylvaine Cussot (Réunion Island) ─ 35:12:48
- Pauline Winer (Réunion Island) ─ 35:15:07
2023 Diagonale des Fous Males’s Race
Early on in his profession, in 2012, Frenchman Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz ran the 73k race at Grand Raid Réunion, inserting fourth. Was a seed planted then to return again ultimately and tackle the 100-mile win? Who is aware of, however he began this race like somebody on a mission. By Notre Dame De La Paix — 28k into the race with simply over 1,600 meters climbed — he was simply over a minute forward of then second-place, France’s Germain Grangier, however was not giving up his marginal lead. Reaching Coteaux Kerveguen at 61k — simply earlier than cresting the race’s excessive level at roughly 2,500 meters — Dunand-Pallaz had pulled 12 minutes away from the remainder of the sector, together with his countryman Lambert Santelli then following in second.
Final 12 months’s second-place man, Switzerland’s Jean-Philippe Tschumi — after transferring round within the prime 10 for the primary half of the race — crept up the sector to second place after 85k. He got here shut sufficient to make Dunand-Pallaz sweat, working simply three minutes again of the chief across the 100k mark.
Tschumi held on to second for a very long time, however Dunand-Pallaz reasserted his dominance, and had pulled greater than a half hour away from his chaser by Deux Bras at 128k, with a lot of the climbing completed.
It was right here too that Grangier made a transfer into second place. Like Tschumi, Grangier had been transferring across the prime 10 for the race’s first half, earlier than settling into third place from 92k onward. It was on the second-to-last climb as much as Dos D’ane the place he lastly bought forward of Tschumi.
Dunand-Pallaz continued to energy forward, finally ending in 23 hours and 21 minutes, 39 minutes away from Grangier in second. Tschumi adopted in 24:28 for third, with Grangier having put vital time on him within the race’s closing part.
Grand Raid legend, Frenchman François D’Haene could or might not be again to full race health. He was briefly in podium place across the midway level however fell again just a little to finally end in eighth place. Mid-race, his social media channels indicated that he was affected by leg cramps. We hope that is solely the beginning of his comeback.
Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz celebrates profitable the 2023 Diagonale des Fous. Photograph: CANAL GRAND RAID
2023 Diagonale des Fous Males’s Outcomes
- Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz (France) ─ 23:21:23
- Germain Grangier (France) ─ 24:00:54
- Jean-Philippe Tschumi (Switzerland) ─ 24:28:36
- Lambert Santelli (France) ─ 25:44:49
- Rémi Berchet (France) ─ 25:48:14
- Fabrice Payet (Réunion Island) ─ 25:48:44
- Alexis Sévennec (France) – 26:01:02
- François D’Haene (France) ─ 26:12:41
- Cédric Chavet (France) ─ 26:53:17
- Alexandre Boucheix (France) ─ 27:01:22
