Marmotte

[manuel6b]

Got some text messages back from Davy Robb as he had jetted off with a few other cyclists including Mary Hunter to tackle this cyclosportive. Quote from the website

"What can one say? The Daddy of them all, the Doyenne of Cyclosportives, this is the star in the calendar, the most difficult one day event for amateur road cyclists in Europe. The route traces a northerly course out from Le Bourg dOisans (the town at the bottom of lAlpe dHuez) over the Col de la Croix de Fer into the Maurienne valley, and then clockwise back to Bourg via the Col de Telegraphe and the 2,600m+ Col du Galibier (by its far harder northern side) - finishing with the ascent to the ski station at lAlpe dHuez. For some reason very popular with Dutch riders, who seem to make up a large proportion of the foreign entry every year (where on earth do they train for this in the Netherlands?!). Not for the timid, it is a case of bon courage if you enter and chapeau if you finish. Anyone entering the elite of amateurs who have climbed 5000m in a day on a bike will be unlikely to forget the experience."

FIRST TEXT FROM DAVY
"Start of the Marmotte, 5,000 cyclists, awesome"

NEXT TEXT
"Gladon and telegraf done big one next"

FINAL TEXT
"Finished about 11 hours of hell. The big G is true torture. Don't even think about doing this".

I replied
"Thanks Davy, I won't"

Well done to Davy, Mary and to the other cyclists.

[manuel6b]

Some photos from Davy











You can see more from the Sportactive site

[saintdavy]

Was going to write a report on our trip but didn't want to put anyone off from doing this event. The Marmotte is named after the cuddley creatures that frequent the Alpine slopes... this is no cuddley creature, more a two headed monster.
If you are a young fit lad or lass this event would be a walk in the park, for us auld cadgers its a struggle. Get your name down next year and enjoy some fantastic scenery and a great day on the bike....
40% of people taking part do not finish and with 7500+ doing this thats over 2000 who do not make it. The day is all about finishing and many who do not make the cut off point at the bottom of Alpe D Huez and have thier time chip removed still carry on to finish the course some 15hrs+ later.
Well done to Mary Hunter with a time of 10hrs 56min and Paul Mawhirt with a great time of 8hrs 56min, I scrapped home in 11hrs 51min.
Hope to be back next year... any takers.

[saintdavy]

Forgot to say... if you log on to sportcommunications web site and go to the Marmotte live link you can type in 3364 my event number you can see how I struggled around. There is a video link as well.

[bernadettemonaghan]

Really well done to Mary, she's some woman alright. Say hello to her and Declan. Well done to you too Davey. It sounds like a bit of a nightmare, but there must be some feeling of pride and satisfaction at having done it all the same. Great pics and great to see the Dromara kit on show over there.