M60-64 at UTMB: Mathieu masters the Dukes' trail

• Jean Claude Mathieu took the M60-64 title in 32:46:28 (21:50/mi), finishing more than 2 hours 10 minutes clear of second place.
• Marc Lauze ran the strongest final push among the group, posting the 135th-fastest men's split on the Les Houches→Finish leg to seal second in 34:57:15.
• Emmanuel Deruaz claimed third in 36:54:02, delivering the 113th-fastest men's split on the Beaufort entrée→Beaufort sortie segment — the sharpest split of the three men who went head-to-head through that stretch.
• Six men finished the 145 km from Courmayeur to Chamonix, with nearly 12 hours separating first from sixth.

Jean Claude Mathieu, 63, didn't just win the M60-64 race — he won it emphatically. His 32:46:28 on a course that climbs over 9,500 metres through the Beaufortain region represents a commanding effort, and his movement through the men's field tells the real story: he started cautiously, sitting 195th among men after the first segment, but climbed relentlessly — 364th, then 273rd, then 158th — before settling into 137th by the finish. That sustained upward march through a deep field, at 21:50/mi across 145 kilometres of technical mountain terrain, was the defining performance of the group.

Marc Lauze, 60, ran the opposite kind of race — steady and progressive. His gender place improved at every checkpoint, moving from 573rd all the way to 214th by the finish, and his 135th-fastest men's split on the final Les Houches→Finish leg shows he was still moving with genuine purpose deep into the night and morning. He crossed in 34:57:15, more than two hours behind Mathieu but well clear of third. Emmanuel Deruaz, 61, was the man to watch through the Beaufort section: his 113th-fastest men's split there outpaced both Lauze and Gilles Guedon on that same stretch, and his consistent climb through the field — from 806th among men at one point to 278th at the finish — earned him third in 36:54:02.

Gilles Guedon, 64, finished fourth in 38:09:55 after a race that saw him fluctuate through the field before steadying late. Terry Moro, 61, showed his best relative effort on the Signal S→Les Contamines Montjoie segment — 178th-fastest among men there — but couldn't sustain that pace across the full distance, finishing fifth in 40:33:44. Olivier Dejean, 64, completed the course in 44:29:32, rounding out all six finishers of what is widely regarded as UTMB week's most technical race.