F60-64: Susanne Dr. Endress conquers the massif in 40:18:25

• Susanne Dr. Endress won the F60-64 race in 40:18:25 (22:22/mi), finishing nearly 1 hour 41 minutes ahead of runner-up Hélène Lernould.
• Wei Zhang and Hélène Lernould staged an extraordinary duel at the finish — just 2 minutes 48 seconds separated 2nd from 3rd across 174 km.
• Caroline Upton (4th, 43:11:55) and Corinne Hofstetter (5th, 43:27:36) were separated by just 15 minutes 41 seconds, with both clocking strong late-race Vallorcine splits.
• All seven finishers completed one of ultrarunning's most demanding courses — 174 km circling the Mont-Blanc massif with 9,700 m of climbing — within the 45h 30min cutoff.

Susanne Dr. Endress led the F60-64 race from a position of quiet authority. She entered the women's field at 216th gender place and, rather than fading, moved steadily forward through every checkpoint — arriving at the finish ranked 150th among women. That kind of sustained forward momentum across 40-plus hours on the trails of France, Italy, and Switzerland is its own statement. Her standout moment came on the Champex-Lac loop, where she posted the 4th-fastest women's split on the Champex-Lac entrée–to–sortie segment — a sharp, specific burst of speed in the heart of the race.

Behind her, the battle for 2nd and 3rd was one of the closest finishes in the field. Hélène Lernould crossed in 41:59:35, having climbed from 284th to 173rd in the women's standings — a gain of over 100 places. Wei Zhang was right on her heels at 42:02:23, having made an even more dramatic charge: she started the race 353rd among women and finished 174th, a swing of 179 places. Zhang's engine was clearly running hot in the final stretch — she posted the 22nd-fastest women's split on the Vallorcine Entrée–to–Sortie segment, which is precisely where she made up time on Lernould. The 2:48 gap at the finish is what a catch-up looks like after 40-plus hours of racing.

Caroline Upton (4th, 43:11:55) and Corinne Hofstetter (5th, 43:27:36) rounded out a tight mid-pack battle, with Upton also posting a strong 52nd-fastest women's split through Vallorcine. Jocelyne Amar Delapierre (6th, 45:11:52) and Rong Lin (7th, 45:36:42) closed out the F60-64 field — all seven finishing under the cutoff, a collective achievement on a course that asks everything of everyone who starts it.