900 kilometers, that's what the teams should have run during the 12 days of the race. Never the trail has been so long. This 7th edition was planned to be exceptional.

And exceptional it has been but not the way it was planned to be. Because of the warm temperatures and little snowfalls, the trails designed for monthes by La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc staff and the partner resorts teams had to be modified sometimes one day for the next. A trail thas was good one day could be not any more usable on the next day. After 6 years, the experience, the knowledge of the area and of the different options have allowed in a very short time to settle new stages. Here we have to congratulate those who are responsible for the amazing job done on the LGO trail.

And the race started as it was planned from Avoriaz, and as soon as the teams crossed the finish line, the stage was set. The awaited duel would happen. Emil Inauen, reigning champion, took the lead ahead of his main contender for 3 years, the Czech Radek Havrda. Those two are the ones who have rised the level of the race like no other. Breeding, training, gear, everything has been tuned to perform on the toughest sleddog  long-distance stage race in the world.

The 2011 edition looks like the 2010 edition as Inauen is winning 3 stages out of 4 and is the pace setter. Havrda, only, can hold the speed. Behind them, Jean-Philippe Pontier is running is best LGO ever and set faster times than any of the other Long Distance teams. Two rookies, Bily and Gonda are impressive. Inauen is at home on the steep trail of Les portes du Soleil and leads at the end of the first part of the race.

The race lives its first majour rebound on the stage 5. Because of a major disagreement with the race direction, due to what happened during that last stage when most of the teams took a wrong trail, the leader decides to quit the race leaving Havrda in a place he wasn't expecting to get so easily.

Especially as the problems of the beginning of the race are now over. From the amazing Megeve - Notre Dame de Bellecombe stage, passing right under the Mont-Blanc, to the end of the race, no other race incident will happen. Nevertheless, in Haute-Maurienne Vanoise, if the temperatures are colder, the amount of snow is still low. It is not possible to set a trail under Lanslebourg, cutting one third of the trail. The long distance teams were expected to rise on that last part of the race on the 86, 87 and 114 kilometers-long stages, but this will not happen as the longest stage will be 74 kilometers long.

Then the fastest teams show their skills on the hard packed trail. On those stages, they managed to keep a fast steady pace during 2 to 3 hours. In those conditions, Martin Bily and Milos Gonda are at ease, their dogs can run as fast as 27 km/h. Bily, the czech rookie, is specially impressive as he wins 4 stages. But Gonda is more steady and he soon appears as the main threat for Havrda. His dogs are the ones that can hold the best that fast pace. Prepared for longer stages, the other teams loose time on every stage to the two rookies and Radek, that many have already crowned, is loosing ground. It is interesting to notice that Radek will won only one stage ( the 2nd tied with Bily) in 2011.

The second main rebound happens during the second part of the last stage about 30 kilometers from the arrival, where Radek Havrda scratches. Three of his dogs will not do any more kilometer. There are in a good shape but mentally there are done. Some may forget it sometimes but dogs are running because they love it and because they love their musher. Nothing else can make them go. If a musher has lost his dogs' trust and that's maybe what happened to Radek, he is doomed. The leader had to ask them a lot on the last days of the race to stay in lead and maybe it was a bit too much. 30 kilometers to much. But Havrda's decision is to be emphasized as it shows one more time that dogs come first. "I don't want them to pay for my mistake", he said after he scratched. The great champion will be back next year with even more experience and a tough lesson learned.

Clever would have been the who would have guessed that the two main favorite would be out the general rankings. This has opened places for new daring mushers as Milos Gonda, who wins after a very steady race without ever having worn the yellow jersey, winning one stage, the last one, Martin Bily, who showed if still needed the quality of the czech teams and Jean-Philippe Pontier, who would have been in the struggle for first place if the longer stages were settled. The other Long-Distance mushers like Ketil Reitan and Jo Are Brennodden didn't get the opportunity to show their real talent and are already waiting for next year.

For those two as well as for Daniel Juillaguet, the race goes on as they will try to become the first winner of the Arctic Alps Cup. Next stage: Finnmarkslopet 1000 in march.

The weather conditions have played a major part in the face of the 2011 edition of La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc but the race gave us one more time tremendous emotions. The 7e edition has also emphasized the amazing athletes that are those top-competitive sleddogs and their fabulous passion to pull sleds.

Let's meet next year for the 8th edition that will be for sure very different to the one that just ended, feel free to visit the website as soon as you want as it s updated yearlong. See you soon on the frozen trails !