News

On the Gève plateau – the home of La Foulée Blanche – there are 15 km of prepared tracks, which have been open to skiers since the end of November and with the recent snowfalls of the last few nights it is likely that new tracks will be open by this weekend. So there are best training possibillities for the first FIS Worldloppet Cup stage 2016 on 17th of January. 

Snow conditions in Autrans/FRA

With the help of the Autrans town hall technical services and the support of the Nordic ski centre, the organisers are using every resource at their disposal to ensure that the 38th Foulée Blanche will go ahead. And the snow produced and stocked since the end of December will enable them to complete the snow cover. In light of the improving snow conditions, fallback routes are being examined and revaluated daily. The final choice of routes to be used will be made on Sunday 10th January, leaving time for the winter weather to finish its work on the Vercors plateau.

According to the Vice President of the Organizing Committee, Dominique Locatelli, who has been on site every day to coordinate the work of the volunteers and technicians, “cancellation is not the order of the day!”.

Elite and prominent starting field

In its first time as a FIS Worldloppet Cup stage, the Foulée Blanche will even be the opening-stage. Hence many prominent skieres already registered such as 2013’s FIS Marathon Cup Overall Winner (now FIS Worldloppet Cup) from Italy: Sergion Bonaldi or last year’s winner of Dolomitenlauf and Ugra Skimarathon, Toni Livers from Switzerland. But the crowd favourites will definitely be the French skistars like Jean Marc Gaillard (Bronze winner from Sochi 2014), Benoit Chauvet (last year’s overall second) and Adrien Mougel. Also the Italian two times Olympic gold medalist Georgio Di Centa will stand at the start of La Foulee Blanche. For the ladies race Antonella Confortola from Italy (last year, 4th overall) will be among the favourites. Still many elite skieres are about to register for the first FIS Worldloppet Cup race. 

5 days of Nordic ski festival at Autrans

• Wednesday 13th juniors race

• Thursday 14th childrens race

• Saturday 16th classic race 

• Sunday 17th skating race (FIS Worldloppet Cup)

Friday 15th will be a long afternoon without skiing, dedicated to debating, dicussing and sharing views with doctors, sportsmen and artists on the theme of Sport and Health: “A Breath of Life”. This event is open for free to everyone!

In parallel with this busy programme, participants and spectators will be able to attend a number of other events: exhibition village (ski equipment and local products), fire works, a vercouline evening, musical events etc.

Entry is still possible

Registration can be made from today by any method – in person, by internet or by post – (more read here), knowing that the Foulée Blanche has a tradition of reimbursing race fees in the event of race cancellations. The organising committee will only take the decision to run the events if they can guarantee that the conditions are appropriate, what we all hope and think.