3. Freelander’s Trail Mersch-Hollenfels Report & Results

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The 3. Freelander’s X3M Trail Mersch-Hollenfels was a record-breaking edition – 3 new course records and a massive participation increase made this year’s event memorable.

L-DISTANCE 18.1km (505m altitude difference) – 206 finishers

Francois Reding [BEL] set the pace right from the start to take an easy win in 1:12:16, breaking last year’s course record by 2:06min. Congratulations for this performance!! 2nd overall rank goes to Celtic athlete Jérôme Ewen in 1:16:03 and 3rd rank goes to belgian athlete Virgil van Lancker in 1:16:54. (161 male finishers)

3 ladies from Celtic Diekirch fought for the gold medal over the 18.1km. Diane Heuertz won the female category on the longer distance in an end time of 1:32:26, leading 2nd ranked Tania Fransissi by 1:07min and 3rd ranked Chantal Hayen by 2:31min. (45 female finishers)

from left to right : Jérôme Ewen (2nd on 18.1km) – Spas Gyurov (winner on 11.2km) – Michael Ibendahl (4th on 18.1km) – Christian Krombach (3rd on 11.2km) – Francois Reding (winner on 18.1km)

S-DISTANCE 11.2km (290m altitude difference) – 147 finishers

On the shorter distance, bulgarian Spas Gyurov, a former olympic cyclist in London 2012, won this 11.2km race in a new course record of 44:06min, 33sec faster than last year’s winner and course record holder Stefan Kornelis (Celtic), who came in 2nd this year in 44:12min. 3rd rank goes to Christian Krombach from Trispeed Mamer in 44:36min. (90 male finishers)

Sandra Huberty (Celtic) dominated the S-distance right from the beginning to win this edition with a new course record too – the new best time is now set to 52:29min (old course record from Lucie Delaplace was 58:07). 2nd female rank goes to Melody Brunot (NSL Strassen) in 57:11 and 3rd rank goes to Anna Thiebault (Trilux) in 58:16min. (57 female finishers)

KIDS-TRAIL 1km (23 finishers) & YOUTH-TRAIL 2km (8 finishers)

Big participation inscrease in the kids’ races over 1km and 2km – Wayne Roden and Emmi Duhautpas (X3M) won the 1km race, Tom Sachsen (Celtic) and Maya Proess (X3M) won the 2km race. Well done to all of the 31 kids!

Besides the runners, there have been 18 nordic/walkers who enjoyed the 18km resp. 11km on the gorgeous paths and singletrails around the Krounebierg area.