February 01, 2015 (Quebec City, QC) – In tough cold conditions Canada’s Maxime Leboeuf from Quebec claimed the 4-lap Elite Men’s 10km ISSF Snowshoe World Championship title on Saturday over Spain’s Just Sociats with a 17s margin as fellow Canadian, Joël Bourgeois, also from Quebec took the final podium spot. The temperature was minus 19 with a strong wind chill pushing the thermometer to about minus 25.

Leboeuf sat in 5-6th for the first lap and then moved up to the lead group of 3-4 competitors including Bourgeois, Sociats, and defending champ, Stephane Ricard (Fra). He took over on the final lap for the victory.

Tough conditions made for very a challenging race. A good four inches of powder from the previous night’s snowfall added to the more natural “feel” as the course trails were not packed as in many snowshoe races. The race course also included two long climbs and one very steep downhill.

In the women’s 10km competition Canada’s Sarah Bergeron-Larouche (QC) held off two Spanish rivals for the victory as Laia Andreu took home the silver and Rosa Valls the bronze.

Carter Stripp (USA) topped the men’s field in the 5km race with Canada’s Michel Jean in second with American Joseph St. Cyr in third and Tyler Dezago, also from the USA in 4th.

The women’s 5km contest was won by Jeanette Cudney (USA) followed by Canada’s Lise Le Guellec in second with Nolwenn LeBouch also from Canada in 3rd.

A total of 200 participants were on the start line as 125 participants raced the 10km (68 % homme, 32 % femme) while 75 participants competed in the 5km race (63 % homme, 37 % femme).

The ISSF World Snowshoe Championships presented by Altas Snowshoes kicks off an amazing array of events in Quebec City from Jan. 31 until March 1. The Snowshoe Worlds is part of the Winter World Master Games (WWMG) also being staged here until Feb. 8 and feature biathlon, cross-country and alpine skiing, long-track speed skating, ice hockey, curling, winter triathlon, snowshoeing and climbing.

All events are being run by Group Pentathlon, which operates Pentathlon des neiges (bike, run, ski, skate and snowshoe competitions) and the Quebec International Triathlon Union (ITU) Winter Triathlon events.

The final two days of the Games feature the Quebec ITU Winter Triathlon events and things pick up again on Feb. 21 as the Pentathlon des neiges, the biggest winter multi-sports competition in the world with 5,300 participants in 2014, features various events until the beginning of March.

Results (brief)

Men – 1okm

1. Maxime Leboeuf (Can) 46:40
2. Just Sociats (Esp) 46:57
3. Joël Bourgeois (Can) 47:12

Women – 10km

1. Sarah Bergeron-Larouche (Can)          57:28
2. Laia Andreu (Esp)        57:40
3. Rosa Valls (Esp)  1 :00 :02

Overall 10 km here.
By categories 10 km here.

Men – 5km

1. Carter Stripp (USA) 25:18
2. Michel Jean (Can) 25:27
3. Joseph St. Cyr USA) 25:52

Women – 5km

1. Jeanette Cudney (USA) 30:10
2. Le Guellec (Can) 32:11
3. Nolwenn LeBouch (Can) 34:50

Overall 5km here.
By categories 5 km here.