6th July 2023

Raúl Criado and Oihana Kortazar win the PDA of Val d'Aran by UTMB®.

With a time of 05:41:08, Raúl Criado was the first runner to ring the bell in this third edition of Val d'Aran by UTMB®. In the women's category, the Basque Oihana Kortazar was the fastest to reach the finish in a time of 06:32:38.

The passion for trail running was palpable. There was a great desire for the PDA, the first of the distances of this third edition of Val d'Aran by UTMB®, which sold out last January. 55 kilometres to the finish line in Vielha, with a positive difference in altitude of 3,300 metres and 3,700 metres negative. A fast and demanding race that passes through such impressive places as Colomèrs, the largest glacial lake cirque in the Pyrenees.

More than 1,400 runners congregated in the village of Salardú to take one of the three start times: 7:00, 7:30 and 8:00.

The level was high, with more than 50 athletes with a UTMB® Index of over 800. Aritz Egea, Oihana Kortazar, Craig Hunt, Yuanyuan Wu, Daniel Castillo, Anna Comet, Marcos Ramos-González, or Mónica Vives, are just some of the elites who took part in the race.

Finally, the Aragonese Raúl Criado was the first runner to ring the bell of this third edition of Val d'Aran by UTMB®, crossing the finish line in a time of 05:41:08. "It was incredible what it feels like to enter here, at the finish line", said the winner.

After him came Marcos Ramos, who stopped the clock in 05:45:29, and the podium was completed by Aritz Egea, winner of the CDH in 2021, with a time of 05:46:54. In the women's category, Oihana Kortazar was the fastest, covering the 55 kilometres of the race in a time of 06:32:38. Anna Comet took second place, stopping the clock in 06:32:38, and Monica Vives was third, with a time of 06:58:17.

Tomorrow it will be the turn of the CDH, the 110 km race, which will start at 6:00, and at 16:00 the VDA, the flagship race of Val d'Aran by UTMB®, will start.

Consult all the classifications: UTMB Live - Val D'Aran by UTMB® - PDA