Damien Lacaze wins Bornes to Fly 2025
Pilots made the most of the conditions with 80 completing the course
12 May, 2025, by Cross CountryDamien Lacaze won the Bornes to Fly 2025 hike-and-fly race just ahead of Charles de Beaufort in what became a sprint race to the finish. The first woman to complete the course was Stéphanie Westerhuis.
Despite a less than favourable forecast for the Annecy region with rain and a bit of a ground race predicted, pilots were able to make use of flyable conditions. A 164km task was set, first heading south from the ski resort of Col de la Croix Fry. The southern most point was at Chamoux before heading northwest to above Aix-les-Bains followed by a ground turnpoint at Planfait. The pilots then had to head to the northern end of the Bornes massif before returning to Planfait via Sulens and La Sambuy.
Despite conditions the pace was fast on the first day. With plenty of X-Alps pilots using the event to test their new kit, the lead changed hands constantly. At one point Chrigel Maurer was back in 25th place but a classic ‘magic move’ saw him take a different line from the leaders on the push towards Mont Revard above Aix-les-Bains. This propelled him into the lead group when the leaders were forced to land and walk forward to the west-facing ridge.
At this point Tanguy Renaud-Goud looked the favourite for the win as he was first to land at Planfait before extending his lead on his way north. He was closely followed by Christian Schugg and Lucas Bonin. On the way south things changed again as the leaders who took a direct line, ended up landing before the Sulens turnpoint. Damien Lacaze and Chrigel Maurer, who took a longer route back via the Dents above Planfait and the Tournette, were able to fly into the turnpoint and were looking set to finish the route in one day and take the win.
The weather, however, had other plans and a large storm cell moved in over the final turnpoint at La Sambuy grounding all the teams in that area. The next morning, after tagging and gliding out from the final turnpoint, the race was decided on the ground with Damien leading the way in just ahead of Charles. Lucas Bonin and Lars Meerstetter took joint third ahead of Chrigel Maurer.
This year’s event saw a record number of women participating, with eleven taking part. Top of the podium was Stéphanie Westerhuis finishing 43rd overall. She was joined on the podium by Camille Van Robaeys and Silvia Galli.
Eighty pilots completed the full route including eight women.
