Grande Odyssée is the annual dog sledding event. The first edition took place in 2005 and has become a mythical race in the heart of the grandiose scenery of the Alps. The 2023 edition starts this Saturday January 7 in Megève in Haute-Savoie.
The Grande Odyssée race, an unmissable event
La Grande Odyssée was born from the meeting between Nicolas Vanier and Henry Kam who imagined this sled dog stage race in order to relaunch sled dog racing in France and Europe. The first edition of the Grande Odyssée thus took place in 2005 and, little by little, the event imposed itself on the calendars of mushers and spectators alike. Today is the annual event not to be missed!
La Grande Odyssée is 13 days of racing over nearly 400 km, eleven stages against the clock including a Mass Start start, 12,000 meters of elevation gain and an average of 32 km per day. It brings together more than 65 mushers and their 600 dog-athletes for the most demanding race in a unique setting in the world.
The teams of the Grande Odyssée will cross around twenty resorts, villages and towns and will evolve on Nordic, Alpine or even forest routes through the idyllic landscapes of Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
The 2023 edition of the Great Odyssey
This year, the Grande Odyssée VVF begins in Megève on the weekend of January 7 and 8. The hostilities will start with the opening ceremony for a day filled with entertainment in the heart of the VVF village and from January 8 the organizers will give the start of the 1st stage from Megève to the Côte 2000.
On January 9, the mushers and their teams will pass through La Chapelle d'Abondance, Bernex on the 10th. end of January 13 to 15, it will be the turn of the Haute Maurienne Vanoise stages with those of Aussois and Bessans-Val Cenis and the mushers will have the chance to cross one of the most beautiful villages in France, Bonneval-sur-Arc . On January 16 and 17, the teams will cross Pralognan-la-Vanoise and Valmorel to Doucy. Two last stages in Isère will close this edition with the Col de Porte on January 18 and the last stage in Villard-de-Lans on January 19. This last station will host the closing ceremony where the final prizes will be awarded.
Throughout the Great Odyssey, the departure villages will offer numerous activities, contests and stands run by the partner VVF and even educational approaches for sled dogs.
Learn more about the race on the official event website: https://www.grandeodyssee.com/
The well-being of dogs, a fundamental element of the Great Odyssey
In order to guarantee the well-being of the dogs, a team of eleven experienced veterinarians accompanies the mushers throughout the Great Odyssey and ensures that the well-being and physical integrity of the dogs are respected. A health check is carried out before the start of the race and a clinical examination of each competing dog is also requested. The veterinary team also intervenes in the event of an emergency and provides the necessary recommendations and care after each end of the stage. Namely, that during the competition, a dog may be temporarily excluded if it is judged to be in poor shape and anti-doping tests are carried out during the race of the Grande Odyssée in a completely unexpected way.
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