Author: Tomo Sarf

An outstanding race from Andrew Douglas (SCO) and Sarah McCormack (IRL) in Wales saw them take the win during round 4 of the WMRA World Cup “Snowdon International Mountain Race” hosted in Llamberis (Wales).  Full results and Race Report by Alberto Stretti / Jonathan Wyatt.

Douglas took the race by the scruff of the neck early on and pushed hard right from the beginning.  Nobody was able to keep pace with his strong climbing, very impressive given his strength is in downhill running.  First it was up to the Irish runner Zak Hanna (IRL), and then the Italian Martin Dematteis (ITA) who tried to close him down but he was too strong and he touched the course summit in an outstanding time of 40’42”.  It was the second fastest time ever and he took 1min 28seconds out of Martin Dematteis who was the closest at the summit as they rounded the highest point and began the descent.

In the Downhill, as the racers sped back down to the finish line, Douglas kept his gap and clocked one of the fastest ever times on this course.  Martin Dermatteis and twin brother Bernard, started more conservatively but at the summit they were both on podium positions 2 and 3.  These places they mantained until the finish with Bernard who was able to push hard in the descent coming back to a welcome return to good form.  It was a great race to fourth place for Zak Hanna who showed one more time to be a real rising star of mountain running and one to watch in the next races.

With today’s success, Douglas consolidates his leadership in the World Cup and could now be very hard to topple from the first postion given his outstanding running this season. Martin Dematteis over takes Filimon Abraham to move into second place in the World Cup ranking, while both Hanna and Bernard Dematteis grabbed some crucial points to put them into contention for a podium place in the final ranking.

A really exciting race developed in women’s comptition as the leadership changed time and again and the winner didn’t emerge until the final mile of the race.

Sarah McCormack (IRL) set off very strongly after the start, but as the climb steepend she was overtaken by Hatti Archer (ENG) however McCormack arrived at the summit alone with a handy 46 second lead over Elisa Sortini (ITA) with Archer in close company.

Sortini showed why she is known as one of the best descenders in Mountain Running and reeled in the front runners. She caught a tiring McCormack inside the last 2 miles creating an exciting showdown and a sprint finish to decide the winner.  But McCormack dug deep and increased her effort enough to draw away from the italian arriving at the finish line completely exhausted but a winner by 22 seconds.  Hatti Archer completed days podium with a solid third place.

Now McCormack finds herself with a good advantage in the World Cup given some of her main rivals were not competing in the race.  The closest runner to her from the classification of the World Cup was Emma Clayton who finished in a solid if not spectacular 9th place, but it was a welcome return after an injury so she brings some points in the race to the World Cup podium that moves on to Switzerland for Round 5.

So now it’s time for Sierre Zinal, in the French speaking Valais region of Switzerland.  It’s a showdown where we will understand clearly if Sarah McCormack and Andrew Douglas will carve their on to the final World Cup crystal globes.

Link here to a selection of Pictures (Credit: WMRA, M. Gulberti, Coluccia’s Brothers): PHOTOS

Link to results: Results Snowdon International 

Link to preliminary ranking for the World Cup and results from the previous 3 rounds: Prelimany Results 

(Credit: WMRA, M. Gulberti, Coluccia’s Brothers)

(Credit: Sport Pictures Cymu)

With the past weekends World Cup from Austria still fresh in mind it’s already time to shift attention to the “Snowdon International Mountain Race.“ It will be almost certainly a pivotal point of this years Mountain Running World Cup as runners from USA, Kenya, Japan, France, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Italy travel to the hills and fells of North Wales lining up with 650 locals to race in the United Kingdom.  It could be described as also being a birth place of the sport of mountain running and so it’s with great pleasure that the World Mountain Running Association is involved with such an important race.

One of the legendary mountain running courses, of this there is no doubt,  it races over 10 miles (16km) in the heart of Snowdonia National Park in Wales.

Let’s start with the women’s field where Irish runner Sarah McCormack (IRL) is a name that will be familiar with followers of the World Cup as she is always very consistent over the mountain running events.  Here in Snowdonia she has won twice (2014 and 2015) and with that record will be one of the favourites.  She will of course try to win for the third time this iconic mountain running race.  She arrives in Wales encouraged by her recent results that includes hitting the leadership in the WMRA World Cup after a 2nd place at Annecy’s Maxi Race (World Cup Round 1) and her 4th place at GrossGlockner berglauf (World Cup Round 3) showing that consistency is the key for World Cup success.

Elisa Sortini (ITA), fresh from a strong European Championship Mountain Race will be strong competition and one of the top contenders aiming to reach the podium after her 4th place finish at Snowdon back in 2015.  

Look for local runners Katie Beecher and Welsh national team debutant Elliw Haf to feature.  Hatti Archer (ENG) had a good showing at the recent European Mountain Running Championships.  Then Kelli Roberts (ENG) has literally romped away with the first three rounds of the British Fell Champs this year and on current form should be considered.  Miranda Grant (SCO) has form on this course with her 2nd place in 2018 and finally let’s not count out Emma Clayton (ENG) on the come back from injury.  She has many years of World Mountain Running competition experience to draw on when she lines up.

On the men’s side it will be current World Cup leader Andrew Douglas (SCO) who will lead the field with the goal to consolidate further his leadership but also to improve on his Austrian result last week where he missed the podium coming home in 4th.  Douglas comes to Wales after winning the first two of three races in the Cup so is still in a commanding position and the Snowdon course will suit his style of running on this fell running style of course involving a climb to the summit followed by a descent back to the start.

Sam Sahli (USA), second at the Broken Arrow World Cup Round 2 race and Zak Hanna (IRL ) will add spice to an interesting field which also features the Italian twins Martin and Bernard DeMatteis (ITA).  They are both former winners of World and European Mountain Running titles and they are also very strong on an up and down Mountain Running course like this one.  Luca Cagnati (ITA) returns again and they all can, and should be considered solid contenders for the title and will try to make it three in a row for Italian winners after wins by Davide Magnini in 2017 and Alberto Vender who stormed to victory in 2018.

But it could well come down to the many strong local athletes to take the spotlight and leading the Welsh charge will be Mark Hopkinson and Russell Bentley is another to watch.  He knows the area very well, and as a 2-time winner of the Snowdonia Marathon will always be strong on this gruelling mountain event.  All the local runners will ensure the Snowdon International Mountain Race is an exciting showdown for top mountain runners in the area.   Eryri Harriers always turn out in force for Snowdon especially this year as its 40 years since they first partnered with Italian runnering club CSI Morbegno who started to visit Llanberis and continues an exchange to this day.  The race will have a special trophy for the first non uk runner in memory of Gianpettro Botta who stared this iconic connection.

Race director Stephen Edwards says “The 2019 race is set to be out best ever. We have a new headline sponsor on board for this year in the form of Castell Howell and we are really excited to have Round 4 of the World Cup coming to Llanberis!”

Other features of the day will be the traditional junior races starting ten minutes after the main race at 2.10pm on the Saturday, the ‘Hwyl i Bawb’ family run at 10.30am, and the Thursday evening local junior races, which will see almost 200 youngsters taking part.

The International Snowdon Race incorporating the World Mountain Running Championship series will be held in Llanberis on Saturday, 20 July 2019, with the Race starting at 2pm. It is an icon of British running and is followed all over the World,  it has always proven to be a great festival of running, with hundreds of local athletes and many more hundreds of spectators cheering the athletes as they take on the challenge.  

The 2019 World Cup calendar has a total of 7 exciting and unique races, in 7 different countries, with over 140km of mountain racing tracks, 9300m+ of elevation and a total prize pool of approximately 56,000 euro across all of the races which includes the overall World Cup competition ranking.

By Corsa In Montagna / Stephen Edwards / Jonathan Wyatt 

 Snowdon Promo Video

Recap video from Round 3 in Austria

Sarah Tunstall (GBR) and Filimon Abraham (ERI) took very deserving wins at the GrossGlockner Mountain Race in Austria.  It was the third round of the WMRA Mountain Running World Cup and both women’s and men’s races were incredibly exciting with changes to the podium positions right up until the final few hundred metres.  A spectacular feature of the Austrian race that takes place beneath the shadow of Austria’s highest peak, the 3700m Grossglockner towering above the finish area across the glacier, is the amazing crowds and support and cheering as the runners zig-zag up the final 2km that ring out across the valley.

It really was a great duel for the men with last years winner Geoffrey Gikuni Ndungu (KEN), who only decided at the last minute to take part in the race, and the strong young Eritrean, Abraham who was able to increase his pace over the final steps to snatch the victory at the iconic Kaiser Franz-Josefs-Höhe.  It was really anyone’s race though going into the final 3km with 6 runners all within a minute of each other.  Manuel Innerhofer (AUT) shows how much he has improved over this season was hanging on to the front two at the 3km to go mark and then Andrew Douglas (GBR),  Francesco Puppi (ITA) and Martin Dematteis (ITA) were all spaced just 100 metres apart at this point.

 But is was the great race by Manuel Innerhofer (AUT) who clocked an incredible third place after his intelligent pacing strategy to start more conservatively and then ‘pace-change’ in the second part to escape from the other contenders.  With a fourth place  in the GrossGlockner, Andrew Douglas (GBR) earned some more points to confirm and improve his leading position in WMRA World Cup men’s ranking: he is the only runner to compete at every round of the World Cup so far and this could be his big advantage to win the World Cup this year.

Former long distances World Champion Francesco Puppi (ITA) came home in fifth, one position ahead of his compatriot and former European Champ Martin Dematteis (ITA).

In the Women’s race we talked about Sarah Tunstall (GBR) as being a favourite in the absence of local star Andrea Mayr (AUT)  and she came to Heiligenblut after a strong fourth place in Zermatt at the European Mountain Running Championships last week.  She didn’t let this first time appearance here put her off and she conquered Grossglockner by pushing hard and dominating from the beginning while losing time only in the last part to a strong finishing Purity Gitonga (KEN).  As last year, Purity placed second again beating the real surprise of the day, the Austrian rising star Alexandra Hauser (AUT).  Sarah McCormack (IRL) was able catch the fourth position and with that she became the new leader in World Cup women’s ranking.  Pavla Schorna (CZE ) completed the top five of the GrossGlockner Berglauf and rounded out an exciting competition for the top Mountain Runners.  

More than 1000 runners completed the challenge on this true alpine test.  With glacier and alpine views at the summit of the track and farm meadows and forest streams and waterfalls this event is one that helps inspire and challenge runners of all abilities.

Next stop for the World Cup is the move across the Channel to Wales, in less than one week the contenders for the crystal trophy will face again the storied history and atmosphere of the International Snowdon Race.  It’s a welsh monument of mountain running, with it’s climb up and down and is a very different test for the runners and will be another step on our journey to discover who will be the best all round Mountain Runners in 2019.

Complete results can be here: Grossglockner_Berglauf_2019_-_generali_M_e_F.pdf.

Photos by Marco Gulberti and Live Racing Media Team. More photos can be found on Flickr.

GROSSGLOCKNER BERGLAUF: GATONGA STARTS AS WOMEN’S FAVOURITE AND DOUGLAS CONTINUES THE CHASE FOR THE 2019 WORLD CUP TITLE IN AUSTRIA 

It’s the third stop of this years exciting WMRA Mountain Running World Cup and it takes centre stage in the Austrian village of Heilingeblut.  It is called the “Grossglockner Berglauf.“

The mostly uphill track is known to be fast but incredibly tough climbing up to finish at 2369 meters abovesea level at the Franz Josef Hohe lookout that sits opposite the highest mountain in Austria – the Grossglockner.  The final 800 meters of the race has a section aptly named ‘the wall’ where runners zigzag up the final ascent with the cheers of the crowd echoing out over the glacier valley.  The race track climbs uphill over it’s 13.5 km course and features 1494 meters of positive elevation.

Many of the Worlds best Mountain Running athletes are coming to the Grossglockner directly from the past weekend’s European Championships in Zermatt (Switzerland) where Great Britain and Italy were strong protagonists of the races there.

Gold team medal winner in Zermatt was Andrew Douglas (GBR), who is also leading the World Cup by virtue of winning both stage one and two at Maxi Race and Broken Arrow. He will lead the elite field against a strong field headed by Geoffray Gikuni Ndungu (KEN), the defending champion from the 2018 Mountain Running World Cup making this race an interesting match up of the two strongest Mountain Runners on the World Cup circuit.

Francesco Puppi (ITA), the 2017 WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running champion, Martin Dematteis (ITA), the 2016 European Mountain Running Champion and 5th at stage one at this years Maxi Race in Annecy and Luca Cagnati (ITA) 15th at the recent Trail World Championships in Portugal, are traveling across the border from Italy in what is a very deep mens field and includes athletes from 12 different nations who will take their place on the start line.  Others to watch out for on Sunday will be Robert Surum (KEN) who took third in last years Sierre Zinal World Cup race, Sam Sahli (USA) who was second in the last World Cup race that took place at the Broken Arrow Skyrace in Lake Tahoe USA.  Then we can’t forget that top Austrian based runners will include Isaac Toroitich Kosgei (now living premanently nearby) and Manuel Innerhofer, who had a very strong 8th place in Zermatt (European Mountain Running Championships) last Sunday will push hard to make the podium.

There will be a huge battle in the Women’s race.  If the men’s race is hard to predict then the Women’s competition is even harder!  Purity Gitonga (KEN) and Pavla Schorna (CZE) stand out with their recent history on the high alpine Austrian course.  They recorded a second and third last year in Heilingenblut repectively but this time they will go up against Sarah McCormack (IRL), who took second in the Maxi Race and was third in the World Cup 2018 ranking.  Charlotte Morgan (GBR) is the reigning WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Champion so she is one with plenty of Mountain Running pedigree.  But if we talk about strong international mountain running experience then Sarah Tunstall (GBR) will be the standout name to watch.  She placed fourth last week at the European Mountain Running Championships and will surely confirm her great form with a goal of scoring an important World Cup success in Austria.  This will be her first World Cup race in 2019 and could be a sign that she wants to make a bid for an overall title in the 2019 season.  The athlete with the longest travel to reach Austria must be Sabrina Grogan (NZL) from New Zealand while the name of Gloria Giudici (ITA) has experience on the course and rounds out the female elite runners to watch for the weekend.  

To sum up the Grossglockner Mountain Run would be to call it a ‘Great Classic Mountain Race’ with an atmosphere representing the heart of Mountain Running tradition.  It’s a tough but incredibly scenic and inspiring landscape and mountain envirnoment taking in Austria’s most important National Park.  It’s a mountain run that should be on everyones list of ‘best running events’ to do.  The track leads you across all types of diverse alpine vegetation.  From the grassy alpine meadows with traditional farms and cow bells ringing out over the landscape and on up to the high alpine glacier and moraine fields.  After the start the participants run through the village to the head of the valley above Heiligenblut.  Then it’s off to the Sattelalm and on up to the Bricciuskapelle.  The course track then reaches the biggest glacier of the Eastern Alps, the Pasterze with the finish line that has the runners climbing up to the Kaiser Franz-Josefs-Höhe. Here the crowd urges on all of the 1000 runners with their cheering and encouragement that is a classic feature at this iconic race.

Story: Alberto Stretti / Jonathan Wyatt 

Photos: WMRA / Grossglocknerberglauf

We’ve just published a new video recapping all the action at the Broken Arrow Skyrace in Squaw Valley, CA (USA). This was race #2 in our 2019 World Cup and while Andrew Douglas (SCO) secured his second win, there are also some new faces on the World Cup leaderboard. With her win, Lindsay Webster (CAN) moves into second among women, while Morgan Arritola (USA) and Kasie Enman (USA) moved into ties for 3rd and 4th respectively. On the men’s side, Sam Sahli (USA) ties Andy Wacker (USA) with 90 points while Henri Aymond (ITA) moves into a 3 way tie for 3rd. 

You can read the full story with links to more photos and results in the NEWS section of our website. You can also see longer interviews with all the top finishers at Broken Arrow at this link.

The next World Cup race kicks off at the famous Grossglockner Mountain Run on 14 July. 

Mountain Running athletes from over 10 countries participated in the Broken Arrow Skyrace including several expereinced veterans of mountain and trail running world championships. Check out the videos below to hear what some of them had to say about their race, the spectacular terrain, the WMRA World Cup and what’s next on their competition schedule.

1st place – Lindsay Webster (Ontario, Canada). Prior to winning the Broken Arrow Skyrace, Lindsay was the 2018 Spartan Race US Champion and winner of the 2018 Whiteface Mountain Skyrace in Wilmington, NY.

1st place – Andrew Douglas (Edinburgh, Scotland). Andrew is a Financial Analyst and member of the WMRA Athletes Commission Member. He also won France’s Maxi-Race, the first race in the WMRA World Cup and leads the men’s standings with 200 points. See Andrew’s pre-race interview.

2nd place – Morgan Arritola (Ketchum, Idaho, USA). Morgan has two top 10 finishes at the World Mountain Running Championships and represented the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in cross country skiing.

2nd place – Sam Sahli (Evergreen, Colorado, USA). Sam recently represented the United States at the Trail World Championships in Portugal and finished 2nd at the 2019 USATF 50 km Trail Championships at the other end of the Western States trail in Auburn, California.

3rd place – Kasie Enman (Huntington, Vermont, USA). Kasie is the 2011 World Mountain Running Champion, runner-up at the 2017 World Long Distance Mountain Running Championship and manufacturers maple syrup in the heart of the Green Mountains.

3rd place – Henri Aymonod (Villeneuve, Italy). Henri is a University Student and avid SkiAlp racer. Prior to Broken Arrow he won the 2018 Vertical Fully Race and was part of the 2018 Italian Mountain Running Relay Championships winning team. See Henri’s pre-race interview.

6th place – Emanuele Manzi (Temú, Italy). Emanuele lives just a few hundred meters from the site of the 2012 World Mountain Running Championships and is a Park Ranger for Forestale. He was the runner-up at the 2001 World Mountain Running Championship and member of multiple World Mountain Running Championship gold medal teams for Italy. See Emanuele’s pre-race interview.

You can read the full post race article about the Broken Arrow Skyrace on our website. Updated World Cup standings after two events have also been updated and can be found HERE.

For more news coverage of the Broken Arrow Skyrace & WMRA World Cup stage 2 see aricles from the IAAF, Corsa in Montagna, Athletics Weekly, TrailRunningSpain.com, Trail Running Magazine (UK), Asota Sera (Italy), Asota Sports (Italy), Canadian Trail Running Magazine, iRunFar and CarrerasDeMontana.com.  

Mountain Running World Cup 2019 – Stage 2 – The Broken Arrow Skyrace (Olympic Valley, USA).  The magnificent nature and landscapes of the mountains that dominate Lake Tahoe was perfect today to celebrate the 2nd stage of the 2019 mountain running world cup.  Over 500 runners left the startline at 7.00 am local time in Olympic Valley (USA) to face 26 km and more than 1500 meters of positive gain, with the course-track made much more difficult by the presence of snow at the higher altitudes.

The World Cup 2nd Stage full results: https://www.athlinks.com/event/171438/results/Event/863952/Course/1621216/Results

It was a good battle from the first kilometer where the talk leading into it was, could the international runners take on and compete with the locals who would have a home course advantage, and many of whom would know the course and how to race it.  However Andrew Douglas, who immediately attacked and took the lead and gained seconds on seconds until he had a 3-minute advantage over the pursuers around km 10. Behind the leader there was a very solid race by the American Sam Sahli, closely followed by the Italians Emanuele Manzi and Henri Aymonod.

For Douglas the advantage continued to increase, even when the Scotsman had to face the most technical part of the course, with long sections covered with snow and the need to climb the steeper points with a rope. Nothing has been able to stop the Scottish champion who arrived alone at the finish line to win with the final time of 1h56’31”.

The fight for the second place was finally won by the American Sam Sahli (2h06’18”) who was able to pull the chasers off in the last kilometers. The Italian Henri Aymonod (2h08’03” – pictured below, right) also climbs onto the podium with the final 3rd place, followed by Christian Gerring (USA – 2h08’25”), Gus Gibbs (USA – 2h10’01”) Emanuele Manzi (ITA – 2h10’49”), Ben Robinson (USA – 2h15’16”), Chris Grauch (USA – 2h17’46”), Szado Sandor (HUN – 2h18’25”), Ryan Hoeck (USA – 2h20’49” and Aaron Newell (2h22’20”) to complete the top ten today.

Among the women the race was more balanced and brought in the great surprise of Lindsay Webster (CAN – pictured above), timidly attacking after the first 10 km she was able to maintain a slight advantage over the most famous and experienced rivals Morgan Arritola (USA) and Kasie Enman (USA) who launched themselves in pursuit. After 2h22’35” Lindsay Webster crosses the finish line in 12th overall position, thus completing a great race and winning the women’s competition. Morgan Arritola, 2nd in 2h24’24”, 3rd Kasie Enman in 2h29 09″.

Thanks to the points earned today, Andrew Douglas (pictured below) continues to lead the men’s overall standings of the world cup while in the women’s ranking Lindsay Webster reaches the Kenyan Lucy Murigi, winner of the first test in Annecy (France).

The “world cup circus” is now flying back to Europe and is getting ready for the mini-tour in July when the 3rd and 4th stage will take place within a week: on July 14th the Grossglockner Berglauf in Austria and on July 21st the Snowdon in Wales, two great classics of the mountain running tradition that will surely recall many elite athletes in the competition, ready to challenge each other to decide who, in October, will lift the prestigious crystal trophy to the sky.

The World Cup 2nd Stage full results: https://www.athlinks.com/event/171438/results/Event/863952/Course/1621216/Results
The Broken Arrow Sky Race Official Site: https://www.brokenarrowskyrace.com
The World Cup Official Site: http://www.wmra.info/world-cup
The WMRA official Site: http://www.wmra.info

For World Cup standings after two races CLICK HERE.

@CarrerasMontana @iaaforg @ATRAtrailrunner @BrokenArrowCA @corsainmontagna #wmrabrokenarrow #mountainrunningworldcup #mountainrunning #brokenarrowskyrace

Writing: Alex Scolari for the WMRA
Photos: Richard Bolt and Tayte Pollmann.