Author: Tomo Sarf

Video Clip from the weekend’s World Mountain Running Championships by Carrota

Top results from today’s World Mountain Running Championships.  The 34th World Mountain Running Championships were held under clear skies and in the beautiful mountains above Canillo, Andorra.  

The Junior races started into an immediate steep climb followed by a forest trail leading to the final steep kilometres.  In the junior women’s event it was a close battle amongst 3 nations for much of the course but over the final kilometre where it flattened slightly Uganda arrived with 2 runners on the podium in Risper CHEBET (1st) and Betty CHEBET (3rd) while Germany’s Lisa OED split them for the silver medal.  Italy’s Alessia Scaini and Angela Mettevi pushed the first three but had to settle for 4th and 5th.  

The Junior men’s race started very fast and over the early stages Uganda pushed hard and ran away with the the tree podium positions.  1st home was Dan CHEBET, 2nd Mathew CHEPKURUI and  3rd Oscar CHELIMO.  Joe Dugdale was 4th for the UK and he had a close battle with Romania’s Gabriel Bularda.  This proved crucial in the team ranking as Joe’s one place higher put the UK into the silver medal in the teams in front of Turkey.  The title being taken by Uganda with the lowest possible points.

The Senior Women ran an intrigueing race and it was a dramatic title defence for Lucy Wambui Murigi (Ken).  She held on from a fast finishing Maude Mathys (Sui) and it was Kenya’s Viola Jelegat in 3rd.  

The men’s battle saw a clean sweep from Uganga. Robert CHEMONGES, Joel AYEKO, and Victor KIPLANGAT put on a dominant display.  Joe Gray (USA) went with them early and pulled away from the chasing pack but couldnt hold the speed of the African’s.  Johan Brugge from Norway and the youngster Jacob Aitkin (UK) who is just out of junior ranks put in great performances for 5th and 6th.  Then the Italians arrived in force on the next three places.  Francesco Puppi, Martin and Bernard Demateis.  

Team rankings can be found on topchrono.net.

Individual results here: WMRCh2018Canillo_Andorra

Photos credit: Damiano Bernadetto for FIDAL Corsa in Montagna

Photos Summary:

Junior men’s podium – 1st Dan CHEBET (UGA), 2nd Mathew CHEPKURUI (UGA), 3rd Oscar CHELIMO (UGA).
Junior women’s podium – 1st Risper CHEBET (UGA), 2nd Lisa OED (GER), 3rd Betty CHEBET (UGA)
Robert CHEMONGES (UGA) and Joel AYEKO (UGA) finish 1st and 2nd at the World Mountain Running Championships.
Lucy Wambui MIRIGI (KEN) defends her World Mountain Running Championship title.

Get more photos and replay the race action by viewing our Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Links to even more photos are coming soon. Follow us on social media for links. 

 WORLD MOUNTAINRUNNING CHAMPS: LUCY MURIGI AND VICTOR KIPLANGAT TO DEFEND THEIR 2017 TITLES

40 nations are on their way to Sunday’s competition in Canillo, Andorra for the 34th World Mountain Running champs by WMRA/IAAF.  It’s one of Europes smaller countries but it boasts very big mountains and is a perfect location for the 2018 Championships.

On steep mountain tracks,  athletes from all over the world will battle it out in a discipline now growing to global level after the recent announcemtent of the co-operation between the WMRA / ITRA and the IAAF.  

The winners of Premana 2017 will be in the competition in Canillo 2018 as title-defenders making the races very exciting and bringing the element of winning both an uphill and up and down World title into the equation.  Very few runners in the history of Mountain Running have been able to win back to back.  For first time on an uphill only World Mountain Champs the distances will be equal for men and women.

U20 WOMEN:
Risper Chebet (Uga) will be on line un U20 women to repeat her success in Premana:against her current european champ Angela Mattevi (Ita) and Anna MacFayden (Gbr) second in eurochamps. Joslin Blair (USA) winner of Mountain Running international Youth cup last june will compete against older athlete to show her growing talent.

U20 MEN:
Oscar Chelimo (Uga) is title-defender in U20 men and he looks good after 13.32 on 5000m on track last August.  All podium places from the European Champs last July in Skopje will be in the race with gold medal Gabriel Bularda (Rom) leading the field with Dugdale (Gbr) and Rossi (Ita). Youth winner Matthew McKay (Gbr ) and silver medal Euan Brennan (Gbr) will also be on the roster to race in the older grade.

Premana 2017 with Lucy Murigi for Kenya winning the title – photo: corsa in montagna

SENIOR WOMEN:
It will be a clash of titans with the return from Premana 2017 of all podium medalists in Canillo.  It’s something incredible and unique to have all of these women back on the startline and in great form to race each other again. Lucy Murigi (Ken) will defend her title and her shape looks very good after tremendous success last August in SierreZinal at the WorldCup round 3.  She is the current leader of WorldCup and she is have a great season.  Andrea Mayr (Aut) will be for sure one of the top contenders.  She prefers the uphill only course so this is one she will be ready for.  The higher altitude will play a part in the races this year and athletes best prepared by altitude training will be at an advantage.  Sarah Tunstall (Gbr), bronze last year, will lead the very strong UK team also considering Emmie Collinge (Gbr) is back in top shape after a long injury layoff.  Maude Mathys (Sui ) the european champion and Anais Sabrie (Fra) and Emma Gould (Gbr) took medals in Skopje and will be names to pay attention to.  Kenya will present a solid team as a nation with Viola Jelagat, Purity Gitonga (second in the Grossglockner Berglauf World Cup 2) and Joyce Njeru who will all join Murigi going for the team title.  The Americans though will defend last years bronze and are back with an even stronger lineup this year with Kasie Enman, Allie Maclaughlin and Addie Bracy and the addition of Annie Bersagel pb 2h28.29 in marathon. Others we can consider for top placing include Gloria Giudici (Ita) and Sarah McCormack (Irl).  The Irelander has had some great success at this years World Cup events.

SENIOR MEN:
How serious Uganda considers mountainrunning is demostrated by reading its fabolous dream team.  World junior cross champ 2017 Jacob Kiplimo (Uga) will lead the team and his season bests of 13.19 on 5000m and 27.30 on 10000m tell so much about his excellent shape.  Silver medal on 10000m in Tampere at world u20 champs, Kiplimo will be joined by Victor Kiplangat (Uga), the World mountain running classic champ last year.  Joel Ayeko and Robert Chemonges (Uga) 2h10.32 his pb in marathon make a formidable lineup.

Against them Kenya with a team leaded by Geoffrey Gikuni Ndungu (winner in GrossGlockner Bergaluf) and Timothy Kirui, Japhet Mwenda and Stephen Ndege. They ran many times this summer along mountains so are not worried for the course.  Whoever aims to win the gold team medal must always check the lineup from Italy where the DeMatteis twins (Bernard first in Skopje and Martin third ) will be joined by Nadir Cavagna and Francesco Puppi.  Puppi,the World Champ from the long distance Mountain Running last year, is also the current leader in the World Cup and was third in SierreZinal so his form is looking to be peaking at the right time.  He can also aim for a podium place as an individual.

Johan Bugger (Nor) , Stian Aarvik (Nor), Andrew Douglas and Jacob Adkin (Gbr) will be outsiders from the european continent for a podium but will all be hoping for a top 10 and on a good day a top 5 place.    The USA team as in the women’s will also be very competitive and are ready to defend Premana’s team title with Joe Gray and Andwy Wacker leading teammates in yet another big race.  Joe is now really experienced and already a World Mountain uphill title holder so look to him to race well and to be going for a podium place.

It all underlines a very positive and exicting World Championships taking WMRA mountain running to Andorra for the first time.

Words by : ALBERTO STRETTI

Victor Kiplangat winning in 2017 in Italy.  Photo: corsa in montagna

Photo of Allie MacLaughlin  : Joe Viger

Start lists for the upcoming World Mountain Running Championships to be held at Canilo, Andorra on 16 September:

START-LIST.pdf

Photo by Timo Zeiller 

Emotions from Sierre Zinal in Switzlerland and Round 3 from the World Cup of Mountain Running

With 3 rounds of the World Cup having taken place it’s time to take a quick look at the rankings and recap so far.

In the Womens rankings 13 countries are represented in the top 20 positions as shown in the table below.  Andrea Mayr tops the table while in the mens Francesco Puppi (ITA) has the lead and shows that by consistency he will be hard to beat for the title.  Behind him it tightens up with 9 athletes with in 90 points of each other.  

As the athletics family continues to grow with an expansion into new territories, 2021 will be a major milestone year for the sports of trail and mountain running with the inauguration of the IAAF World Trail and Mountain Running Championships, a result of a unique partnership between the IAAF, ITRA and WMRA.

At a joint press conference today ahead of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in Chamonix, France, the International Trail Running Association (ITRA) and World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) announced that they would join athletics global governing body, marking the beginning of a new era for two of the largest running communities in the world.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe said: “Running is the most natural thing in the world and we want to encourage people around the world to run in whatever environment they most enjoy.

“As the global federation, it is our ambition to bring all runners together under one umbrella and this process will reach a significant milestone in 2021 when we will host the first combined IAAF Trail and Mountain Running World Championships. It is new and exciting territory for us, and we look forward to offering new opportunities for distance runners to compete in the spectacular settings and on the challenging courses that traditional mountain and trail events offer.”

Under the new agreement, the two organisations are officially becoming technical partners of the IAAF, and will work alongside the International Association of Ultrarunning (IAU), a consultancy partner, with the goal to develop, expand, promote and take trail and mountain running to another level across the world.

This is a unique partnership, bringing all the forms of running, one of the key elements of the sport of athletics, under one umbrella. The pinnacle of this partnership will be the new biennial IAAF World Trail and Mountain Running Championships which will be introduced in 2021. Currently both World Championships in trail and mountain running are held on an annual basis and organised by ITRA and WMRA.

Speaking on behalf of the mountain running community, WMRA President Jonathan Wyatt said: “We are excited to be part of a great initiative where we are able to bring the world’s top mountain and trail runners together at one event. 

ITRA President Michel Poletti said: “Trail running is a booming discipline around the world that deserves international recognition for the elites who represent it. That’s why the partnership project with the IAAF is a great step forward for our sport. It is a way to combine the expertise and skills of each and to share our own experience.

“The organisation of the IAAF World Trail and Mountain Running Championships with the WMRA also promises a bright future, where each discipline can assert its identity and raise the values we share: authenticity, respect and fair-play.” 

New Zealand’s Ruth Croft, an elite trail runner, said: “(The new partnership) is a good thing because we want to be part of a race which will bring together all the top athletes once every two years. The new concept of the world championships was necessary to build the sport.”

“It intrigues me to bring the best athletes together for the same race,” Jim Walmsley, an elite trail from the US, added. 

In the coming months, ITRA, WMRA and IAU will work closely with the IAAF on the details of the new combined biennial World Championships and the creation of biennial area championships which are also part of this new strategy to expand and bring the sports of trail and mountain running to new territories.

Shared press release from the IAAF which also appears HERE. 

On Sunday 26 August the Memorial Partigiani Stellina celebrates its 30th birthday. The first edition was organized in 1989, when a group of friends animated by the passion for mountain running, Adriano Aschieris, Mario Pisano and Don Gianpiero Piardi, with the support of local club Atletica Susa, gave life together with the Bolaffi family and the Olympic champion of Rome 1960 Livio Berruti, at the first mountain race recognized by the IAAF.

History with a capital H, passing from the Roman period and from the Arch of Augustus of Susa to the Second World War with the commemoration of the battle of the Grange Sevine where the partisans, led by the commander Aldo Laghi, alias Giulio Bolaffi, defeated Nazis Army.
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary, the Stellina returns to the original course-track.

The icing on the cake of the festivities will also be the announced presence of FIDAL President Alfio Giomi.

Many champions expected at the start, from the Dematteis Twins, Francesco Puppi and Cesare Maestri that means the Complete Italian National Mountain Running Team, 2018 champion of Europe, to the Norwegian Johan Bugge, from the Kenyan Timothy Kimutai Kirui to the specialists of the skialp Damiano Lenzi and Matteo Eydallin. For the first time the women’s race will take place on the same men’s route, the protagonists announced are the Italian climber Camilla Magliano, the marathon runner Emma Quaglia, the French Anais Sabris, the Irish Sarah Mc Cormack and the British Heidi Davies.

Course Record resists since 2004 and belongs to Jonathan Wyatt who run the 14.4 KM and 1’630 mt D+ in the incredible 1h14’37 “

more info at : www.stellinarace.it
Photo: Damiano Benedetto / Archive Susa Athletics
Writing: Alex Scolari

#stellina #susa #adriano #challengestellina #wmra

The IAAF and the World Mountain Running Association would like to remind all that the IAAF/WMRA Mountain Running Conference will be held on September 14 this year. Commencing at 19.30 the conference will take place at Canilo, Andorra for all of the participants at these Championships

Following on from the successful format that the IAAF has used for coaching seminars at its World Athletics Series events, the mountain running seminar will be held on the Friday evening prior to the WMRA world championships (Sunday, September 16) in Andorra.  Those attending will have the opportunity to hear Andrea Mayr, six-times mountain running world champion, and her coach/husband Andreas Sitz present their thoughts on training and competing in the mountains.

This is an exciting initiative as we join forces with the WMRA to further the education of coaches and athletes who specialise in mountain running,” IAAF Development Department senior manager Gunter Lange said.  We believe it will be an inspiring and interactive seminar and we are confident that this cooperative approach will contribute to stronger development of track and field in the area of mountain running.”

WMRA President Jonathan Wyatt encouraged all of those with a specific interest in mountain running to attend the conference.
We are organising an evening for athletes and coaches to come and hear from the very best people about how to improve and get faster. Mountain Running has plenty of differences from other forms of running so it is a good chance for people to come and ask their questions and learn,” he said.

If this event is a success then the WMRA would like to expand this idea and help organise more events for people interested in coaching and mountain running training.”
Programme for the event

19:30 – 20:15 “Performance limiting factors of Mountain Running”
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hartmann (GER)
20:15 – 20:30 Q & A
20:45 – 21:30 Plenum: Best practise of mountain running training (Q & A)
Andrea Mayr/Andreas Sitz

 Photo: @damianobenedettophoto