Author: wmra_wp

“This Saturday, October 6.,&nbsp,2012,&nbsp,a mountain on the edge of Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana hosted one of the races with the longest tradition – the Smarna gora race was this year organized for the 33. time.
The race was also WMRA Grand Prix Finals after cancellation of the race in Bursa, Turkey.
The Smarna gora race once again shone in all its beauty.
”
“Not only the weather conditions were perfect with sun shining and almost ideal temperatures but about 180 contesters from 12 countries created great atmosphere on the top of the mountain.
Athletes competed on 10 kilometers of technically demanding course which has been changed two years ago making it a bit longer and less dangerous.
In the men’s division a group of athletes from Italy, Eritrea, Switzerland and Slovenia dictated the pace of the race but in the crucial fight in the last meters Alex Baldaccini (ITA) showed more strength and finished first only a tenths of a second before Teklay Azerya (ERI).
They both improved the record of the race for 30 seconds and record is now set on 41 minutes and 32 seconds.
In women’s competition Slovene champion Mateja Kosovelj (SLO) did not allow any surprises and lead from start to finish improving the record of the course for no more than 2 seconds. After failing to qualify in the Olympic marathon she was highly motivated to improve her position in WMRA Grand Prix placement and she succeeded with excellent performance on Smarna gora. The second to finish the race was Stevie Kramer (USA) before Valentina Manzi Belotti (ITA) who finished third.
The Smarna gora race was also the finale of the 2012 Grand Prix competition.
Both Teklay and Manzi Belotti had to do their best and finish in top positions if they wanted to keep winning position in Grand Prix and we had to admit that they showed great performance and didn’t make any mistakes.
But the ranking on other positions is completely mixed after the final race.
In men’s competition Teklay Azerya (ERI) won with 404 points, followed by Alex Baldaccini (ITA) with 327 points and Gabriele Abate (ITA) with 305 points. Last year’s Smarna gora and Grand Prix winner Ahmet Arslan (TUR) ended fourth (233 points) and showed that we can count on him again next year, since he is now recovering after some health problems.
In women overall placement Valentina Belotti Manzi (ITA) won with 357 points. Iva Milesova (CZE)&nbsp,took second place with 283 points before Mateja Kosovelj (SLO)&nbsp,with 267 points.
See full results on http://www.timingljubljana.si/
Source by www.liverun.it
Video&nbsp,of the race http://youtu.be/6R-MoxOU9uM
Video of the prize ceremony: http://youtu.be/ngCrzEB1GIc

News by&nbsp, Tomo Sarf (WMRA)

Photos (source by LOC)
on front page:
– sprint for the victory in the men race,
on second page:
– Mateja Kosovelj, winner women.

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“The International Smarna Gora Mountain Running Race remains one of the highlights of the mountain running season, and its rich tradition will continue on Saturday, October 6, with its 33rd edition.
After Turkish organizers in Bursa canceled what was to be the final race of the 2012 WMRA Grand Prix circuit, the Smarna Gora race organizing committee met and the decision was made to help the WMRA by again hosting this top class international mountain running event as the final race in the Grand Prix.
In spite of the change of the Grand Prix final race date — from September 22 to October 6 — and a different type of mountain course — up/down vs uphill, the WMRA Grand Prix final will attract many top runners to the slopes of Smarna gora.
”
“In the autumn and fall season of 1979 running enthusiasts from Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital, decided to organize a race to the top of one of the most popular mountains in Slovenia at Smarna Gora.
Nobody envisaged that it would become such a massive event with worldwide popularity.
The WMRA Grand prix champions of the world will again be crowned this Saturday at this magnificent mountain peak.
In the early 1990s the event was the first national championships in the new nation of Slovenia and later that decade, world champion Lucio Fregona (ITA) made the &copy,marna Gora race an internationally recognized event.
After the millennium, the &copy,marna Gora race became one of the founding members of the WMRA Grand Prix and since than it has been the final Grand Prix event on ten occasions.
In the last 33 years many world champoin medalists have been tested on the demanding course that takes runners 360 meters uphill to the first summit, followed by 300 meters of technical descent before a 300 meter climb to the finish.
The top men will race just over 40 minutes for this 10-kilometre course.
This Saturday, the best mountain runners will again meet to test their strength, speed and skills.
This will be the first meeting after the World Championships and many will strive to climb the famous podium at Smarna Gora.
This will be a tall order, as the top female runners will include World Championship second place finisher Valentina Belotti (just married Emanuele Manzi, ITA) and Mateja Kosovelj (SLO) who took sixth place.
Stevie Kremer (USA), the 2012 WMRA World Long Distance Challenge winner, will also try to earn a spot on the podium.
Slovenia’s Lea Einfalt, the World Junior Championships bronze medalist, is expected to be a factor at some stage of this wonderful festival of mountain running in Slovenia.
In the men’s event, six-time European champion Ahmet Arslan of Turkey, returns to defend his Smarna Gora title from 2010 and 2011.
Strong Eritrean team members will test the Smarna gora course for the first time, Teklay Azeria, 3-times world vice-champion and Grand Prix current leader will do his best to improve upon Arslan’s course record and his fellow team member Tekle Yossief, 2010 junior world Champion (Kamnik-Slovenia) will try to repeat his successful run on Slovenian soil.
Mitja Kosovelj of Slovenia is well positioned to offer a strong challenge since he knows the course very well.
David Schneider (SUI) will test his recovery on Smarna gora.
Other world-class male mountain runners include the always-strong Italian and British national team members: Gabriele Abate, Alex Baldaccini, Emanuelle Manzi, Orlando Edwards, Gary Priestley and many others.

News by WMRa (Tomo Sarfand Nancy Hobbs)

Photos (source by LOC):
on front page:
– Lea Einfalt (SLO):
on second page:
– Gabriele Abate (ITA)
– Mateja Kosovelj (SLO)
– IAAF Mountain Running permit
– David Schneider (SUI)

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“The 33. Smarna Gora International race will the Final race of the WMRA Grand Prix 2012.

“

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The mountain race at&nbsp,Bursa, Turkey, on September 23, 2012 was to be the&nbsp,Final race of the WMRA Grand Prix 2012 program, but&nbsp,was canceled due to organizational problems.
Within the next 24 hours, the&nbsp,WMRA&nbsp,will provide an update about the status of the Final race of the WMRA Grand Prix 2012 which will be promptly posted on the&nbsp,on the&nbsp,WMRA&nbsp,&nbsp,webpage.

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“Two wonderful sunshine days welcomed the runners to the 20. Jungfrau Marathon, valid like 9. WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge 2012, held at Interlaken, Switzerland.
6317 were in total the runners who finished races: 4868 men and 1449 women and more than two hundred runner did not arrived to the finish. A record of participants!
Medal table of the 9. WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge 2012 saw USA with 4 medals (2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze) in the leader position, then Austria with 3 medals (1 each gold silver and bronze), Hosting Country Switzerland with 2 medals (1 gold and 1 silver), Slovenia with 1 silver medal and Germany and Kenya with 1 bronze each.”
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On Saturday 8. September, with a come-from-behind victory, American Stevie Kremer bested the field of the runners to win gold in a time of 3h22.42.
&quot,The race was nothing short of spectacular,&quot, said the 28-year-old Kremer, &quot,From the organization to the support, to the course and the views, this was an amazing race. I am thrilled to have been a part of it and so proud and excited for TEAM USA!&quot,
Kremer refers to Team USA’s gold-medal team victory in the World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge division of the race. The team of five, with three to score was selected in mid-June before Kremer indicated her interest in racing Jungfrau, so she was not a scoring member for the team.
Silver medal was Austrian Sabine Reiner (time 3h24.10) and leading Team USA – an all-Colorado squad – to the gold medal was third-place finisher Kim Dobson who posted a time of 3h26.58.
Dobson won gold team medals together Melody Fairchild, (ninth), Brandy Erholtz, (16. place), Ashley Arnold (32. place), and Gina Lucrezi (35. place).
In fourth position finished French, Aline Camboulives, just before the first swiss at the finish,
In the first ten position to note the presence of Angela Mudge (Scotland, 7. – many times medalist at World Mountain Running Championships) and Hakenstad Evertsen Anita (Norway, 8 – European Mountain Running Champion&nbsp, on 201 at Cauterets).
The scoring for the World Long Distance Challenge is calculated based on combined times of the top three scoring runners. Team USA won with 11h00.50, by nearly ten minutes over home country Switzerland (11h09,53). Austria finished in third position with 11h35.39.
Eleven national teams are in the results: in the order from the fourth position to the eleventh: Germany (4.- 11:39.13),&nbsp, Russia (5. – 11:48.57), Scotland (6. – 11:55.54), England&nbsp, (7. – 11:58.54), Australia (8. -12:32.10), Slovenia (9. – 12:42.05), Wales (10. -12:57.22) and Czech Republic (11. – 13:02.23
How the race unfolded was described by Bryant, team leader coach of USA team: &quot,With the easy first 15K at Jungfrau, the race started fast. None of the American women, including Stevie, were with the front pack. At 15K, Stevie was in the second or third pack of women and Kim was a little farther back with about 1-2 minutes on the rest Melody, Brandy, Ashley, and Gina running as a group. They all ran so smart beginning to move up as the climbing began, then continuing to move forward as the sustain climbs of the second half of race wore on. The race gains more than 2200 meters over the 42 kilometer course. We were able to see the women several times as we progressed from train stop to train stop, plus passing them and cheering from the train&quot,.
The day after, with similar weather conditions, Austrian Hohenwarter Markus was always on the top position of the race: before together Kenyan Hosea Tuei who finished third (3h01.24) and then alone.
Hohenwarter won gold medal with&nbsp, a time of few seconds less than three hours: 2h59.42.
Silver medal finished the defending title 2011 Slovenian Mitja Kosovelj who run second part of the race crossing over a lot of runners and arrived at the finish lane in 3h00.47.
For Long Distance Challenge, in the team result, triumph for the Swiss team&nbsp, with total time of 9h32.11 (Wieser Patrick 4. – 3h03.11, Lauenstein Marc 14. – 3h12.45, Mathys Christian 21. – 3h16.14, Birchmeier Ralf 25. – 3h16.30 and Wenk Stephan 38. – 3h28.34,6). Second and silver medal was USA team with time of 9h38.20 and third and bronze medal was Germany with time of 9:42.22.
Thirteen national teams are in the results: in the order from the fourth position to the thirteenth
Scotland (4. – 9h44.50), Wales (5. – 9h53.12), Slovenia (6. – 9h53.14,5), Austria (7. – 9h59.43), England (8. – 10h15.18), Czech Republic (9. – 10h46.49), Mexico (10. – 11h05.19), Northern Ireland (11. – 11:24.41), Russia (12. – 11:38.02) and Ukraine (13. – 14:56.55).
All the present congratulated LOC, in particular Christoph Seiler and his staff, for the great organization of the event and the general opinion was that in the future the European mountain running championships or the World mountain running championships could be organized by this LOC on this wonderful part of Switzerland!
Attended to the event President of the Swiss Athletic Federation, Hansruedi Muller, and for WMRA the President, Bruno Gozzelino, and two Council members, Wolfgang Munzel and Tomo Sarf.
Next edition 10. WMRA World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge 2013 will be held in Poland, at Szklarska Por&#281,ba on 3. August 2013.
Watch for full individual and team results at www.datasport.com.

News by WMRA President, Bruno Gozzelino

Photos
On front page:
– the first three women with Seiler, Umberg, Gozzelino and Cooly, mascotte of the European Track and Field Zurich 2014. Source by swiss-images.ch.
On second page:
– podium team women. Source by Winfried Stinn
– Hohenwarter at the finish Source by swiss-images.ch
– the first three men. Source by swiss-images.ch

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“After 2007 the Word Mountain Running Association (WMRA) has chosen the Jungfrau-Marathon for the second time to organize the World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge.
The women world champion will be chosen on 8 September 2012.
The men’s world championships race will take place on 9 September 2012.
On Saturday all the women categories as well as the men categories M50 to M70 will start for the race.
On Sunday the men categories M20, M40 and M45 will start for the race.
The starting time for both marathons (Saturday and Sunday) will be 9 am.”
“Finally the entries are 8.200 and runners come from 70 countries participating in the marathon.
Men’s favorites are Markus Hohenwarter (winner 2011), Marco de Gasperi (winner 2010), Mitija Kosovelj (defending world challange), and the strong Kenyans, Ethiopian and USA teams.
Women’s favorites are Aline Camboulives (winner 2011), Jasmin Nunige (SUI) and the strong teams from the USA.
As&nbsp, LOC say, the Jungfrau and the world famous panorama have made this event a marathon of superlatives a cult race and the alpine equivalent of the New York event. All the present can run with a complete view of Eiger, M&ouml,nch and Jungfrau finishing no ordinary marathon but a unique runners experience .
Along the way the scenery keeps changing: The emerald Lake of Brienz contrasts with the icy mountain giants of the region, the sheer rock faces in the Lauterbrunnen Valley with the bubbling waters of the L&uuml,tschine and the gnarled stone pines below the Wengernalp with the eternal ice of the majestic Silberhorn.
Highlights will be the opening and award ceremonies, performances from DJ &Ouml,tzi Saturday and Sunday as well as two extra shows of the William Tell Open-Air Theatre.

news by LOC and Bruno Gozzelino (WMRA)

pictures source by LOC
On front page:
– start of the race,
On second page:
– one top runner during the race.
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“A record 40 nations competed in 28. World Mountain Running Championships 2012 in Ponte di Legno, Italy with eleven nations earning medals in the four events.
The LOC from the Italian villages of Temu, Tonale and Ponte di Legno were impressive with their quality of course and hospitality.
The weather was rainy for the two days preceding the race, but race day saw the Vallemonica area host fantastic conditions for mountain running with temperatures between 10-15 degrees C with just a slight breeze.
Medal table of the event saw five Countries that won titles.
2 gold medals each for Turkey (plus 2 silver and 1 bronze), for Eritrea (plus 1 silver) and for Uganda, whilst one gold medal each for USA (plus 1 bronze) and for Austria. Italy won four medals in total: 3 silver and 1 bronze. Germany won 1 silver and 1 bronze medal, and Great Britain 1 silver. Bronze medals also for Russia (two) and for Slovenia and Switzerland (one each).
There were many supporters from the mountain running families of Menici, Agostini, Donati and the team of volunteers hosted a challenging course.
”
“Senior Men’s Race (14.1km,&nbsp, +1150m)
The Eritrean team set a fast pace and by 9 km had a commanding lead with Petro Mamo over 20 seconds ahead of team-mate Azeria Teklay (ERI). Andrey Safronov (RUS) was just ahead Tsige (ERI) and a trio of Italians, which was the order that was maintained at the finish line.
The team race was very close between 3 athletes but with 4 to count it was Eritrea (17) who took team gold ahead of Italy (31) with Russia (75) taking the bronze medal.
Senior women (8.8 km, +760m)
The women’s race saw a return by Andrea Mayr (AUT) running strong to win ahead of a very popular Valentina Bellotti (ITA) from the home venue. Morgan Arritola (USA) took the bronze medal. Sabine Reiner (AUT) impressed the WMRA Grand prix rankings with her 5th individual position.
The USA team were the strongest team taking gold with 3 athletes in the top 10 with just 18 points. Second place went to Italy (29) with Switzerland in third (58).
Junior Men (8.8 km, +760m)
The Junior Men’s race saw a strong performance from Uganda’s Michael Cherop who was chased all the way by Adem Karagoz (TUR). Bronze medal went to Sommez Dag (TUR) just 10 seconds ahead of Moses Kurong (UGA). A popular Nekagenet Crippa (ITA) was 5..
The team race was won by Uganda (13 points) with second place going to Turkey (20) and Italy taking the final podium place.
Junior Women (3.9 km, +310m
The junior women saw much change in the final kilometre of the 3.9km event.
The leader Sevilay Eytemis (TUR) held on for a 39-second victory from a fast finishing Julia Lettl (GER) with 2011 champion Lea Einfalt (SLO) taking the bronze medal ahead of 2012 European champion Annabel Mason (GB).
As expected the team competition was very close between Great Britain and Turkey, with the gold medals going to Turkey (9), one point ahead of the British team. Germany (15) took the bronze team medals.
Attending the Championships were David Okeyo (KEN) and Sean Wallace Jones as IAAF delegates and Franco Arese, FIDAL President, together Pierluigi Migliorini, FIDAL Council member. The WMRA Council were also present, with new honorary member Pierre Weiss (FRA) who was appointed during the WMRA Council meeting before the Championships.
29. WMRA Congress was also held with many important decisions that included titleupdating the WMRA Constitution and the World Mountain Running Championships rules and other aspects for improving the growing the sport of mountain running. Delegates from over 40 nations were present over the weekend and a strong bid for hosting the 2014 World Championships in Obudu, Nigeria was made and has been accepted under conditions set by the WMRA. This would make Africa the fifth continent to host the world event for mountain running.
Another important step for this year’s championships was doping control with over 50 athletes’ blood tested by anti-doping officials organized from the IAAF. The purpose was to produce blood passports as a baseline for testing at future events.
Next year the 29. WMRA World Mountain Running Championships will be held in Poland on 8. September 2013.

news by WMRA Bashir Hussain

pictures source by LOC
on front page:
– podium senior women individual
on second page:
– podium senior men individual
– podium senior women team
– flower ceremony junior men individual
– podium junior men team
– flower ceremony junior women individual
– podium junior women team

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“The Atletic Vallecamonica Club with its member under the direction of the General Director Innocente Agostini, together all the people living at Tem&ugrave, and Ponte di Legno Vallecamonica,&nbsp, are ready to host on next week end the 28. World Mountain Running Championships.
This is the seventh time that World Mountain Running Championships is held in Italy.
The uphill race is really a technic track and it will be a perfect terrain for the battle among the top mountain runners for the world titles 2012.
The finish line will be at Tonale Pass, a very famous place in the Italian Alps.
It was a great job for the WMRA delegates Raimondo Balicco and Tomo Sarf to coordinate the work of the LOC that accepted the job with plenty of enthusiasm and energy with the clear goal – to organize a good sport event.”
“A group of sponsor – both public and private – make possible the organization of this event.
FIDAL, as usual, gave its great support to the event and Franco Arese, FIDAL President will attend to the Championships together other FIDAL Officials.
The final entry forms were sent by 43 countries that announced their participation.
For the first time ever runners from Malta and Nigeria are announced at the start whist other Countries will come back in mountain running family after a lot of years missed: South Africa, San Marino, Sweden and so on.
LOC is waiting for the presence of more than 350 runners: 157 senior men, 92 senior women, 71 junior men and 52 junior women are untried at the moment!
In case that more than 40 Nations will be present it will be the record for the World Mountain Running Championships.
None of the senior champions will be at the start instead both junior world champions (Adem Karagoz – TUR and Lea Einfalt SLO) will defend their title, but all the four races will be certainly a lot of strong runners who will try to win medals!
TV coverage on live by local television is guaranteed by LOC.
IAAF support to the event was usually very important: Pierre Weiss, Special Advisor to the IAAF President for WMRA relations,Kenyan David Okeyo, Chairman of IAAF Cross Country Commission, and Sean Wallace- Jones, IAAF Office, will attend to the Championships, together almost full WMRA Council, with its President, Bruno Gozzelino.
On the day before the event the important Annual WMRA Congress will be held in Ponte di Legno. During this Congress a lot of very important decision will betaken for the future of mountain running in the world!

Bruno Gozzelino by WMRA

Pictures:
On front page:
-&nbsp,logo of the event (source LOC)
on second page:
-&nbsp,view of finish area at Tonale pass (source LOC)

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“Stephen Kiprotich run the race of his life to become only the second Ugandan to win Olympic Gold (John Akii-Bua won the 400m hurdles in the 1972 Games in Munich to bag the first ever gold).
He is a long-distance&nbsp, runner and his career shows to everybody that among the discipline of athletics there is also mountain running.
Uganda Athletics Federation was one&nbsp, of the first Federation in Africa that considered mountain running as discipline of athletics and decided that a great number of its runners must take part to international&nbsp,mountain races,&nbsp,at the same time competing in marathon or cross country or track (10 km., 5 km. &nbsp,or 3.000 mt steeplechase): it seems a winning policy!”
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Kiprotich was born on 27 February 1989 in Kapchorwa.
At the age of seventeen he moved to Eldoret, Kenya to pursue his career as a long distance runner. He is the youngest of seven children.
This year alone Kiprotich had four international exposures in the marathon, 30km and half marathon with three events in Tokyo and the other in Manchester to given him enough preparation for the Olympics.
He is now the 2012 Olympic Marathon champion after stunning a field with a host of Kenyans and Ethiopians.
Kiprotich’s win puts the 23yr old in an elite group of Ugandan athletes who have tasted Olympic success. Uganda’s other Olympic medalists are boxers Eridad Mukwanga (silver, 1968), Leo Rwabwogo (bronze, 1969 and silver, 1972), John Mugabi (silver, 1980) and middle distance runner Davis Kamoga (bronze, 1996).
As told, all knows the Stephen Kiprotich honor’s race like follow:
– cross country: finished 6. at the 39. IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2011 (Punta Umbr&iacute,a) and 23. at 37. IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2009 (Amman) and when he was Junior he finished 12. at 36. IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2008 (Edinburgh), 19. at the 35. IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2007 (Mombasa) and 24. at the 34. IAAF World Cross Country Championships2006 (Fukuoka).
– 10 km.: finished 6. Senior in the 2010 Africa Championships in Nairobi and 5. Junior at 12th IAAF World Junior Championships 2008 (Bydgoszcz),
– 5 km: he run an heat (finished 16.) at 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics 2007 at Osaka.
– marathon: finished 9. in the 13. IAAF World Athletics Championship in Daegu 2011, his personal best in marathon is 2:07:20 run on 2011 in Enschede.
But a very few people remember and note that Stephen Kiprotich finished 5. senior at the 26. WMRA World Mountain Running Championships 2010 at Kamnik (Slovenia) and was also fourth as member of Uganda Team in the Nation result (behind Eritrea, USA and Italy)!
No words more, but it is a pity that in the statistics information the results in mountain running are often forgot!

News by WMRA (Bruno Gozzelino) thanking IAAF and Uganda Athletics Federation.

Picture:
On front page:
– Kiprotich run at Kamnik (source Gerry Brady)
On second page:
– Kiprotich winner London Olympic marathon (source AAP)&nbsp,

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“Runners from five South American Countries run the 7. CONSUDATLE Mountain running Championships at the wonderful venue of the Canon of Chicamocha in Aratoca, Santader Region.
In fact were present athletes coming from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela and, of course hosting Country, Colombia.
The races were also an important check for the next 28. WMRA World Mountain Running Championships 2012 in Italy on next 2. September 2012.”
“In the men senior race the winner was the Colombian, Jacinto Lopez (46.39 time), one minute in front of John Jairo Vargas, also him Colombian (47.38 time), whilst bronze medalist was the Venezuelan athlete, Pedro Puentes (50.03 time).
In the team result senior men the gold medal was Colombia (7 points with Jacinto Lopez – 1 , John Jairo Vargas – 2, Rosember Avenda&ntilde,o – 4 and Oscar Moreno – 6, but only three runners count) in front of Venezuela, second (20 points with Pedro Puentes – 3, Pedro Luis Puentes – 8 and Alvaro Florez – 9) and Ecuador, third (22 points with Edinson Conlago – 5, Franklin Tenorio – 7, Pedro Ramos – 10 and Gerson Tulcanazo – 12). Also Brazil took part at the race with Israel Dos Santos (11. with 1.03.28 time)
Colombia won all the medals in the individual women senior race.
In the first three position all Colombian runners: gold medal to Maria Eugenia Rodriguez (time 45.18), silver medal to Johana Riveros (time 49.15) and bronze medal to Angie Orjuela (time) 53.00.
Of course in the team result senior women the title was won by Colombia (6 points with three medalists plus Eva Boyona – time 1.03.44) ahead Venezuela (17 points with Martina Bolcanez – 4, Rosa Mendez – 6, Yaritza Saavedra – 7, Eleonora Toro – 8, and Mileidis Jaime – 9). Argentina with Lorena Acosta (5. place with 56.05 time) and Brazil with Jenifer Do Nascimiento (11. place with 1.13.55 time) were also present in the race.
This year also a junior men race was held.
Colombian runner, Giovanny Leon won the race with time 44.43, followed by two Venezuelan: second, William Diaz (time 49.02) and third Julio Rincon (time 49.19). In the team result Colombia won with 10 points (besides Leon also Franchesco Santa – fourth – and Adrian Bernal – fifth) ahead Venezuela with 12 point (besides Diaz and Rincon also Jose Angulo – seventh)
In the race was present also Marcelo Fabricius, Argentina, who finished sixth.
Dr. Richard Aguilar, Governor of Santander, very happy for this Continental event, declared to be ready for supporting an official bid by Colombian Athletic Federation in way to organize a WMRA World Mountain Running Championships.
More info and pictures are available on the following webpage address:
http://ligasanatle.blogspot.it/2012/08/colombia-domino-suramericano-de-montana.html.

News by Bruno Gozzelino (WMRA) and LOC.

Photos by LOC:
on front page:
– winner Lopez in action,
on second page:
– podium individual men,
– podium team men with dr. Richard Aguilar, Santander Governor,
– podium individual women,
– podium team women,
– a moment of the race.
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