Author: wmra_wp

“For once, before talking about a race on behalf of the WMRA we turn our attention to a tragic incident that has marred the event: the day before the race, the President of the LOC, G&uuml,nther Lemmerer, died in a fatal car accident.
In honour of G&uuml,nther Lemmerer, who selflessly devoted his life to athletics and sport, the race was still disputed.

The WMRA extends condolences to the family of G&uuml,nther Lemmerer, to the LOC of the race and to OELV.

The Turkish Arslan Ahmed and Austrian Andrea Mayr were the winners of the race valid as 3rd race of the WMRA Grand Prix 2010.

”
“In the men’s race Arsian Ahmed (No. 37) won with a time of 53.18, ahead of two Kenyans, Kosgei Toroitich (No. 205), second in 54.26 and Christopher Chebusit-Kipchirchir (No. 206), third in 57.24.

In the women’s Andrea Mayr was – as many other times – the winner with a great performance, her time was 1h.04.14. Anna Frost (NZL), second, finished about four minutes behind in 1h.08.04 and Izabela Zatorska (POL) was third with a time of 1h12.32.

Bruno Gozzelino by WMRA

Photo by S. Munir Yaras
Start of men race
Arslan and three Kenyans

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“

The 15th International Sport2000-Feuerkogel Mountain running event on Sunday 8th August 2010 is again part of the WMRA Grand Prix.

Last year the race was dominated by Kenyans: the winner was Geoffrey Gikuni in front of Isaac Kosgei. Third was Adam Osborne from Great Britain.
In the women race Austrian Andrea Mayr was the winner, whilst second was the Slovenian, Mateja Kosovelj,&nbsp, and third the Czech runner, Iva Milesova.

”
The starting time of this year race is 10.00 a.m. and the runners will start from Rathausplatz in Ebensee.
This race is an important moment of the international mountain running season 2010 and specially for the overall result of the WMRA Grand Prix series.

By Bruno Gozzelino

photo by LOC: view of Ebensee.

“Mayrhofen-Austria, 1. August 2010.
The second &quot,Harakiri Run&quot, was also the second event of the WMRA Grand Prix 2010 circuit.

Excellent conditions with sunny but not hot weather and dry course announced attack to the course record set at the first edition in 2009.

A short view to the start list was just an approval of the attack to the best course times, especially in the men’s race. Jonathan Wyatt, 6-times World champion, Ahmet Arslan, 4-times European Champion, Schneider from Suisse, strong Kenyan squad and many other strong international runners gathered on a start line in front of &quot,EuropaHaus&quot, in Mayrhofen.

”
“After 1km running &quot,close race&quot, in the city centre strong Kenyan squad pushed hard and got a small advantage.
Just after those first 2 flat kilometers came the part that gave the name to the course – the &quot,Harakiri&quot,, very steep section where Arslan escaped to the other runners, Wyatt was the only one who can follow his pace on the distance that was increasing up to 30 seconds at the finish. Schneider from Suisse did his best and came as third to the podium. It was not the best day for the four Kenyan runners, who were expected to finish close to the top.
The course record was broken for almost 3 minutes!

In the women’s division Brandy Erholtz from USA, the winner of the North American Championships 2010, clearly wan the race.

Excellent organization and enthusiastic people, challenging course and wonderful scenery are a guarantee that this &quot,rising star&quot, of Austrian Mountain Running could grow up to the highest possible level.

Tomo Sarf for WMRA

Photos by LOC:

– the two winners: Ahmet Arslan and Brandy Erholtz
– Jonathan Wyatt

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“On the 1st of august 2010 at 10 a.m., the start of the only mountain-runnnig race in Tyrol is going to take place down in Mayrhofen, the hometown of Tyol&acute,s internationally successful mountain-runnnig courser Markus Kr&ouml,ll.
Starting at the town center of Mayrhofen, located in 640m altitude, the 10,4 km long course leads up to the mountain station of the Penkenbahn located at 1775 m altitude.

Also attending will be the stars of the Mountain-Running Grand Prix and other Austrian and Tyrolean challengers.

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“ Among the international Top-Stars there are:

• JONATHAN WYATT – 6 times World Champion from New Zealand
• AHMET ARSLAN – 4 times European Champion from Turkey
• ISAAC KOSGEI from Kenya – the Winner of the Gro&szlig,glocknerlauf 2010
• DAVID SCHNEIDER – GP-Expert from Switzerland
• ROBERT KRUPIKA – GP-Expert from Czech Republic
• IVA MILESOVA – GP-Expert 2009 from Czech Republic
• BRANDY ERHOLTZ- USA-Champion

Among the Top-Challengers you will of course also find MARKUS KR&Ouml,LL, the mountain-running wiz from the Zillertal, who designed the HARAKIRI track and who is one of the favorites of the race.

Furthermore there will be other participants from the Austrian national team, headed by ALEXANDER RIEDER, SIMON LECHLEITNER and ALOIS REDL, all of them with the potential to reach the top 6.

Excitement and thrilling fights for positions are certain – not only because of the &euro, 5.000, – prize money but also because of the additional Trophy of Swrovski which is waiting for the winners.

Brilliant Track for everyone
Not only the elite will be welcomed in Mayrhofen, but also racers like &quot,you and me&quot, can take advantage of the unique opportunity and compete with the best on this brilliant track. The last year&acute,s winning times are 53:37 set by Jonathan Wyatt (NZL) and 62:15 set by Andrea Mayr (AUT) and these results are just waiting for you to beat them.

Attractive social program
Of course there will not just be a brilliant track in Mayrhofen, but also an ap-propriate social program.

Concurrent with the distribution of the numbers and the Pasta-Party, the eve will offer a presentation of the stars in the Europahaus which has just been opened up.
Additionally, after the end spurt of the race, the host of the tavern Gsch&ouml,&szlig,wand calls for a picnic.

During the race the tourists and locals can follow the fighting for the top ranks via &quot,Live-Tracking&quot, on a large-format screen in town. It is also possible to keep informed via internet on http://www.mayrhofen.at/live-tracking.

On the event-page you will find the results immediately after the award ceremony.
http://www.mayrhofen-harakiri.com

“

“Kamnik, 25. July – In excellent weather conditions LOC tested the Championships course.
Courses were recognized as challenging, containing all elements necessary for a top level event. According to the results achieved, the following World Championships winning times could be expected:

– junior women: 22 min
– junior men: 44 min
– women: 50 min
– men 57 min

”
“ Full the results are available on: http://www.wmrc2010-kamnik.si/Priloge/1TekNaVelikoPlanino_REZULTATI.pdf

Legend – categories:
– Gender: M = male, Z= female,
– Age categories: 1=U12, 2=U14, 3=U16, 4=Junior (16-19 years), 5=senior, 6-masters1 (40-50), 7-masters2 (over 50).
– example: M3 = boys 15-16 years

Tomo Sarf for WMRA”

“The Venezuelan athletes dominated the 5th edition of South American Mountain Running Championships 2010, in the beautiful scenery covered in snow in the Cerro Arco, near the City of Mendoza, Argentina,&nbsp,in the area of the Precordillera in the Andes. In this year this area has got the greatest precipitation of snow in the past 40 years.
Both races, men and women, were&nbsp,dominated by&nbsp,athletes of Venezuela (Pedro Puente and Cruz Salazar, respectively).&nbsp,
It is important to underline that this is the 5th edition of the South American Mountain Running Championships.

In fact the other four edition&nbsp, were held: on 19^th August 2006, the 1^st CONSUDATLE Mountain Running Championships in Cali (Colombia), on 12^th August 2007 the 2^nd CONSUDATLE Mountain Running Championships in Caracas (Venezuela), on 27^th July 2008, the 3^rd CONSUDATLE Mountain Running Championships in Caleu – Valle del Elqui (Chile) and on&nbsp, 1^st August 2009 the 4^th CONSUDATLE Mountain Running Championships in Quito (Ecuador).

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“

The alliance that has kept the Venezuelan Federation of Athletics with Gatorade and the company Hipereventos in organizing for the sixth consecutive year the national circuits mountain racing in Venezuela and assistance for the same time to the South American Championships has successfully raised the level of Venezuelan runners who – with courage – have made this important victory for their Country.
In fact, in the men race, Pedro Puente (from Merida state&nbsp, in Venezuela) won the title of South American Mountain Running champion 2010 with a time of 52.25, whilst the Venezuelan (representative of the Miranda state) Alexis Martinez Salazar finished in second place with time of 53.04. The podium was completed by the Venezuelans to arrive in the third place Neido Guillen (also him coming from Merida state) with time of 53.20.
The men achieved the first three places and the team rankings (gold medal, of course), followed by Argentina (silver medal) and Brazil (bronze medal).
In the women race Cruz Salazar (representative of the Miranda state) won the title of South American Mountain Running champion 2010, with time of 39.51 in front of the only Peruvian runner present, Elionaq Delgado Castro, second, with a time of 40.28, and Veronica Ramirez, third with a time of 40.43.
In women was the team of Argentina who won the first place overtaking Brazil which ranked second.
A large group of athletes in various categories staged the race of 8 km. and 12 km., up and down, in this discipline of athletics that harvest increasingly followers.

By Bruno Gozzelino (thanking press CONSUDATLE and Venezuelan Athletics Federation).

Photos by LOC.
In front page: Pedro Puente, men’s winner.
Other photos:
Men individual podium
Women indivual podium
Part of the men race

“

“The 5th CONSUDATLE Mountain Running Championships 2010, in the year of Bicentenary of Argentina will be held on 18th July 2010 in Mendoza.

At the moment six nations sent their entries. So Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina will be participating to the Championships.

Juan Alberto Scarp&iacute,n, President of the Argentinean Athletic Federation, underlined the fact that inside the Federation the Mountain Running Commission was created in 2008 and Argentina, like other South America federation, and first of all CONSUDATLE, with its President Roberto Gesta de Melo, are trying to support – always more – the development of this activity in South America.

”
“The venue of the event is one of the most beautiful and scenic beautiful places in the Country: in the Precordillera of the Andes, west of the city of Mendoza (Argentina) at the foot of Cerro Arco on a lap starting point to 1000 meters and more top height of 1740 meters.
In preparation of the 5th CONSUDATLE Mountain Running Championships in 2010, in the various Nations of the South American Continent are doing the National Championships of the disciplines.
For sample, Sunday, July 4, 2010 in Santo Antonio do Pinhal, in the Region Serra da Paulista Mantiqueira has played the Brazilian Mountain Running Championships with the participation’s of 150 athletes.
Naval Freitas won for the third consecutive time in the senior men race, run in 58’56&quot, the 12 km of the track. Silver medallist was Luiz Antonio Campos Junior, with a time of 1h01’59&quot,and Antonio Francisco de Souza won bronze medal in 1h02’11&quot,.
In the women race the winner was Maria Lucia Alves Vieira.
Naval, who was also champion in 2007 and 2008: she runs the 8 km of the track in 52’50&quot,. On the podium, second was Maria Helena Lima, silver (54’43&quot, her time) and third Franciele Maria de Oliveira, bronze (55’54&quot, her time).

Mendoza‘s race will also be valid as 3^rd Championship Argentine of the discipline.
For beauty of its landscape and its historical connotation, the event was declared interest sports and tourism by the government of Mendoza, during the Bicentenary of Argentina.
WMRA hopes that many South American runners will take part to the next 26th World Mountain Running Championships in Kamnik (Slovenia) and looks with great interest to South America for the important opportunity they have like organisational aspects and like quality and quantity of the runners.
Besides WMRA thanks once more CONSUDATLE and, in this case, Argentinean Athletic Federation for the organisation of this important Area Championships.

More information on webpage: http://www.ama-mza.com.ar/node/62

by Bruno Gozzelino and Prensa Cbat

Photo by LOC: Circuit of the Cerro Arco in Mendoza Argentina, stage of 4th CONSUDATLE Mountain Running Championships 2010.

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“Joseph Gray and Brandy Erholtz, both of the USA, were victorious at the 7^th North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships on July 9th, 2010.

Canadians Taylor Murphy and Ivan Babikov rounded out the podium on the men’s side.

American Megan Lund and Canadian Maria Zambrano were the second and third women respectively.

In the photo NACAC winning USA women’s team: left to right: Christine Lundy, Brandy Erholtz, Megan Lund.

”
“The Canadian men narrowly edged out the USA to win the NACAC men’s race, while the American

women put in a commanding performance to win the NACAC women’s race.

In the men’s race, the American men led early with the Canadian men close behind. Joseph Gray

established an early lead on the first ascent and never looked back, finishing nearly 30 seconds ahead of his closest competitors.

The final ascent, the steepest and most demanding terrain on the course, proved decisive for the team finish, with Adrian Lambert passing Brandon Lord in the final 100m to ensure a Canadian victory over the Americans.

Ivan Babikov is a Russian-born Canadian cross country skier who has been competing since 2002. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, he earned his best Olympic finish of 13th in the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit, representing Russia.

In the women’s race, the USA team proved too strong for the Canadians, with three of the top four positions being filled by the American women.
Maria Zambrano, third at the finish, is Canadian/Colombian and currently resides in Ecuador. She has qualified to run for the Canadian Mountain Running team in Slovenia, but the two selected Canadian runners for NACAC Championships were Emily Solsberg and Amy Golumbia.

The event was held at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta, after grizzly bear activity on the Nakiska Ski Resort forced the organizers to make a last-minute course change.

The final course was approximately 7.5 km long, with 600m of ascent and 130m of descent.

Full results : http://www.mountainrunning.ca/news.php?id=41

Team scores:

MEN

1. Canada: 2 3 5 (7) = 10 (Taylor Murphy, Adrian Lambert, Kristopher Swanson and Jason Loutitt)

2. USA: 1 4 6 (8) = 11 (Joseph Gray, Brandon Lord, Zac Freudenburg and Tim Smith)

WOMEN

1. USA: 1 2 (3) = 3 (Brandy Erholtz, Megan Lund and Christine Lundy)

2. Canada: 4 5 = 9 (Emily Solsberg and Amy Golumbia)

Event website: www.canmorechallenge.com

Canadian Mountain Running Website: http://www.mountainrunning.ca/

(courtesy photos of Janet Lord).

NACAC men’s champion Joseph Gray (USA)

Kristopher Swanson (CAN) approaching the finish.

by Adrian Lambert

“

“Joseph Gray and Brandy Erholtz, both of the USA, were victorious at the 7^th North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships on July 9th, 2010.

Canadians Taylor Murphy and Ivan Babikov rounded out the podium on the men’s side.

American Megan Lund and Canadian Maria Zambrano were the second and third women respectively.

In the photo NACAC winning USA women’s team: left to right: Christine Lundy, Brandy Erholtz, Megan Lund.

”
“The Canadian men narrowly edged out the USA to win the NACAC men’s race, while the American

women put in a commanding performance to win the NACAC women’s race.

In the men’s race, the American men led early with the Canadian men close behind. Joseph Gray

established an early lead on the first ascent and never looked back, finishing nearly 30 seconds ahead of his closest competitors.

The final ascent, the steepest and most demanding terrain on the course, proved decisive for the team finish, with Adrian Lambert passing Brandon Lord in the final 100m to ensure a Canadian victory over the Americans.

Ivan Babikov is a Russian-born Canadian cross country skier who has been competing since 2002. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, he earned his best Olympic finish of 13th in the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit, representing Russia.

In the women’s race, the USA team proved too strong for the Canadians, with three of the top four positions being filled by the American women. Maria Zambrano is an Ecuadorian runner, who was present like guest at the event.

The event was held at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore, Alberta, after grizzly bear activity on the Nakiska Ski Resort forced the organizers to make a last-minute course change.

The final course was approximately 7.5 km long, with 600m of ascent and 130m of descent.

Full results : http://www.mountainrunning.ca/news.php?id=41

Team scores:

MEN

1. Canada: 2 3 5 (7) = 10 (Taylor Murphy, Adrian Lambert, Kristopher Swanson and Jason Loutitt)

2. USA: 1 4 6 (8) = 11 (Joseph Gray, Brandon Lord, Zac Freudenburg and Tim Smith)

WOMEN

1. USA: 1 2 (3) = 3 (Brandy Erholtz, Megan Lund and Christine Lundy)

2. Canada: 4 5 = 9 (Emily Solsberg and Amy Golumbia)

Event website: www.canmorechallenge.com

Canadian Mountain Running Website: http://www.mountainrunning.ca/

(courtesy photos of Janet Lord).

n. 1 NACAC men’s champion Joseph Gray (USA).

n. 9 Kristopher Swanson (CAN) approaching the finish.

“

“Athletes from the United States of America and Canada will go head-to-head at the seventh edition of the North America Central America and Caribbean Championships in the Canadian Rocky Mountains on 9 July 2010.

Athletes to watch from the United States include Joe Gray who was 16^th at both the 2008 and 2009 World Mountain Running Championships (WMRC), Christine Lundy, (13^th, 2009 WMRC), and Brandon Lord, (4^th Junior, 2009 WMRC).

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“

On the Canadian side, athletes to watch include Kris Swanson (3^rd, 2009 Commonwealth Uphill Championships), Amy Golumbia (2009 Canadian Champion), Adrian Lambert (2007, 2008 Canadian Champion) and Jason Loutitt who was 31^st at the 2005 World Mountain Running Trophy.

Athletes will contest a challenging all-uphill course on the mountain at Nakiska Ski Resort, the site of alpine skiing events at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. The race is virtually all at a 10% grade on mixed grass and compacted dirt double-track trails.

The race finishes just below the summit at elevation 2280m. The first male and female finishers to the top will be crowned NACAC Champions.

The race will also serve as the Canadian Mountain Running Championships and is the qualifier for the Canadian Mountain Running team at the 2010 World Mountain Running Championships in Kamnik, Slovenia on 5^th September 2010.

For more information, see: www.mountainrunning.ca

By Adrian Lambert

1)&nbsp,NACAC Mountain Running Championships&nbsp,logo

2) photo from the 2009 Canadian Mountain Running Championships [Photo by John Rajic]

3)&nbsp,photo of the 2010 NACAC course (Nakiska course): [Photo by Taylor Murphy]

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