Author: wmra_wp

“Ljubljana, Slovenia – Not only that The &Scaron,marna gora race was this year celebrating its 30th anniversary and is one of the mountain running races with the longest tradition, but it was again holding the Grand prix final and was therefore a unique event.

On sunny Saturday, 3rd of October, more than 250 runners competed on steep slopes of &Scaron,marna gora. Nine kilometers of the technical and slippery track were not a problem for the race winner Antonio Toninelli (ITA) that defeated Robert Krupicka (CZE) on second place and his colleague Marco De Gasperi (ITA) who finished third.

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Jonathan Wyatt (NZL) did enough to place himself first in the final GP ranking. He finished sixth on the final GP race, but it was enough to win the GP with 352 points. Krupicka Robert was second in the final ranking with 324 points.

In the women’s division, after her brilliant performance last year when she set the course record, won again. Although she completed only three GP races and she won all of them that was enough only to place her on second position in overall GP competition with 320 points. Better than her was Iva Milesova (CZE) with 327 points and 5 races.

Slovenian runners brother and sister Mitja and Mateja Kosovelj both finished the final race on 4th position and find themselves on 3rd place in the final Grand Prix ranking.

As a part of celebration of the 30th anniversary the organizer invited all women and men winners since 1979 when the race was held for the first time. Many of them responded to the kind invitation and it was really interesting to see the very first winners standing together with all the winners since 1994 when the race became an international Mountain running event.

Results with split times and photos will be shortly published on the event’s web site. A video will be also available latest in 2 weeks. Please contact the LOC for the details.

Pika Sarf for WMRA

PS – the WMRA Grand Prix prize winners, who did not receive their prizes should contact WMRA (tomo.sarf@helios.si) as son as possible to arrange the details (Pichrtova, Gates, Gray, Schneider and Iida).

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“The final event of the 2009 WMRA Grand Prix series takes place on Saturday 3. Oct 2009.

The challenging mountain running course of 9,5km on Smarna gora just outside Ljubljana has an ascent of 750m and descent of 290m. Due to its technical difficulty and the profile that is changing all long this is a very demanding course that gives advantage to a complete, powerful and brave athlete.

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“This is the 30th edition of this traditional race and all the winners of the men’s race since 1994 will be present: Lucio Fregona, Marco Degasperi, Emanulle Manzi, Jonathan Wyatt, Robert Krupicka, Andrzej Dlughosz and local Mitja Kosovelj, who wan the last race in 2008. In the women’s race last year’s winner and course record holder Andre Mayr from Austria will try to improve her mark. Local favorites Mateja Kosovelj and Lucija Krkoc will fight to get space on the podium.

&nbsp, For results visit TIMING Ljubljana

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Tomo Sarf for WMRA

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“The world’s first organised mountain race took place in Grasmere, Cumbria, England in 1850 and almost 160 years later the neighbouring Lake District town of Keswick hosted the first Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Distance Championships.

The event was hailed a tremendous success and is being seen as the first major step towards getting mountain and long distance running included in the Commonwealth Games by 2018.

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“Over 200 athletes representing, Australia, Canada, Gibraltar, India, the Isle of Man, Kenya, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the host nation England, took part in this inaugural event.

In the Men’s Mountain races Kenyan Wilson Chenweno proved to be unbeatable winning both the uphill only race on Friday and the up and down race on the Sunday. In the uphill race Chenweno beat current World Mountain Running Champion Jonathan Wyatt by over half a minute and in the up and down race out sprinting England’s Adam Grice in the final 800 metres.

Anna Frost of New Zealand was a clear winner of the Ladies uphill race to the top of Skiddaw. Katie Ingram of England was a comfortable second and also proved to be an eventual clear winner herself in the Ladies up and down race. Sarah Tunstall was second in the up and down race having just missing out on a medal in the recent World Mountain Championships in Italy where she had placed fourth.

The event was sanctioned by the Commonwealth Games Federation and the LOC had met all the criteria relating to the number of Countries and athletes taking part and were now working towards the recognition of Mountain Running and Ultra Distance running to move the sports on towards inclusion in the 2018 Games.

Results: http://www.cumbriacommonwealthchampionships.org/Results.htm

Adrian Woods for WMRA

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“Zagreb, CROATIA – 12. Sept. 2009

Zagreb (CRO), 12.Sept. – Just one week after the World Mountain Running Championships in Campodolcino, where the best athletes in the world met to see who would be the best this year, their Masters colleagues met for the same reason in Zagreb.

This was the first time that the World Masters Mountain Running Championships was held in the capitol city of the host country.
The organization of the event was shared between the Croatian Athletic Federation, the city of Zagreb and the local Athletic Club Sljeme.”
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Almost 650 runners from 29 countries participated at this festival of Mountain Running. According to the masters regulations they were divided into 10 female and 10 male age categories starting with those aged 35 years and over.
The 8,5km long course started at 250m above see level on the border between the city and the neighboring mountain Sljeme. The finish was just above the peak of the mountain, which is the starting point of Alpine Ski World Cup slalom competitions. The venue is famous because of the the local Olympic medalists Janica and Ivica Kostelic…. The runners started the race on an asphalted road and after half a kilometer they left the road and followed an undulating trail that eventually took them to the finish 850m higher.
Next year the 10th World Masters Mountain Running Championships will be held in Korbielow, Poland which was previously the venue for the European Championships in 2004.

Results – winners per categories:

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TEAMS:

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The jubilee of the 25th World Mountain Running Championships was organized in the Italian ski resort of Madesimo close to the town of Chiavenna.

It was a laped up and down course, one lap was 4,3km long with 275m difference in altitude, the Junior Women ran one lap, Junior Men and senior women ran 2 laps and Senior Men ran 3 laps. The start was 1750m above sea level, which made the races even more difficult for the athletes having to run at altitude. The course required many changes in rhythm, the surface changing from grassy to rocky terrain.

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“Weather conditions were excellent for the runners – after some days of rain in the area the weather cleared on the day before the race and the course dried nicely. After a cold and windy morning with temperatures just above freezing point the sun came out and warmed up the course. Approximately 330 runners from 35 countries participated in the event and many thousands of spectators lining the course enjoyed the spectacle on a beautiful clear day.

The races started with the Junior Women. The Turkish runners took a lead just after the start and only Morgan from USA and Mach from Poland succeeded in splitting the strong Turkish squad. The winner was Yasmin Can, who led from the start of the race. In the teams classification Turkey won the gold, but 4 teams each had between 20-21 points and shared the places from third to sixth position.

In the Junior Men’s race the spectators anticipated a local winner and they were not disappointed. Xavier Chevrier ran a smart race proved unbeatable especially on the technical descents. Although the teams from Turkey and Italy were in close competition for gold and silver they were well ahead of all other countries.

In the Senior Ladies race once again the Italian’s were the favorites for the team gold medal, but no one expected them to run a perfect race and for them to achieve individual gold, silver and bronze positions. Valentina Belotti was in the lead for the first lap but Elisa Desco overtook her on the second lap to win the race. Perhaps even more spectacular was the performance of bronze medal winner Maria Grazia Roberti who came right through the field in the second part of the race.

In the Senior Men’s race seven of the top ten places were taken by African runners.

The winner Geoffrey Kusuro from Uganda is no stranger to mountain running having won the junior title in 2007 in Ovronnaz. In the team competition the final order was the same as in Bursa 2006, when the Italian team was beaten for the first time. Once again they fell victim to Eritrea, but on this occasion on an up and down course.

Results:

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The first event of the jubilees 25th World Mountain Running Championships was the WMRA Congress.

Representatives of 36 countries were present. Elections for the WMRA chairing persons were one of the items on the agenda.

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Unanimously were elected for a period of 4 years:

• Bruno Gozzelino (ITA) – president
• Adrian Woods (GBR) – secretary
• Nancy Hobbs (USA) – treasurer

Other Council members were elected for 2 years:

• Galia Puhaleva (BUL)
• Raimondo Balicco (ITA)
• Erhan Basoglu (TUR)
• Tomo Sarf (SLO)
• Wolfgang Munzel (GER).

Norma, widow of former WMRA president Danny Hughes, was presented with a plaque of merit in recognition of Danny’s achievements for mountain running worldwide.

Raimondo Balicco also received a plaque of merit for his unique contribution to the development of worldwide mountain running during the 25 years existence of WMRA.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary celebration all the delegates received WMRA souvenirs.
Slovenia also announced their interest in organizing the World MR Championships in 2010 (city of Kamnik).

Tomo Sarf for WMRA

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“There are just a few days left to World Mountain Running’s most important event of the year – The World Championships. A few of the highlights at this year’s event include:

25th anniversary of the founding of the WMRA – formerly ICMR – the organization, that is taking the lead for mountain running worldwide.
25th anniversary of the World Championships – formerly called &quot,World Trophy&quot, – the most important mountain running worldwide event. ”

And sadly, it will be the first event without Danny Hughes, who started this worldwide mountain running movement.

35 countries with 72 women, 148 men, 49 junior women and 76 junior men runners have entered the Championships. These are not record numbers, but there is also an aspect that was agreed to in order to get the Championships title, IAAF recognizes only one Great Britain team and so we have lost four traditional teams: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The competition is expected to be at the highest level – the new generation represented by Italian brothers Dematteis and Elisa Desco, brother and sister Kosovelj from Slovenia, Kusuro from Uganda, Martina Strahl from Suisse and many others, are knocking on the door. On the other hand, the &quot,established runners&quot, such as Anna Pichrtova, Melisa Moon, Jonathan Wyatt, Marco Degasperi and Gaiardo and many others are still in excellent form… New countries have also joined the international mountain running family – times when almost half of the medals were reserved for Italians have passed – Turkish runners led by 3-times European champion Arslan are coming closer, runners from Africa and South America are becoming stronger…

Come, enjoy and celebrate the 25th World Mountain Running Championships!

Tomo Sarf for WMRA

“ Antonella Confotola, Italy and John Sombol, Kenya won the 5th WMRA Grand Prix race in Skaala Uphill in Norway.

Sombol was only 5 seconds ahead of Jonathan Wyatt, New Zealand, six times World mountain running champion. Despite tough winter weather conditions 1500 participants (new record) finished the 8th edition of the 8,2 km long extreme mountain running race with a total climb 1814 meters.”
“ Before the race some international runners asked why a rucksack was obligatory.
After the race they didn’t ask about that anymore, but were very happy to have enough warm clothes on the finish line 1848 meters above sea level at the summit of the Skaala mountain. All participants in the competition class had to carry a rucksack /backpack/ weighing at least 2,5 kilos with warm clothes (and some food) for the race (both up and down!) because it could be cold at the top. It was the toughest and most winter weather conditions in 8 year’s history of the race.

Story and all photos: Christian Prestegard
See more photos on: http://www.kondis.no/motbakke/index.php?aid=86817&amp,k=motbakke%2Fmotbakke&amp,mid

RESULTS:
Ladies:

Men:

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“ Ebensee, Austria – weather conditions were not as bad as at European Trophy 12 years ago and not as good as last year – light clouds and some raindrops were just reminding the runners that mountain running is sport that is held in pure nature.
About 250 runners from 13 countries joined the well known race and were really impressed by the brilliant organization.

The races started in Ebensee. After one and a half km running in the city the course turns to the mountain. Steep trails take the runners thought the forest and later along the meadows (ski slopes) to the top of the mountain. Reaching the summit women finish the race but men make additional 1km loop to make the race more interesting for the spectators.”
“ Some famous names gathered on the finish line – in the women’s division current European Champion Andrea Mayr from Austria and strong Slovenian runners Mateja Kosovelj and Lucija Krkoc – both already World and European Championships medal winners. In the men’s category strong Kenyan team announced an interesting race: Geoffrey Ndung’u wan the Grossglocknerlauf a month ago and improved the course record and Isac Kosgei wan the Muttersbergluf in the end of June beating Jonathan Wyatt.

Just after the start three Kenyans started to sort themselves out, at the end of the asphalted road, when the course becomes steeper, they were already 100m ahead of the main group. Ndung’u and Kosgei finished the race on the first and second position and Ndung’u missed the course record for just 12 seconds which is another approval of his excellent mountain running capacity. Scot Adam Osborne was the fastest European runner.

Andrea Mayr wan the women’s race running on the first position from the start to the finish. Mateja Kosovelj was second (her brother Mitja finished fourth the men’s race).

In the overall WMRA Grand Prix competition the best runners are already on the top.

The next WMRA Grand prix event will be held on 15. August in Norway – the Skaala race.

Tomo Sarf

Photos – the winners – (photo Helmut Ploberger)
– Andrea Mayr
– Geoffery Ndungu

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“The WMRA Grand Prix continues on Sunday (9th) with the Feuerkogelberglauf in Ebensee, Austria.

The first ascent of the Feuerkogelberglauf was in 1997, when this was the venue of the second European Mountain Running Trophy. European mountain runners will never forget this race because of extremely bad weather as rain, wind and fog forced the organizers to shorten the race by moving the finish line from the summit to the upper cable car station. Local favorite Helmut Schmuck won the men’s race in front of World champion Molinari and Erica Spiess won the women’s contest. Of those European Trophy participants only the winner Helmut Schmuck and Marcus Kroll, who finished 14th, will run the race on Sunday.”
“The 14th edition of the Feuerkogelberglauf will be another highlight of this annual event. As one of the WMRA Grand Prix events it attracts many international top class mountain runners. More than 200 runners from 12 countries have already entered the race. Although some of the best are missing, a hard fight for the top positions is expected.

In the women’s race the main candidate for the first plase is Andrea Mayr, actual European Champion. Mateja Kosovelj and Lucija Krkoc from Slovenia and Iva Milesova from Czech Republic will fight for the silver and bronze medal.
Andrzej Dlugosz from Poland, Mitja Kosovelj from Slovenia, Roman Skalsky from Czech Republic and local expert Marcus Kroel – currently fourth in the Grand Prix – are expected to find a place on the podium in the men’s race.

Men and women will run the same route – from the Ebensee (350 m above the sea level) to the Feuerkogel summit (1600m) – the only difference will be in the start location. Men will start in the city centre close to the lake, running past the lower cablecar station, whereas the women will start 2 km later. In addition all will run the same course – 9km with 1200m to climb with 1000m alt. difference concentrated in the middle part from km 3 – km 8 – the last 3 km are more friendly to the tired runners.
The men’s course record holder is Jonathan Wyatt with 55:19 (2006) and this result isn’t expected to be threatened – the runners will just try to come as close as possible. The women’s record holder is Ana Frost with 1:02:46 and we can expect that the it will be necessary to break this mark to get the first prize, which is the same for men and women (400&euro, + 250&euro, for breaking the course record).

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Tomo &Scaron,arf

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