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With Thanks from K42 Argentina and Smarna Gora

 Our public vote to find your greatest mountain race of all time concluded this week, with Smarna Gora crowned winner, beating the race you voted long distance champion, K42 Argentina. We hope that our contest, while just for fun, has helped to celebrate the many incredible mountain races which exist in the world. All different, all unique in their own way.

Our finalists, K42 Argentina and Smarna Gora, were blown away by your support and both wanted to say something to the voters and to the other races which were in the contest. Here are their kind words.

Firstly, from the runner-up, K42 Argentina:

Dear Organizers,

Public voting put us in the final of the Greatest Race of All Time and we feel really happy about that!

I know perfectly well that this is the result of the passion of our audience and does not necessarily represent an objective comparison that makes us better than the rest of those who have participated in this fantastic WMRA initiative, therefore, and we try to accept it with the greatest humility and respect. Therefore, we try to accept it we the upmost respect and humbleness.

I want to express to you that, myself and the rest of our team, have been inspired by you during all these years. We have tried to take the best of each race; we have admired the excellence of all of you and we will continue doing it beyond this circumstance.

We send you a warm hug from Argentinian Patagonia and we hope that this contest unites our interests and projects to continue growing together!

Diego Zarba, K42

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And from Smarna Gora:

Dear Mountain Running friends,

Public voting is a strange thing. It is like a wild river, unpredictable, unmanageable.

And in this game of the votes Smarna gora has shown its true nature, that has been developed during the four decades of the race.

We are completely aware that Smarna gora cannot be compared to the beautiful scenery of the Drei Zinnen or Grossglockner, to the extremes of Sierre Zinal, to the mass participation of some other races, or to the budget of the others.

Smarna gora is not even a mountain, with 669m it is just a hill, the trails are narrow and space on the summit is very limited, so we can simply not organize a mass event. But it is the most visited peak in Slovenia, in a county where mountaineering and hiking and recently mountain running are a kind of national sport.

After 40 years of the race and after hosting 18 years the World Cup final and 25 years of the Slovenian Cup final, we were determined to fight for the first ever title “the greatest”. We have activated hundreds of fans of mountain running and Smarna gora in Slovenia and abroad.

And we were successful.

We know that our race is not “the best” on the world, simply because the criteria for this are not defined. We are just the winners of the WMRA contest for the “greatest mountain race all times”.

Finally, on behalf of the Smarna gora team, I would like to thanks all the people, who participated in this “voting game”, of course especially to the ones, who supported our race in all four circles of voting.

I would also like to congratulate all the race contenders; I’m sure any of those 24 races would deserve to be a winner.

Tomo Šarf, on behalf of the Smarna gora team

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