Year: 2007

Good news for competing federations

European countries considering entering teams for the 2008 European Mountain Running Championships at Zell am Harmersbach (Germany) are advised to read the ‘Regulations’ governing this event. They have recently been updated and published on www.european-athletics.org
When the home page comes up click ‘Member Federation zone’ and then click ‘competition. The mountain running regulations are the last on the list.
Your attention is drawn in particular to regulation 110.4 which concerns accommodation which will be good news to all federations.
In 2008 the Junior races are still under assessment prior to being granted full championship status. If you are keen to see these become official European Championships you are urged to send both male and female juniors to the competition.

Web page update
Plans are afoot to redesign the WMRA web page courtesy EAA. Meanwhile, note the following which have appeared recently:
1. WMRA Grand Prix final rankings
2. Link to many World Masters photographs on
the links page
3. 2008 Calendar

Gaiardo and Pichrtova triumph.
The following WMRA Grand Prix report appears on the IAAF web page
Saturday 6th October.
There was a surprise defeat for the womens World Mountain Running Champion in the final WMRA Grand Prix race on the Smarna Gora, in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on Saturday.
The weather conditions were truly dreadful. After two weeks of warm autumn
weather, the race was run in torrential, cold, rain making underfoot conditions treacherous on the forest tracks.
Victoria Wilkinson (GBR) going into the race leading the Grand Prix rankings
did all she could to hold on to the premier position by inflicting a rare
defeat on Champion Anna Pichrtova (CZE). Victoria won a world title herself in
1997 when she became junior champion in the Czech Republic. Since then she has
had some injuries, tried the cycling sport, but now appears poised to make a
serious mark in the senior mountain running scene. Anna, in second position 47
seconds behind, finished top of the Grand Prix ranking (308 points) as
expected and collects the $1500 prize. Victorias win placed her second overall (270 points) in the final ranking. By finishing race fourth,
Iva Milesova (CZE) moved up to third position with 266 points).

Marco Gaiardo was under no pressure in the mens race having already secured
the overall ranking gold with 300 points. He trotted in a careful fifth.
Nevertheless he would have been hard pressed to beat the winner Andrzej
Dlugosz (POL) who was second in this race last year. The conditions seemed to
suit him as he nimbly negotiated some tricky descent parts of the course. His
fine performance was good enough to give him second position in the final
ranking (246 points). Joe Symonds(GBR)had a rather disappointing run and could
only finish 8th so finished third overall ((227 points). Robert Krupicka (CZE)
making an impressive comeback from injury finished race second in front of
local boy Mitja Kosovelj (SLO.
Full results of the race appear on the event web page via the link on
www.wmra,info.
This concludes the 2007 WMRA Grand Prix series and the full final ranking list will appear shortly on the WMRA web page.

Race results Men,
1. A. Dlugos (POL) 41.25
2. R.Krupicka (CZE) 42.00
3. M. Kosovelj (SLO) 42.04
4. J.Rancon (FRA) 42.12
5. M Gaiardo (ITA) 42.22
Race Results Women,
1. V.Wilkinson (GBR) 48.54
2. A.Pichrtova (CZE) 49.41
3. M. Kosovelj (SLO) 50.24
4. I Milesova (CZE) 51.56
5. S.Tunstall (GBR) 52.06

Grand Prix final ranking men:
1. M.Gaiardo (ITA) 300
2. A.Dlugos (POL) 246
3. J.Symonds (GBR) 227
4. G Abate (ITA) 223
5. J Havicek (CZE) 207

Grand Prix final ranking women:
1. A Pichrtova (CZE) 308
2. V Wilkinson (GBR) 270
3. I Milesova (CZE) 266
4. M.Roberti (ITA) 237
5. P.Havlova (CZE) 216

Most ranking positions still to be decided at Smarna Gora WMRA Grand Prix – Preview.

The fourth and final Mountain Running Grand Prix race takes place in Slovenia on Saturday 6th October.
The 9km course involving an ascent of 710m and descent of 350m takes place on the Smarna Gora, just outside Ljubljana.

With the mens overall winner already decided (Marco Gaiardo – ITA), the competition for the minor prizes is the main interest. Four athletes, Gabriele Abate (ITA), Jan Havlicek (CZE), Markus Kroell (AUT) and Joe Symonds (GBR) will share the top places, but favourite for runner up position will be Symonds after showing that he is in fine form with a 4th position in the recent World Trophy race in Switzerland.

All is still to be fought for in the womens final rankings.
Victoria Wilkinson (GBR) the current leader will probably find World Champion Anna Pichrtova (CZE) too difficult to beat. Anna is favourite to win this race and take the overall winners position. After that, a second placing is possible for Victoria,
but Marina Straehl (SUI), Iva Milasova (CZE), Maria Roberti (ITA) and Pavla Havlova (CZE) will all battle it out with her for the minor placings.

A total prize fund of 12,000€ will be shared by the leading 15 men and 9 women in the final ranking.

Danny Hughes

Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR) elected to WMRA Council

The 2007 WMRA Congress, held in Ovronnaz, Switzerland, re-elected the four existing Council directors. They are Wolfgang Muenzel (Organisation) Raimondo Balicco (Technical), Adrian Woods (Marketing) and Tomo Sarf (Development).
With four candidates for the Council position reserved for women, Ingrid Kristiansen was elected at the first ballot with an overall majority.
Ingrid, a past World Champion and record holder at Cross country, Marathon and 10k decide to learn more about mountain running by competing in the open race staged in conjunction with the World Trophy event. She showed good form in winning her age category over the 8km two lap course.
The 2009 World Trophy was conditionally awarded to Steamboat Springs (Colorado, USA) pending satisfactory answers to questions arising from their bid documentation.

Bludenz attracts large entry and past World (senior)champions

4th World Masters Mountain Running Championships
(WMA & WMRA)

Entries for this years championships in Bludenz/Nuziders (Austria), was the second highest to date, falling just short of the 1000 mark at 985.
The event was blessed with fine weather and staged with great professionalism by the local club ‘Union Berglauf team Sparkasse Bludenz’ led by chairman Hubert Rodhammer.

Defending champions proved hard to dislodge from their titles.
Simon Gutierrez (USA-M40) retained his by holding off multiple world and European title holders of the past, Antonio Molinari (ITA) and Helmut Schmuck, winning by just 14 seconds.
Albert Anderegg (SUI-M60) sped off at high speed never to be caught and winning by the large margin of 3 minutes 2 seconds. I looks like he may chalk up a hat trick of victories next year.

Four of the eight womens categories saw titles retained.
Marie H-Duventaster (W45-GER) was another convincing winner by almost three minutes; Paula Blanka W50-CZE) won by two and a half minutes; Barbel Berghaus (W65-GER) won by four and a half minutes; and with just two entrants for the W70+ Maria Marcibalova (SVK) was one hour four minutes (!) in front of the oldest person to enter, Xenia Nicolaev (MDA) who was born in 1927.

There was a satisfying share out of medals with Germany again taking most gold (4).
Also on the podium with medal winners were Scotland, England, Austria, Holland, Switzerland, USA, Italy, Ireland, France, Czech Republic, Columbia, and Slovakia.

The event also attracted past champions, and World Trophy medallists.
Tracy Brindley (W35-SCO) , 2005 World silver, won her class and Rueda Opplinger Fabiola (W40-SUI) 1987-8 World gold, was placed second in her class.

The course was 9.2km long climbing the Muttersberg mountain with a height difference of 818m.
The fastest time of the day was recorded by Simon Gutierrez M40) with 42.50
And the fastest woman was Marie H-Duventaster (W45) with 49.58

Sadly, the planned visit of Cesare Beccalli, president of the World Masters Association, was unable to take place due to illness and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Full results and photographs are available on the event web page via the link on www.wmra.info

The 5th edition of the Masters Championships will take place in Czech Republic on September

23rd Mountain Running Trophy – Ovronnaz, Switzerland

Saturday 15 September 2007 Ovronnaz, Switzerland. Marco De Gasperi (ITA) won his fifth World title in the mountains of the Canton of Valais today, holding off the strong challenge of an African duo from Eritrea at the WMRA World Mountain Running Trophy. De Gasperi who excels in the up/down version of the World Trophy had a comfortable margin of victory on the three lap course of 12km and 933m of ascent/descent, beating Tesfay Yohhanes by 30 seconds in a time of 51.49. Italy beat Eritrea in the team race, both finishing with 30 points but Italy’s last counter in 12th position was better than Eritrea’s ‘last man’ (15th position). Anna Pichrtova (CZE), also a downhill specialist, lifted the women’s World title at last after several high positions in previous trophy races. Last year’s champion, Andrea Mayr (AUT) gave her a hard fight. It was not until the descent on the second and final lap that the Czech woman pulled away to win by 41 seconds in a time of 39.11 for the 8km 622m ascent/descent course. Laura Haefeli (USA) led the American team to their second successive World Title with a score of 23 points, just one more than Czech Republic with 24. Australia won their first World medals after 20 years of attempts as their junior women won individual gold with Lara Tamsett and team gold from USA, second, and Turkey, third. Eritrea dominated the junior men’s race with positions 2, 3, 4, and 7th. However the individual gold went to Ugandan Geoffrey Kusuro who won a thrilling sprint finish by 5 seconds. The event closed with the WMRA flag being handed over to Crans-Montana (SUI) who stage next year’s event. A record number of 390 athletes took part and with 35 nations sending entrants that equalled the previous highest number who raced in 2003. Full results can be seen on the event web page via the link on www.wmra.info

Jungfrau Marathon report

Saturday 8 September 2007

The fourth edition of the World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge, held in conjunction with the Jungfrau Marathon, produced two new champions on Saturday 8 September.
4200 athletes from 50 different countries set off from Interlaken, Switzerland, for the 42.195km run to the Kleine Scheidegg 1839m above the town. It is a technically difficult race to judge since the first 25km is on fairly flat road. The early leaders rarely figure on the podium at the finish as the serious mountain climb is compressed into the last 17km.
So it proved in this race. At 19km V. Vlas (MKD) and S. Kaledin (RUS) were nearly a kilometre in front of a pack which contained the eventual medal winners. As soon as the climbing got under way, New Zealand’s Jonathan Wyatt surged into the lead and at the 30km point was a minute ahead of Italy’s Hermann Achmuller with another Italian Gerd Frick a further minute adrift in 3rd place.
These positions remained unchanged to the finish, and as such Wyatt thus becomes the first mountain runner to win both short distance (World Trophy) and long distance (Challenge) titles.
In the women’s race the same situation prevailed. Early leaders faded to leave Anita Hakenstad Evertsen of Norway to devastate her rivals on the climb to win by 8 minutes, just less than two minutes outside the course record. The Russian pair of Elina Kaledina and Jeanna Malkova finished 2nd and 3rd.
An estimated 20,000 spectators, bathed in brilliant sunshine, with the North wall of the Eiger and the snow covered massif of the Jungfrau towering above them, enjoyed a feast of amazing endurance running amongst the finest scenery Switzerland has to offer.

RESULTS (see event web page via www.wmra.info)
Women
1. Hakenstad Evertsen, Anita NOR 3:23.05,
2. Kaledina, Elena RUS 3:31.16,0
3. Malkova, Jeanna RUS 3:36.43,4
4. Carlsohn, Anja GER 3:36.59,0
5. Landolt, Claudia SUI 3:37.58,4
6. Hawker, Elizabeth GBR 3:40.00,6
Men
1. Wyatt, Jonathan NZL 2:55.32,1
2. Achmüller, Hermann ITA 2:58.35,1
3. Frick, Gerd ITA 3:02.41,1
4. Sanchez, Hernandez Ranulfo MEX 3:05.56,8
5. Burrell, Galen USA 3:11.05,1
6. Kaledine, Serguej RUS 3:11.28,7

South AmerS.American Mountain Running Championships
Caracas (Venezuela) August 11th

More than 300 athletes took part in the 3rd edition of the S.American Mountain running Championships which was also an open race.
The mens course set on the mountains which surround the city of Caracas was 12km long with a single ascent-descent of 500m. The women ran 10km.
The international representatives from Columbia, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela headed the results list with Columbia providing two new champions.
The big surprise in the mens race was the defeat of current World Champion, Rolando Ortiz (COL) who finished 7th. The tricky descent with wet underfoot conditions did not suit his style of running. The race was won in impressive style by his countryman Jhon Jairo Vargas in a time of 53:46. However, Venezuelan runners filled the next three positions and 6th position to win the team event. Only 2 seconds separated Andy Carvallo (2nd) and Robert Lugo (3rd). All three expect to be competing in the World Trophy in Ovronnaz (SUI) in September.
The Columbian women provided both the individual Champion in Maria Rodriguez, and the team title by filling positions 1; 3 and 4. Maria, a top class long distance performer (2nd positions in Europe’s prestigious Sierre Zinal and Matterhornlauf races in recent years) won by the narrow margin of 15 seconds from Cruz Salazar (VEN) in a time of 46:29.
The only Chilean representative, Roberto Echeverria finished a respectable fifth.
The two Brazilian athletes 9one man, one woman) brought up the rear.
General Secretary of the Venezuelan Federation who is also chair of the S.American mountain running commission Marcos Oviedo expressed satisfaction that the championship is beginning to attract the attention of more S.American countries whose terrain is ideally suited to the sport of mountain running.
The sponsors, Gatorade commented that they saw mountain running as an excellent vehicle for promotion of their drinks products.
The event was preceded by a well attended seminar on mountain running conducted by WMRA President, Danny Hughes, assisted by Rolando Ortiz.

ican Mountain Running Championships

Gaiardo clinches Grand Prix Title after three races.

3rd WMRA Grand Prix.
5th August.
Schlickeralm (AUT)
Report.

Marco Gaiardo (ITA) duly recorded his second Grand Prix victory which, together with a second position, guarantees him the overall Grand Prix title with just one race to go. Although he was only four seconds in front of Poland’s Andrzeg Dlugosz (4th in last years ranking) he was always in control, doing just enough to win in a modest time of 60.47, five minutes slower than Wyatt’s record for this course.
Gabriele Abarte (ITA), an early leader, finished third and is now a contender for an overall minor position.
The ladies race produced a big surprise. Renate Rungger (ITA), competing in her first mountain race not only beat pre race favourite Anna Pichrtova CZE) into second place by 17 seconds, but set a new record time of 69.03 beating the old one by just two seconds. Renate comes to mountain running from the Italian Cross Country background. The overall final ranking however is between Pichrtova and Martina Strachl (SUI) who was third on this occasion and the outcome will be decided in the final race in Slovenia in October.
Izabela Zatorska, a previous Grand Prix winner on several occasions, finished a creditable 13th (time 80.46) in her comeback race after injury.
Full results may be seen by following the link to the race on WMRA web page (www.wmra.info)

Danny Hughes.