Rickey Gates the winner of the 2008 “Grintovec race” in Slovenia - WMRA (© WMRA)
The first part of the international Mountain Running season has just finished with the European Championships held on 12 July in Telfes (AUT) with great success for the Turkish runners in the individual races and for the Italians in the team competition.
Now after a short break, the second part of the season gets underway with a circuit of WMRA Grand Prix races on four successive weekends. This schedule is hard for the runners, but is designed to make it possible for as many oversees entrants to attend at least four WMRA GP races that count towards the final ranking.
WMRA GP “Alpine tour” starts on 25 July in Slovenia with the “Grintovec race” – one of the toughest Mountain Running races in Europe and with almost 2000m elevation in only 9.6km, also one of the steepest. The 2558m high pyramid shaped mountain dominates the northern panorama of Ljubljana – the capital of Slovenia.
Most Slovenian hikers need about six hours to reach the summit, the course record, set by Jonathan Wyatt in 2006, is 1:15:43! The organiser expect many top international mountain runners, especially experts on steep uphill courses.
The second stage of the “Alpine tour” will be Mayrhofen with the “Harakiri race.” This is the first international mountain running event to be held in this famous Austrian tourist resort. The course starts in the city centre and leaves the city after 1km lap in the direction of Penken mountain / 1775m. With 10.5 km and elevation of 1210m the course almost fits into World Championships parameters, which means this course mirrors what athletes would expect at a World Championship event on an uphill year.
Ebensee is the third stage of the tour. This is a traditional venue with a traditional course which has already hosted the European Championships (1997). International runners will never forget this event due to the extremely bad weather. It was the only Championships ever where the organisers had to shorten the course because of the weather. In a heavy rain storm, the winner was Austrian Helmut Schmuck and this was one of his four gold medal performances in large international events, where he took part 15 times. We all hope the conditions will be better this year.
The “Skalla race” in Norway is the last stage of the tour. On 15 August more than 1000 runners and walkers will cross the start line just above sea level and their goal will be to reach the finish line on the peak 1820m higher … as soon as possible.
The panoramic view to the fjord below is gorgeous. The 8.2 km course is as steep as that of the Grintovec race, just a little shorter. The course record of 1:08:39 was set by local Jon Tvedt who tragically died in the Norwegian mountains this past January. He was an expert on such courses and Skalla was his favourite.
WMRA Grand Prix attracts every year more and more top international runners. Besides World and European Championships, this competition offers them interesting races with varied courses and beautiful views.
Tomo Sarf (WMRA) for the IAAF