2005 Gibraltar WMRA GP - Vicente Capitan Pena (SP) and Izabella Zatorska (POL) (© c)
The ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ is the venue for the final WMRA Grand Prix race of the season on Saturday 28 October.
The men’s course is 11.8km with a 730m ascent and a 240m descent. The women’s course is 8.2km. Both races finish on the top of the Rock, which is famously inhabited by semi wild Barbary apes, and offers spectacular views of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.
All the leading 15 Grand Prix contenders are invited as the guests of the race organisers, Gibraltar AAA, whose main sponsor is the Government of Gibraltar.
Marco Gaiardo (ITA), who has run second to Jonathan Wyatt (NZL) in all GPs this season, will not compete leaving Wyatt as the overall Grand Prix winner before the final race even starts.
Nevertheless, Wyatt will be aiming to make this his fifth consecutive Grand Prix victory. His challengers in the absence of Gaiardo will be last year’s winner in this race, Vicente Mena Capitan (ESP), and Marco de Gasperi (ITA), former World champion on four occasions who is coming into top form after an early season injury. Great Britain international Andi Jones will also be in contention.
Though Gaiardo is secure in second position in the GP ranking, third position remains wide open for several runners to claim. The current GP ranking and points system can be seen on the results page of www.wmra.info
In the women’s battle for honours Izabella Zatorska (POL), last year’s Gibraltar winner, will be faced with the daunting task of beating Anna Pichrtova (CZE) who is already the overall Grand Prix winner and European champion.
The up and coming young Mateja Kosovelj (SLO) has the potential to lift herself from fifth to two in the GP ranking if she reproduces the form she showed in winning the fifth GP race in Switzerland.
The prize list for both men and women is identical starting at 1000€ for the winners and going down to tenth position.
Danny Hughes for the IAAF