Dashing through the snow: Jonathan Wyatt winning the Schneeberglauf (© organisers)
The final event of the 2008 WMRA Grand Prix series takes place on Saturday 4 October.
The challenging mountain running course of 9.4km, on Smarna Gora just outside Ljubljana, has an ascent of 750m and a descent of 290m.
Though the descents are not champion Jonathan Wyatt´s strong points, he should have no difficulty in clinching the overall Grand Prix title even if he does not win this race. A fresh Marco Gaiardo (ITA) will be in the running for a rare victory over Wyatt which would assure him of runner up in the overall GP ranking. Winner of this event for the past two years, Andrej Dlugosz (POL) is also likely to gain a podium position in the overall ranking.
Andrea Mayr (AUT) in fine form at the moment should win the women’s race but will be challenged by Grand Prix leader Anna Frost (NZL), last years winner Victoria Wilkinson (GBR), Anna Pichrtova (CZE) who excels on the descents.
The brother and sister duo, Mitja and Matega Kosovelj (SLO), running on home ground should also figure well up in the race results.
This final event carries bonus points (example 120 for the winner against the normal 100). This arrangement means that there will be many alterations between the current positions and the final ranking, and for the first time we could see a double New Zealand triumph with Wyatt and Frost heading the final positions.
Danny Hughes for the IAAF