Ahmet Arslan on the way to victory on Smarna gora (© A. Fevzer)
After the European and NACAC Mountain Running Championships, more than 200 runners from 17 countries have entered the 14th edition of "The Grintovec Mountain Running Race", the second stage of 2012 WMRA Grand Prix, that will be held on Sunday 29 July in Kamnik, Slovenia.
There will several high profile runners among the starters.
In the men’s division, Ahmet Arslan from Turkey, the six times European champion will try to repeat his success from 2011. He will find his strongest opponents in the team from Eritrea. Azeira Teklay, second at the 2010 World Championships held in Kamnik and Kidane Abraham, the sixth place finisher from the same competition, will try to defeat the best European Mountain runner. Local star Nejc Kuhar, the winner of "Kilometre vertical" in Canazei just a week ago and one of the best extreme skiers, will surely try to show his power on his home mountain.
In the women’s division Denisa Dragomer from Romania and Emma Clayton from Great Britain will take advantage of the absence of 2011 winner Lucija Krkoc from Slovenia.
The weather forecast promises excellent conditions for the runners so the best will try to attack the course records. In particular it will be possible that Arslan and the Eritreans can challenge the current record of 1:15:43 set by Jonathan Wyatt in 2006. The women’s record of 1:31:50 set by Anna Pichrtova also in 2006 seems to remain unbeatable for this year.
In 2011 the organizers had to shorten the course due to extreme weather conditions – during the race period, the summit of the mountain was blanketed by more than 20 centimetres of snow.
The details of the traditional course: the distance is 9.6km with a 1980 metre elevation difference. This is a real mountain running race, held in pure, untouched nature.
Tomo Sarf (LOC) for for the IAAF
There will several high profile runners among the starters.
In the men’s division, Ahmet Arslan from Turkey, the six times European champion will try to repeat his success from 2011. He will find his strongest opponents in the team from Eritrea. Azeira Teklay, second at the 2010 World Championships held in Kamnik and Kidane Abraham, the sixth place finisher from the same competition, will try to defeat the best European Mountain runner. Local star Nejc Kuhar, the winner of "Kilometre vertical" in Canazei just a week ago and one of the best extreme skiers, will surely try to show his power on his home mountain.
In the women’s division Denisa Dragomer from Romania and Emma Clayton from Great Britain will take advantage of the absence of 2011 winner Lucija Krkoc from Slovenia.
The weather forecast promises excellent conditions for the runners so the best will try to attack the course records. In particular it will be possible that Arslan and the Eritreans can challenge the current record of 1:15:43 set by Jonathan Wyatt in 2006. The women’s record of 1:31:50 set by Anna Pichrtova also in 2006 seems to remain unbeatable for this year.
In 2011 the organizers had to shorten the course due to extreme weather conditions – during the race period, the summit of the mountain was blanketed by more than 20 centimetres of snow.
The details of the traditional course: the distance is 9.6km with a 1980 metre elevation difference. This is a real mountain running race, held in pure, untouched nature.
Tomo Sarf (LOC) for for the IAAF