The championship event taking place in the National Park of Foreste Casentinesi is located in the central Appennines and has the distinction of being one of the oldest forests in Europe. The untouched Sasso Fratino forest has also been nominated to become a World Heritage site.
The Men´s race is quite competitive with the top 5 runners from last year´s Trail World Championships held in Geres, Portugal all in the field. Current World Champion, Luis Alberto Hernando (ESP) is once again one of the favorites in the race. Nicolas Martin (FRA) silver medalist in the event last year leads a very strong French team who are also top contenders to take home the team title.
French teammates, Sylvain Court and Benoit Cori will be hoping to get on the podium. Marco de Gasperi (ITA), David Roche (USA) and Tiago Aires (POR) will try to have a strong race to make the championship podium as well and in turn help their respective teams to podium medals.
In the women´s race, Caroline Chaverot (FRA) will not be returning to defend her title. Nevertheless, the field is indeed quite deep again in this year´s race. Azara Garcia (ESP) will try and repeat her amazing performance in Geres where she finished second. Ragna Debats (NED) will also try to replicate her run from last year and move up the podium from her third place finish.
Nathalie Mauclair (FRA) will be leading a very strong French team and hoping for a podium finish. Megan Roche (USA), Kathrin Gotz (SUI), Nikolina Sustic (CRO) and Jo Meek (GBR) will all be looking at strong performances to lead their respective teams to the very coveted team podium spots as well.
Both men´s and women´s fields have outstanding entrants and both races promise to be exciting events!
This is the second edition of the cooperation between IAU-ITRA. The first event last year went very successful. The two bodies have divided up the various responsibilities leading up to and during the weekend of the competitions.
Nadeem Khan
IAU Vice President
nadeem.khan@iau-ultramarathon.org
