The CanfrancCanfranc mountain running event keeps moving forward into new sport developments for Spain. After the WMRA World Cup events held in 2021, 2022 and 2023, this 2024 Aragón will host the World Masters Mountain Running Championships from SEPTEMBER, 13th to 15th. A new step that will also be the perfect rehearsal for the bianual celebration that summits the world of trail running: The World Mountain And Trail Running Championships (WMTRC), which will hold their third edition from 25th to 28th of September 2025, following on the footsteps of the event held at Innsbruck-Stubai in 2023.
MADRID, JANUARY 25th – The world presentation of the calendar and program for the next WMTRC CANFRANCPIRINEOS 2025 took place today at noon within the International Tourism Fair in Madrid (FITUR). All the key actors involved in the event attended, with the RFEA represented by its president Raúl Chapado, who acted as host in Madrid, accompanied by Cristina García, General Director of Sports for the Government of Aragon, Félix Jordán, General Director of the Young Sports Foundation representing the Higher Sports Council (CSD), José Cebollero, Deputy of Sports of the Provincial Council of Huesca, Fernando Sánchez, Mayor of Canfranc, and Alex Varela, Director of the CanfrancPirineos Project, attended in detail to the numerous queries from the public and media present.
Photo Ana Samuelsson
WORLD MOUNTAIN AND TRAIL RUNNING CANFRANCPIRINEOS 2025
The third edition of the unified world championship brings together all events under World Athletics patronage, together with partners IAU, ITRA and WMRA. This celebration of outdoor sports will take place for the first time at the Pyrenees from September 25 to 28, 2025, thus succeeding those already held in Chiang-Mai, Thailand (2022), and Innsbruck-Stubai (2023).
It is a young event, that has already established itself as the world's Summit for the four races it hosts: Vertical Uphill, Classic, Short Trail and Long Trail. In accordance with the recent edition in the Tyrolean Alps, the Aragonese Pyrenees expects to host over 60 national teams that will total almost 2,000 athletes, bringing together the world's elite, proud to officially represent their countries after severe processes of classification carried out by each national athletics federation.
The event will also have the maximum sporting guarantee by applying, as is already customary at CanfrancCanfranc, the WADA anti-doping protocol, the same one that governs the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and where Canfranc was a pioneer among mountain races throughout Spain.
This global event will showcase outstanding national teams from all continents, who will fight once again to lead the historical medal table. Kenya and Uganda will arrive as top favourites from Africa, while from America the United States and a rapidly growing Mexico look strong too. Europe is also a powerhouse, led by France as the historical medal count leader followed by Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Against all of them, the Spanish team that will be presented by the RFEA, will fight to surpass the medals achieved in Thailand and Austria, where the successes of the Spanish young talents laid the best guarantee that not only is there a solid present for the host, , but that spaniards are also looking into an extraordinary future
CANFRANCPIRINEOS MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2024 (SEPTEMBER 13-15), REGISTRATIONS OPEN
Canfranc took over from Madeira 2023 (Portugal) for the organization of the world masters that will be held in the Pyrenees in just a few months. It will be the first time that this great international event will be run in this mountain range and even in Spain.
The 2024 Masters World Mountain Running Championship is also the first edition in history to host three races (Uphill, Classic and Long Distance). A vital event to highlight the passion and quality of the masters athletes (+35 years old), which aims to gather the largest number of registered participants in its long history, exceeding 1,200 runners. Countries such as Ireland, Japan, Spain, Italy and Germany will compete in championships that each day have a higher sporting level among their participants. The dates for this event will be September 13 to 15, 2024.
WORLD MASTERS PROGRAM 2024 (SEPTEMBER 13-15)
From Friday to Sunday, Canfranc will host the Uphill, Long Distance and Classic races, all under the umbrella of WMRA, World Mountain Running Association. The Aragonese bid was based on the confidence and solidity of a project backed by long experience in the organization of sporting events such as the CanfrancCanfranc, with 17 editions already behind it, and which has already succesfully hosted three editions of the WMRA World Cup, as well as several Spanish Championships.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE: As an inclusive specily, any mountain runner may compete, provided they are over 35 years old and member of national athletics, WMRA or masters athletics association.
Registrations can be made from the official website here:
https://canfranc2024wmmrc.com/eng.registrations.html
CANFRANCCANFRANC: FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE IN THE MOUNTAINS.
These sports projects for Canfranc blend into a long tradition of sustainable development in these mountains. This tiny mountain village of just 400 inhabitants within the Alto Aragón is on the verge of celebrating the first century of the Canfranc International Station and the pioneering environmental work by engineer Benito Ayerbe to protect it, with millions of trees plante on formery barren mountain slopes. A historical green heritage that has now been revived to its greatest splendor with the reopening of the Station in its original style as a 5* luxury hotel operated by Barcelo Royal Hideaway.
In this XXI century, Canfranc is preparing to go further, creating the first special natural protection area in all Aragon, in order to recognize and protect the legacy of those environmental pioneers from the Belle Epoque. Ever since them. this town chose to live by blending in with its mountains: Taking care of them and enhancing the best of them for world travellers and sportsmen alike.
Today, that tradition remains more alive than ever with the Canfranc Canfranc mountain races, together with a network of more than 500 kilometers of trails marked and mapped for the safe use of any visitor. And new outdoor projects are in the pipeline, such as a new via ferrata that will allow visitors to discover new dimensions of the Pyrenees.
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Further audiovisual content:
Photography: https://mega.nz/folder/fORBnKRR#Z3QAurY80FwXkg_V6u1huQ
Video:https://mega.nz/file/nLRTDRrZ#yDe0Zx3jE2-4K1xg-gTiRX4XCz_qYNdKqYB95vY5nQY
Fitur Poster: https://mega.nz/file/GWJETJAA#3gEEuNo4Y3ZcsZzP9HnLvSg3kBBWoezygxzlpt7cRqU
On behalf of Organisation Committee
Jacek Bedkowski
IAU Director of Communication
