All the news of the La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail
Hannes Namberger wins the queen race – 120 kilometres and 5,800 metres of altitude difference – in 12h02’12, setting yet another record at the 2021 edition of the Ampezzo event. Marco De Gasperi the first Italian. Among the women French victory thanks to Camille Bruyas. In the UltraDolomites successes for Marek Causidis (Czech Republic) and Martina Valmassoi.
The Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail offers spectacle and emotion from the first to the last metre. There was excitement right from the start for the 1,200 runners, at 11pm on Friday 25 June, for the most prestigious and gruelling of the four weekend races offered in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Belluno) during the four days dedicated to the Lut: 120 kilometres in length and 5,800 metres of positive height gain. A large crowd, warm applause and music to warm up the spirits for a thrilling start, or rather a thrilling start, because this year the start was staggered into three (a “go” every ten minutes) to avoid as many people as possible and to ensure compliance with the health regulations on anti-vids.
On the start line, one of the favourites, the Spaniard Andreu Simon Aymerich, immediately took the lead. It is him to pass in the lead at the first detection, the one of Ospitale after 10 kilometres, affordable. He was followed, a handful of seconds behind, by Andreas Reiterer from Alto Adige, with the Swede Carl Sӧrman a minute behind. The kilometres pass and the hours of the night pass and the situation does not change. In fact, it did: because the German Hannes Namberger, who had started without pushing too hard in the first few kilometres, joined Aymerich in the lead. It was the two of them who took the lead, in fact paired together and digging out an advantage of absolute respect over the rest of the group of the best: they ran hard on the trails towards Misurina and the Auronzo refuge (at the foot of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo) and then at the passages of Lake Landro, Cimabanche and Val Travenanzes. While many favourites “jumped”, Namberger took the lead and at Col Gallina, near the Falzarego Pass, he had about fifty seconds on Aymerich. At the Giau Pass, kilometre 104, the German and the Spaniard pass together. In the stretch from Giau to Forcella Ambrizzola, however, Namberger shifts gears and within six kilometres digs a gap of almost three minutes between him and the Iberian. A gap that in the last stretch, the one downhill from Croda da Lago (km 111) to the finish, became 7-7 minutes. Apotheosis for Namberger in Corso Italia, welcomed by a festive public that the Bavarian from Ruhpolding thanks with bows and applause. 12h02’12”: this is the response of the stopwatch which sets a new record for the event. Aymerich arrived, exhausted, in 12h09’13” while the Norwegian Sebastian Krokvig completed the podium, repeating his third place in 2017.
“It has always been a dream for me to be here and the dream came true today with a fantastic victory,” said the winner, Hannes Namberger. “I raced in parallel with Aymerich and opened the throttle in the last part of the downhill. It went really well.”
The first Italian, sixth, was Marco De Gasperi from Valtellina, at his first experience at the Lut. “I would describe myself as an unprepared student over these distances, so I started carefully,” explained the multiple mountain running world champion. “In the first kilometres I was out of the twenty, then going up towards the Passo Tre Croci the legs were going quite well and I started to climb positions towards Misurina and then towards the Auronzo refuge. At this point my goal became fifth place, but a mistake on the route at a fork cost me the few minutes that “relegated” me to sixth place. In any case, I’m satisfied: I wanted to be there and I was, as a protagonist”.
The pink race saw the success of Camille Bruyas: the Frenchwoman won with a time of 14h06’16”, preceding the American Katie Schide (14h28’21”) and the Swedish Mimmi Kotka (14h51’09”). The first Italian athlete was from Ampezzo, Barbara Giacomuzzi, a former Italian cross-country skier, who came eleventh.
On the morning of today, 26 June, the latest Lut race, the UltraDolomites, also got underway: starting from Sesto (Bolzano) and finishing in Cortina after 80 kilometres and 4,100 metres of positive height gain. The winner was Marek Causidis (Czech Republic) with a time of 8h10’26”. On the second and third step of the podium, respectively, the Spaniard Mario Olmedo and the Trentino di Mori Christian Modena.
Victory in the women’s category came from Belluno, with Martina Valmassoi from Cadore, Italian ski mountaineering and trail running champion, first in 9h21’11”.
In addition to the title sponsor La Sportiva, other important brands supported the event such as: Parmigiano Reggiano, Buff, Petzl, La Cooperativa di Cortina, Rudy Project, Garmin, San Benedetto, Elleerre, Fabbrica di Pedavena, Eolo, Cortinabanca, Astoria, Reflexallen and Ospedale Cortina.
Second day of the La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail, once again under the banner of the record. Or rather a double record. Yes, because after the first race, the Cortina Skyrace, which took place yesterday, Thursday 24 June, the Spaniard Alex Garcia Carrillo set a new record time, today too the times set in previous seasons were lowered, both for men and for girls. The Cortina Trail, a race with start and arrival in Cortina, in the central Corso Italia, and 48 kilometres of development and 2.600 metres of positive height difference, had 1.200 competitors (out of 1. 1,200 runners (out of 1,350 registered) competed on an absolutely breathtaking course that took them around the Tofane in the first part, past Col Rosà and up the Val Travenanzes to Col dei Bos, while in the second part they ran in the shadow of Averau and Nuvolau, passing through the Giau pass, touching Forcella Ambrizzola, the Croda da Lago refuge and Lake Ajal before the final destination.
The first to cross the finish line at the foot of the Cortina bell tower was Antonio Martinez Perez: 4h17’14” was the response of the stopwatch hands, a new course record. The race of the boy from Alicante progressed and was in the leading group for the first hour and a half before opening the throttle and becoming unreachable for everyone. Scandinavia on the second and third step of the podium: place of honour for the Norwegian Jo Forseth Indgaard (at the finish line in 4h23’41”) and bronze for the Finnish M årten Bostr öm (4h26’31”). First Italian Marco Piccin, from San Fior in Treviso, sixth in 4h51’01”.
“In the last four months I have been training thinking exclusively about this race,” said Antonio Martinez Perez, who lowered by more than 3′ the previous record, set by the American Zach Miller in 2018 (4h 20′ 24″). “I’m really happy with this success, which came in a fantastic environment that I was seeing for the first time. After the first hour and a half of the race I forced the pace and was left alone: from there on I only thought about pushing hard, feeding and hydrating myself, without worrying about my opponents. It went very well!”
Italy ahead of everyone in the pink race. Elisa Desco from Piedmont, a native of Valtellina, won the race, lowering by more than 12 minutes the time recorded by the American Hillary Allen in 2018. The Italian mountain runner who has won the Italian title several times, as well as the sky marathon world champion in 2014, clocked 5h06’57”. The second and third place finishers, both from Poland, were very distant: in order, Ursula Paprocka (5h24’19”) and Katarzyna Wilk (5h25’43”).
“Last year I competed in the Virtual Lavaredo Ultra Trail and I really enjoyed the course. But being here this year was of course something else, beautiful,” says Elisa Desco. “It was not obvious to be at the start and it was not obvious to win because last week I had a sprain and the descents were an unknown: in the downhill sections I controlled, I absolutely wanted to arrive”.
This evening, at 11pm, the highlight of the four days of the La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail, the Lut, will start: 120 kilometres and 5,800 metres of positive altitude difference (start and finish in Cortina) to be tackled by 1,350 competitors. The maximum time is set at 30 hours.
Tomorrow morning, at 8 a.m., the start of the second edition of the UltraDolomites, starting in Sesto (Bolzano) and finishing in Cortina after 80 kilometres and 4,100 metres of elevation gain.
