Website www.ferrino.it
Anna Ferrino and her Ferrino Women Team
Where does the idea to create a Ferrino Women Team come from?
The project was born in 2017 from the multi-year partnership between Ferrino and Tor des Geants, a very tough ultratrail competition where many exceptional women took part and face a challenge made of 330 km and 24,000 meters in altitude. More than 10% of the total number of participants in the race are women and there is also an important female part among the organizers and the volunteers of the event. For this reason our company has decided to tell the feminine side of the race through its athletes, gathered under the name of Ferrino Women Team.
But Ferrino also wanted to give a voice to the women of Tor, telling their most personal and intimate sides, emphasizing the stories of the women who, through various organizational roles, have been able to create a mythical and excellent event.
Ferrino is embracing trail running thanks to this team.
The Trail Running collection is born from the need to complete the Ferrino line with garments dedicated to this sector which is growing strongly and that is loved by many outdoor enthusiasts. An outdoor company like Ferrino, which produces backpacks, poles and technical clothing, cannot fail to have a line specifically designed for this activity, which represents the present and the future and is imposing trend lines even between walkers and hikers that are now using increasingly lightweight and essential gears.
How did you choose the girls of the team?
What really matters for Ferrino is not only the result and performance. However the athletes of the Ferrino Women Team have distinguished themselves over the years obtaining important awards – not least the female podium of Scilla Tonetti with her second place at Tor 2018. The Ferrino Women Team is an example of how people with ordinary work and life can also achieve great goals, like running at Tor des Geants, the hardest ultratrail race in the world, becoming “giants” themselves. It is important for Ferrino to have athletes motivated to always improve themselves, to let their human side shine both in social media communication and in everyday life: real people, with normal jobs, a family and a life not as professional athletes, girls with a great passion that train hard for achieving results and who pursue dreams with the support of Ferrino.
Can you describe some of them both from the sport and the personal point of view
These Ferrino women represent us all, each in their own way. From the exuberance of Alice and Scilla, who are mountain races and ultratrail lovers and high altitudes specialists – Alice is a four times finisher at Tor des Geants and Scilla got second place among women in the last edition – up to the technique and experience of Katia Figini and Luisa Balsamo – the first girl to won a world record, the only woman to have crossed 5 deserts in 5 different continents in one year, the second ultra long experienced marathon runner, expert in all kinds of long distance running, from the desert to the mountain. All our athletes have a huge passion, which translates into an infinite number of ultra trail races: Tor de Geants in first place, but also Marathon des Sable, Mont Blanc ultra trail, Patagonia, Omani desert, Sahara desert. The variety of attitudes, experiences and geographical origins, from Palermo to Varese, makes the team unique and united, the diversity of its members reveals the common denominator to all the girls, which is the love for the outdoor and nature. Important values also for Ferrino.
Anna, what kind of bond do you have with the girls?
Over the years I’ve created a relationship of trust and collaboration: they tell me their projects, dreams, ambitions. I do my best to make them become real, through a technical support aimed at the needs of each of them and tailored to the competitions or challenges they want to face. As also happens with other ambassadors of our brand, some products are born from a mutual collaboration: we design them together, according to their needs, and gradually perfect them once tested. But this collab is not only about clothes and gears. Thanks to Ferrino Women Team I get involved in Tor des Geants and – although virtually – I run alongside them. After several years of partnership, I feel part of the team!
Where did the collab with TOR come from and then evolve?
The sponsorship of the world’s toughest ultra trail has started since the first edition, with a very important technical and logistic collaboration. In fact, Ferrino supplies Tor des Geants with technical gears as camp beds and tents for all athletes along the way; bivouacs are set up at high altitude in the most difficult and inhospitable parts of the route between the Valle d’Aosta valleys and the Tor volunteers are supplied by Ferrino tents and sleeping bags. The sponsorship of this race gets stronger from year to year and in 2017 it has been enriched by the Ferrino Women Team, that since 2018 is composed by international athletes.
10 years of sponsorship, 10 years of memories, can you tell me one?
Tor des Geants is getting more and more thrilling at every edition, not only for the athletes’ performances but also for the air you breathe: the passion of the participants, their relatives, the organizers and the volunteers. In the last edition I witnessed something unexpected and unique. It was not just about one of our athletes who took the podium, finishing second among women, but also about a confirmation and a result for the whole team, a project that silently started two years ago as a challenge for our brand and for the girls involved. Getting on the female podium was a way to achieve what we have always believed in, the fact that even tough races like Tor’s, can be successfully experienced by women who embody qualities such as patience, resistance, self-denial and constancy. Even the gesture of friendship towards Jamie Aarons tells the spirit of the project, crossing the finish line hand in hand with her opponent is a great gesture of female fair-play that Scilla and Jamie, head to head until the last moment, decided to perform together spontaneously.
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