Start of the 30th edition of Sellaronda Skimarathon

Every sport has its New York City Marathon, and in ski mountaineering this one is called the Sellaronda Skimarathon.

The official presentation took place on Wednesday, March 13, on the 2225m of the Salei refuge precisely where, on Friday, March 22, 2024, the first set-up change will be held for the 1 100 athletes who will participate in the 30th edition of one of the icons of ski mountaineering. Recalling memories and milestones was a panel composed of Organizing Committee president Oswald Santin, general secretary Daniela Perathoner, Canazei mayor Giovanni Bernard, international jury president as well as former ski mountaineer and alpinist Omar Oprandi the director of Grandi Eventi Val di Fassa Cristoforo Debertol, and Dynafit sport marketing specialist Daniel Luziani.

Sellaronda’s partnership with
Dynafit
, a leading supporter of the skimo world, is now well established and requires work carried out throughout the year, Luziani says, from race packs to the start line. A key race for the brand, which spurs the athletes on its team to participate each year and test themselves against each other.

It was 1995 when Diego Perathoner, founder of SellaRonda Skimarathon, had the idea for the start of something extraordinary. It was a visionary idea to hold a night ski mountaineering competition on the alpine ski slopes connecting the four valleys around the Sella massif. In 2009, after his untimely death, the helm was taken over by current president Oswald Santin, who increased the number of competing couples from 300 to as many as 650, a number that later settled at 550 after the pandemic.

So we are talking about a sold-out Jubilee edition, with the participation of 535 pairs for a total of 1,000 athletes from 20 nations. At the start 30 female and 85 mixed pairs. Among the teams to watch out for are those composed of Michele Boscacci and Davide Magnini, the Austrian team with Jakob Herrmann and Christian Hoffmann. Other prominent names include Paul Verbnjak, Daniel Ganhal, Nils Oberauer and Julian Tritscher, and Italian Alex Oberbacher. On the women’s side, on the other hand, great expectations are high for the pair Sarah Dreier and Johanna Hiemer as well as Italians Alba De Silvestro and Giulia Murada.

Kicking off the event is an evening dedicated to the 30th anniversary of SellaRonda Skimarathon to be held at the Canazei cinema theater at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 21. Start set for 6 p.m. from the center of Canazei, from where the climb to Passo Sella, Gardena, Campolongo and Pordoi will begin on the original 42-kilometer route with 2700 meters of positive elevation gain. Confirmed transits in the towns of Selva Val Gardena, Corvara, Arabba and Canazei that make the Dolomite competition unique.

The event will be streamed live, starting at 7:15 p.m. on the official event website www.sellaronda.it