Ebensee, Austria - Geoffery Ndung’u of Kenya and Austria’s Andrea Mayr were the winners of yesterday’s WMRA GP, race 4, which was held on the Feuerkogel (9).
Weather conditions were not as bad as at European Trophy 12 years ago but not as good as last year – light clouds and some raindrops were just reminding the runners that mountain running is a sport that is held in pure nature.
About 250 runners from 13 countries joined the well known race and were really impressed by the brilliant organization.
The races started in Ebensee. After one and a half km running in the city the course turned towards the mountain. Steep trails take the runners thought the forest and later along the meadows (ski slopes) to the top of the mountain. Reaching the summit the women finished their race but the men made an additional 1km loop to make the race more interesting for the spectators.
Some famous names gathered on the start line – in the women’s division current European Champion Andrea Mayr from Austria and strong Slovenian runners Mateja Kosovelj and Lucija Krkoc – both already World and European Championships medal winners. In the men’s category a strong Kenyan team was announced including Geoffrey Ndung’u who won the Grossglocknerlauf a month ago and improved the course record and Isac Kosgei who ran the Muttersbergluf at the end of June beating Jonathan Wyatt.
Just after the start the Kenyans started to sort themselves out and at the end of the asphalted road, when the course became steeper, they were already 100m ahead of the main group. Ndung’u and Kosgei finished the race on the first and second position and Ndung’u missed the course record for just 12 seconds which is another demonstration of his excellent mountain running capacity. Scot Adam Osborne was the fastest European runner.
Andrea Mayr won the women’s race running in first from the start to the finish. Mateja Kosovelj was second (her brother Mitja finished fourth the men’s race).
In the overall WMRA Grand Prix competition the best runners are already on the top.
The next WMRA Grand Prix event will be held on 15. August in Norway – the Skaala race.
Tomo Sarf (WMRA) for mzungo.org
RESULTS:
WOMEN
1 MAYR Andrea 79 AUT 1:00:58
2 KOSOVELJ Mateja 88 SLO 1:02:36
3 MILESOVA Iva 77 CZE 1:03:37
4 KRKOC Lucija 88 SLO 1:05:51
5 KUBICKA Irmi 60 AUT 1:07:25
6 YOUNG Sula 79 GBR 1:08:12
7 SKALNIKOVA Eva 85 CZE 1:09:48
8 BIANCHI Ilaria 85 ITA 1:10:15
9 REICH Karoline 83 AUT 1:13:28
10 PETROVA Otsana 70 UKR 1:15:37
MEN
1 NDUNG'U Geoffrey 84 KEN 55:30
2 KOSGEI Isaac-Toroitich 81 KEN 59:31
3 OSBORNE Adam 76 GBR 1:00:16
4 KOSOVELJ Mitja 84 SLO 1:00:56
5 REDL Alois 72 AUT 1:01:19
6 SKALSKY Roman 75 CZE 1:02:04
7 SCHMUCK Helmut 63 AUT 1:03:36
8 IIDAI Yujiro 85 JPN 1:04:16
9 ALASDAIR Anthony 77 GBR 1:04:16
10 CORNTHWAITE Thomas 85 GBR 1:05:07
For WMRA GP Standings and other info go to - http://www.wmra.info/
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