The Skyrunner® World Series moves north, to the Arctic Circle and beyond, to the town of Tromsø, Norway. Here, in the land of the midnight sun, a wild landscape of fjords and glaciers attends the runners competing in the weekend’s Vertical Kilometer® and Tromsø SkyRace®.
The SkyRace®, in its second year, is organised by superstars Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg. Emelie, in her usual sporting style, will take off her organiser’s hat and race in both events which are capped for environmental reasons and are ecologically sustainable.
Lining up for Friday’s Vertical Kilometer® are Slovenian Nejc Kuhar (La Sportiva), currently heading the Series ranking. Salomon’s Remi Bonnet and Thorbjorn Ludvigsen are currently joint 7th with Andorra’s Ferran Texeido. Norwegians Eirik Haugsnes (inov-8) and Stian Hovind will join Thorbjorn.
In recent times Norwegians have demonstrated a special skill for vertical running – to date, territory of the Italian specialists. Therese Sjursen, ranked 3rd, is one of them, leading the women’s field, joined by Emelie Forsberg, 4th, Ekaterina Mityaeva, 7th, Azara Garcia, 9th and Mira Rai, 26th who will also run the Ultra.
The SkyRace®, which usually refers to mid-distance races, is classed by the ISF as an Ultra due to the extremely technical course and the 4,400m elevation gain. It starts at sea level and reaches two peaks at 1,238m and 1,404m altitude over extremely steep rocky terrain including some exposed scrambling sections. “Just” 45 km long, the finishing time for the winner (Eirik Haugsnes) was 6h38’30” in 2014.
Sunday’s line up counts no less than the two 2014 Ultra World Champions, race host Emelie Forsberg and Luis Alberto Hernando. The men’s field includes Italian Franco Collè, 2nd at the Mont-Blanc 80k and winner with Dai Matsumoto of Sunday’s Cervino SkyRace® test run to the summit of the Breithorn, at 4,165m. Last year’s winner, Eirik Haugsness, will face some stiff competition from Cristofer Clemente, 8th, Aurelien Dunand-Pallaz, Jan Bartas, Zigor Iturrieta, Florian Reichert, Pascal Egli and more.
In the women’s field, joining Emelie, currently ranked 2nd in the Ultra Series are Series leader Anna Comet and Mira Rai, 3rd. Maite Maiora who’s been concentrating on the Sky Series where she ranks 3rd, will add to the quality field. The time to beat is by Hanna Krajnikova (Czech Republic) in 9h49’48”.
For environmental and safety reasons, the race is capped at 200 competitors.
As Official Watch of the 2015 Skyrunner® World Series and European Skyrunning Championships, the Tromsø SkyRace® represents an occasion to win a luxury Alpina Horological Smartwatch for the winners of the Alpina Smart Time Prize. The formula is based on timing at the highest point of the race, in this case Hamperokken at 1,404m altitude. A bonus for age, together with an exclusive algorithm, is applied to the first ten men and five women at the check point, thus putting younger and older competitors at the same level, irrespective of the final race results.
So, cool temperatures, gruelling terrain and stiff competition are the ingredients anticipating a weekend of true skyrunning ahead. No doubt, lucky competitors will be rewarded with Emelie’s famous cinnamon buns at the finish line!
INFO: Tromsø SkyRace®
