Masters Skyrunning World Champs: first-ever event for 40+ this weekend

Are you over 40 with mad mountain running skills? You’ll want to tune in this weekend. The first-ever Masters Skyrunning World Championships kicks off this Sunday, held at the ninth edition of the Royal Ultra SkyMarathon in Ceresole Reale, Piedmont, Italy.

Runners will compete on the ex-Royal hunting grounds of the Gran Paradiso National Park near Turin, “amid turquoise lakes and towering peaks,” the International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) shared. The grueling course is 55 km long, with 4,141 metres of vertical climb over seven summits. Runners trek past moraine and snow fields to a peak altitude of 3,002 metres.

The Masters Skyrunning champs has a singular discipline, dubbed the SKYULTRA. All categories compete together in this open race, with the first three men and women taking home medals and world titles. Official national teams from 17 countries are participating in the pursuit of gold, silver and bronze country medals.

Eighteen individual medals are also at stake, with team points based on the four best results (at least one per gender) in the three age categories: over 40 (40 to 47 years old), over 48 (48 to 55 years old), and over 56. Past champions and current medallists will be vying for the medals, including multiple vertical kilometre (VK) winner Therese Sjursen of Norway, and the Czech Republic’s Anna Strakova, multiple Skyrunner World Series race winner and five-time winner of Sierre Zinal.

Sjursen, 47, told the ISF that she’s really looking forward to the champs: “I’m excited to test my strength and endurance on such a technical course. As a former VK runner, I have the uphill strength, but transferring this to strong downhill skills is something I continuously work on.” 50-year-old Strakova says that training for the event was challenging. “I did a lot of training, but have three small kids and live in a country with no big mountains, so I don’t know how well I can perform at high altitudes,” she said. “Running a race is like life – full of steep climbs and rocky downhills.”

The Skyrunner World Series consists of 10 races and was launched in 2004 by Marino Giacometti, president of the International Skyrunning Federation. The World Series website attests that it has “grown to represent the peak of outdoor running defined by altitude and technical difficulty.” Highly technical races, held in some of the most breathtaking places on earth, put elite athletes to the test. Canada hosts one race on the World Series, in Crowsnest Pass, Alta.: the Minotaur SkyRace.

Fans can follow the event on Facebook here.