Trofeo Vanoni, the epic mountain race, is taking place as always on the last Sunday of October, the 27th. This will be the 62nd edition of the race, a fact which shows the deep history of this race, and another page of that history is about to be written.
Immortalized by the sports journalist Maurizio Torri as the “World Championship of Dead Leaves” due to its colourful autumnal timing the race has a hall of fame that reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of mountain running for the last half a century. The GS CSI Morbegno this year is working hard to stage a sporting event of international scope to live up to reputation.
The 62nd edition of Trofeo Vanoni promises to be the most exciting ever. In addition to athletes from all over Europe, the entire Italian Mountain Running Team that’s currently preparing for the World Championships in Patagonia will be in Morbegno for a training camp on the weekend of 26/27 October. So the 62nd Trofeo Vanoni will feature many of the top Italian and European mountain runners.
It’s a race not to be missed, both for those who will run it, and for those who will support the runners on the way (in the now famous “fan zones” of Tempietto, Arzo and the “jump”). The names of the favourites were presented by the vice-president of CSI Morbegno (LOC) Marco Leoni during the press conference on Wednesday, October 16th in the Town Hall of Morbegno (North Italy in the middle of Alps). Here are some of the key teams:
– the Atletica Valli Bergamasche Team with the European bronze medalist Chevrier and the teammates Maestri and Cagnati – the Italian champion team Atletica Valle Brembana with the record holder of the race Alex Baldaccini, Cavagna and Puppi,
– the Falchi Lecco Team, first Italian team in the relay last year,
– La Recastello Radici Group with Piana, Ruga and Bertolini,
– Atletica Valchiese with the phenomenon Vender and the juniors Berti and Merli.
And there’s more: the French, who if they were to pull off a hat-trick would definitely take home the trophy, led by Julien Rancon, who is an idol in Morbegno and will be competing with the winners of last year’s edition Cachard and Fine. There’s also the British team, which was selected at the International Snowdon Race and is made up of Hanna, Baxter and Clayton, the Scottish Team, who were third last year with Bryson, Wolfe and Gollan, and the Irish team with Lupton, Conroy and Kevan. In addition there’s Poland with the under 23 Kubica, Jilek and Dudczak, Wales with Bodman, Hughes and Roberts, and the English team sponsored inov-8 and led by Mounsey along with Wood and Adams.
Still not enough? The individual ladies race is just as exciting. The duel between last year’s winner Elisa Sortini (Atletica Alta Valtellina) and the WMRA World Cup winner Sarah McCormack is on again. There’s also the always competitive Pavla Schorna (Czech Republic), the returning Alice Gaggi who just finished 4th at the Smarna Gora in Slovenia, then eyes are on the other Italians – Pastorelli, Scaini, the French Team European Champions 2018 Anais Sabrie and Elise Poncet, the bronze medalist at the World Master Championship Rebecca Quinn, the local Roberta Ciappini (La Recastello Radici Group), the Scottish runner Miranda Grant and the English runner Kirsty Hall.
With a line-up like this there’s sure to be big battles and quite a show. The press launch on 16th October, with event presentations with films, video messages (those of Julien Rancon, Alex Baldaccini and Paolo Germanetto) and with the speeches/interviews of a lot of key players. The CSI Morbegno Running Team (LOC) was able to involve and communicate its passion to all those who attended, including the champions of mountain running Alice Gaggi and Elisa Sortini who love Trofeo Vanoni and this year will do their best to place well.