Tag: Francesco Puppi

The Athletes’ View of 2020

Written by Tomo Sarf on 31/12/2020. Posted in Latest News.

Normally at this time of year we’d be looking back at race highlights from the year, remembering the World and European Championships and World Cup winners. However, there was little normal about 2020. Some of the classic mountain races did take place in the second half of the year, much to the excitement of athletes, but opportunities to stand on a start line were limited. It was a year of adaptation for everybody – athletes, race organisers and the WMRA.

We spoke to the runners on our athletes’ commission about their experiences of 2020, the highlights (if there were any), the positives they can take away from it, and what their hopes are for 2021.

Loss of freedom

Julien Rancon of France, where the lockdown was more restrictive than many, voiced the thoughts of many runners by saying “2020 will obviously be a year that will go down in history. The first thing that comes to my mind, apart from the fact that the sport’s movement has almost been in standby, is that this virus largely deprived us of the freedom to run in our mountains or restricted this practice.” Julien also had an injury that prevented him from running for a while once his lockdown was over, but all of this made the freedom to run again in the mountain so much sweeter when it was possible. “In the autumn, I had great pleasure to run and above all to meet my friends to share good moments in training camps, and in the French Championship and in the Trofeo Nasego and Trofeo Vanoni. These will remain for me the highlights of the season, because living your own passion remains an essential thing.”

Taking the positives

Trofeo Nasego and Trofeo Vanoni were also highlights of the year for Andrew Douglas from Scotland. But these were two of very few races he was able to compete in in 2020. As he says, this was “a complete contrast to 2019 when I took a sabbatical from work and I was regularly racing most weekends.” But being a positive kind of person he was able to take some good things away from this strange year too: “the thing I’m most positive about was that I was finally able to set some time aside to run in different places around Scotland that I had never been to before. A particular highlight was heading up to the north west Highlands and spending a few days there running up and down some glorious Munros with some friends.”

Joseph Gray won our men’s WMRA GOAT (greatest mountain runner of all time) vote in 2020

Over in the US, Joseph Gray could also appreciate some positives from the year, saying “it was great in terms of being able to spend bonus time with the family and kiddos”, but he was also disappointed by the lack of opportunity for travel and competition. But 2020 was a huge year for FKTs and Joseph made the most of his fitness where possible: “I only had a few races but highlights would be winning my first USA National title in Snowshoe racing, setting the Boulder Skyline FKT and Enchantments Alpine Lakes FKT!”

Furloughed from his job (earning him the nickname of ‘the furlough pro’ in his native Ireland), Zak Hanna definitely made the most of the additional time he had to train. He says “2020 turned out to be a great year for me, which to many may sound silly but I made a point of enjoying it rather than listening to all the negativity that has surrounded this year. Since the lockdown started I managed to compete in 10 races, one at home here in Ireland, eight over in Italy and last week I finished the year off with a five mile road race. Piz Tri Vertikal, Fletta Trail, Vertikal Nasego and Trofeo Vanoni stand out as highlights for me, as I left these races really happy with my performances and it has left me wanting more for 2021.”

Zak Hanna

A chance for a reset

But for some, 2020 ended up being less about racing and more about resetting. For Sarah Tunstall it provided an opportunity to address an injury issue. “I finished last season pretty decrepit and I wanted a break to get on top of injury issues and refresh myself. 2020 has been tough for all kinds of reasons, however, having no pressure of races has greatly helped me focus on the long-term health of my heels. I’ve also enjoyed exploring lots of new areas within the UK’s Lake District.”

Sarah Tunstall

Sandor Szabo of Hungary used 2020 as an opportunity to focus on his mental and physical health. “Unfortunately covid was only the start of my problems (injuries, family bereavements, money problems, etc.) but by the end of 2020, I can say, I got stronger mentally. I did not run a lot races this year – mostly because I couldn’t – but I’m not sad about it. I needed this year to be well prepared what’s coming next.”

Adapting

Fujio Miyachi of Japan did race, but the atmosphere made it feel more like training: “I participated in a race that runs around an old temple in Japan. Some temples in Japan have a history of running and training in the mountains. I ran on that old road. Although it was a race, my feelings were calm as I ran silently in the mountains like training.”

Fujio Miyachi

Francesco Puppi of Italy achieved some good success in races, winning the Fletta Trail and Dolimitenmann, setting impressive PBs at 10k and half marathon, and coming 7^th in the Golden Trails Azores, but he too felt that “it was the right year to focus on training rather than racing. I am proud to have had the chance and the willingness to adapt to circumstances and find different ways to stay fit and build something useful for me and for our future. Because it’s not just me, among my goals I want to leave a legacy to this sport and I’m actively working for that.”

Looking to 2021

And what are our athletes’ hopes for 2021? Obviously they were unanimous in hoping for some sort of return to ‘normality’, and a safe return to racing. Many expressed a lot of excitement for the World Cup and its exciting line-up of races next year. Sandor Szabo says “in this new system, it will be interesting to compete in the World Cup. I would like to finish higher in the top 10, and I’ll do everything I can to do my best. I’m looking forward mostly to Broken Arrow, which was my favourite World Cup race in 2019, and Sierre-Zinal”.

Sandor Szabo

Francesco Puppi is eager to take part in a race which is new to the World Cup for 2021: “I am looking forward to running La Montée du Nid d’Aigle, organized by my friend Elise Poncet”

One newly-announced championship which our athletes are particularly enthusiastic about is the first ever World Mountain and Trail Championships, which will take place in Chiang Mai, Thailand in November. Andrew Douglas calls it “the mouth-watering prospect of competing in Thailand at the newly combined World Trail and Mountain Running Championships!”

Andrew Douglas

Francesco Puppi says “The first world mountain and trail running championship is obviously a main target and it will be a turning point for our sport: the joint efforts of WMRA and ITRA with the direct support of World Athletics will finally take effect. The fact that the WMTRC will take place every other year will give it more credibility and visibility, while allowing athletes to focus on other races and projects.”

Francesco Puppi

Undoubtedly 2021 will still have significant challenges for athletes and race organisers. One short-term problem could be different travel restrictions in different countries. Joseph Gray says “I just hope for a safe return for us all to racing high level races once again. Really hoping all athletes have equal access to major events again as well so as to keep the level competitive as in past years.”

It’s unlikely that many of us will move forward into 2021 without our attitudes to running and racing being changed in some way. For Andrew Douglas “having missed racing and the social side of mountain running, there’s going to be a much deeper appreciation to being involved in the sport”, a sentiment that was echoed by others.

Everybody is undoubtedly eager to get back racing more regularly again, but, having been through this year that has had such an impact on so many people, that may look slightly different. As Francesco Puppi puts it: “I just hope we can take the best we’ve learned from this pandemic and leave the rest, keep moving forward, finding new, sustainable ways for our future.”

FLETTA TRAIL: Francesco Puppi and Elisa Sortini Crowned Winners

Written by Tomo Sarf on 02/08/2020. Posted in Latest News.

After a hot and sunny PizTriVertikal it was a cloudy day in Malonno for Fletta Trail, one of our associate races. The kind conditions helped athletes to run fast times along the mountains of the Valcamonica.

A dramatic sprint finish in the men’s race saw Francesco Puppi (Ita) able to catch Sylvain Cachard (Fra) in the last 200m after leading throughout the second part of race. It took a huge effort from Puppi to reverse a competition he almost lost.

Puppi and Cachard gave a big kick from the start with help of Maestri who soon lost contact with the leaders. On a tough uphill in the middle Puppi pushed hard but Cachard calmly kept control and changed pace on the downhill. The drama unfolded in the last kilometre, with the French athlete tiring and powerless to do anything when the strong Italian caught him. Puppi was the men’s winner of Fletta Trail 2020 in 1h26.27 just in front of Cachard, second in 1h26.41 while third was last year’s champ Cesare Maestri in 1h28.42. In fourth place was former European champ Martin DeMatteis with Irishman Zak Hanna completing the top 5.

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Puppi was thrilled about his race saying, “This is the race of mountain running and winning here is very exciting. Against Cachard it was a hard battle and real fight. I’m happy to be back racing after a difficult period with Covid where my team had problems.”

Starting some minutes earlier the women’s race belonged to Elisa Sortini who, firstly with Lorenza Giudici (Ita) and Alice Gaggi (Ita), and then alone, took the lead and ran away for an outstanding solo victory after a superb race.

Elisa Sortini ran the third best time ever on the Fletta Trail course and said afterwards: “I am very satisfied with today. I was not sure about my shape after such a long break. Training every day without competitions is not the same. I wasn’t thinking about such a result on such a fast course but anyway, I did it. Let me thank the organizers for a great day and giving us the chance to compete for the first time this season.”

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Sortini’s time was 1h41.38, with Lorenza Beccaria (Ita) in second place in 1h43.55 and Erica Ghelfi (Ita) third in 1h44.17 after also competing yesterday in PizTriVertical. Mojca Koligar (Slo) was fourth in 1h45.53 and Alice Gaggi fifth in 1h47.41.

The organizers did an excellent job keeping all the athletes safe with social distancing and with the use of face masks for spectators and athletes (in the first 500m of the race).

Full results

Any Surface Available: Interview With Francesco Puppi

Written by Tomo Sarf on 13/02/2020. Posted in Latest News.

He won gold in the 2017 World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships and his epic duel with Jim Walmsley in the 2019 race was one of the highlights of the event. But Francesco Puppi is just as happy to take on a vertical uphill race or a 5k on the road. We learn more about this incredibly versatile Italian athlete.

Can you tell us a little about how you first got into running when you were young?

My story is really much alike that of any kid that gets into running at a young age. I was six years old when my parents signed me up at the local track and field club. I joined because my older cousin Martina was enjoying it and I thought I might give it a try. It was pretty much all about having fun and playing around, running as fast as I could.

I remember watching the IAAF World Athletics Championship of Sevilla 1999 on TV and that’s when the fire was kindled: Haile Gebrselassie, Hicham El Guerrouj, Michael Johnson, Cathy Freeman, Maurice Green were my early heroes.

During my childhood I liked jumping hurdles and I thought I might become a 400m hurdler. Then I soon developed a passion for distance running. I was not particularly good at it, I never won a race at a young age, but its magnetic attraction was telling me that this was my road to follow.

Who were the runners that really inspired you when you were younger?

When I was very young I was really inspired by Paul Tergat. I liked his stride and his style of running, from the track to the marathon. One day I got to see him training in Iseo, in Northern Italy, where his training camp was based. A few months later I even got a chance to speak to him over the phone! My dream was to follow his footsteps and to become a marathoner.

I was also inspired by Stefano Baldini’s Olympic gold in the marathon in Athens 2004. I started reading about training and athletic preparation after his achievement: I looked for magazines and books to learn about professional runners and read their training logs.

Closer to me, I remember there was a group of older guys who used to train at the same track where I went to practice, doing workouts I thought I’d never be able to do. It was just cool to watch them and to look up to them, wondering if in a few years I might reach them.

You love to run on ‘any surface available’! In the past most runners have specialized in one area. There seems to be a new generation of runners (particularly in America, thinking of the Olympic marathon trials) who are taking the same approach as you. Do you think this will happen more and more?

Yes, I think a great performance in mountain running comes from running fast on any surface. A mountain runner must be able to perform well on the flat, from the roads to cross country. Several of my teammates have pretty fast PRs on 10k or half marathon. That doesn’t mean they are not specialized in mountain running, but that they are able to produce quality performance on any surface.

I spend more time training on the track than in the mountains, both in the winter and in the mountain running season. I also train on a 5km (almost) flat road loop that I use to prepare virtually any race, from half marathon to classic mountain running.

It’s great to see more and more mountain runners (especially in the US, where the track background of an athlete is usually more important and comes from college) switching from the mountains to the roads and putting themselves on a challenge on any surface. I would like to see the opposite too, which probably happens less often.

I think it’s really interesting to follow what Jim Walmsley is doing to prepare the Olympic Trials. Apart from causing a Letsrun.com forum meltdown he’s really brave and inspiring for me. I wish him all the best for the trials.

As a runner I really like your blog and your Instagram because you are so honest! There are no excuses and you are clear about whether you’ve put in enough hard work to get the result you want. Do you think your training as a physicist makes you quite scientific about your running training?

Thank you! I think trail and mountain runners in general need to realize that, as part of athletics, our sport is about running fast on the trails. It’s that simple, but really not always clear to everyone. There are no shortcuts to that.

I think my scientific background has an influence on the way I approach sport and life in general. Physics seeks an explanation to natural phenomena and is based on a few, simple yet very powerful ideas. To uncover the meaning behind the nature of things is its goal, and that’s what made me love it and why I decided to study it at university. Running, though, is different for me, it has a more artistic expression and sometimes escapes the explanation of reason. I see it as a part of my personality and a moment of creative energy. Of course, I try to have a rational/scientific approach to training and racing, but the romanticism and feelings that running gives me cannot always be explained in these terms. It’s the genius and the harmony of a primordial form of locomotion, of the most spontaneous action a man can do that are just beautiful.

At the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in Patagonia in 2019 you had an epic duel with Jim Walmsley. It was an incredible race to watch. Is that where you are at your happiest – duelling with one of the greatest long distance runners in the world?

Yes, I think the rivalry that some competitions feature really is the spice of our sport. What’s the point of competing then? I always try to find a story and a meaning behind each target race. It’s important for me to live it in a very personal and emotional way. That’s why I was at my happiest running with Jim. My motivation to compete at the World Championships in Patagonia grew when I learned that he would be there. We created something inspiring and enthralling for at least three hours, I believe. His talent stood out and I was the best I could possibly be in that particular day.

You and Jim Walmsley seem to have a great respect for each other. Do you speak to each other about your training?

We had a few exchanges of thoughts in Argentina. And we spy on each other training sessions on Strava [Ed: here’s Francesco’s and here’s Jim’s]. What always strikes me is how much quality volume he’s able to withstand. Of course he’s a professional runner, while I try to balance working as a high school teacher with my semi-pro activity, so I cannot really compare to him. But there’s always a lot to learn from great, more experienced athletes. I have great respect and admiration for him.

Take his result at Sierre-Zinal (3rd place in 2h31’) last year for example: it might (comprehensibly) have been eclipsed by Kilian’s performance but it was a huge, huge achievement, only six weeks after setting Western States 100 mile record. His versatility is impressive, it’ll be interesting to see what he can do in Atlanta in a couple of weeks.

What key races are you targeting this year?

The main target will be Sierre-Zinal, a race that inspires me unlike any other in the world. I hope to get in peak shape for August 9th and to fight for the win. I also want to run well at Pikes Peak Marathon because I really liked the course and the experience last year, and because Peter Maksimow would be proud of me! The American atmosphere is cool and Colorado’s trails are amazing. I’m also planning to compete in shorter races in the WMRA World Cup.

You have shown us you can do any distance on any surface! What are the races or adventures you would love to do in the future?

I’d love to have more time for training and racing. There’s nothing else I could ask for right now. I think the biggest margin of improvement would come if I had more time to rest properly and train with enough time, instead of having to squeeze a workout between work hours or a recovery run during lunch break.

In the future I’d love to explore a few places in a self-propelled way: Alaska and Patagonia above all. It’d be cool to plan an adventure there, running and cycling without having an impact on the environment. But that’s something I will do after I achieve my full potential as an athlete, so I really don’t know when and if it’ll happen!

WORLD MOUNTAIN RUNNING ASSOCIATION