This year no Castore, the organizing committee, given yesterday’s disturbance and this morning’s weather, opted for “plan b” which still included a spectacular and mountaineering itinerary in true Mezzalama Style that took the athletes to the 3585m of Quintino Sella. Everything as planned, however, for the first vertical staged on the uphill-only itinerary with arrival at the Rifugio Guide di Ayas (3,400 mslm).
At 7:00 this morning the third edition of SkyClimb Mezzalama will be set to fire with a change to the route that has been made to ensure the smooth running of the event and above all to avoid unnecessary risks for both the 90 registered teams and the numerous volunteers located along the route.
The first to cross the finish line was the team composed of the Italians Tadei Pivk and William Boffelli with a time of 2h39’20”, in second place with a gap of 13′ from the winners were the Italians Paolo Bert and Lorenzo Rostagno while in third place, again Italians, were Andrea Prandi and Iacopo Leonesio who finished in 2h53’44”.
In the women’s field, the victory went to the Swiss Marianne Fatton and Gaelle Perrier who completed the race in 3h41’48”. Behind them, in 3h56’46”, the Franco-Italian team of Noémie Grandjean and Camilla Calosso, third place with a time of 4h02’53” for the French Mélanie Nobs and Lucile Ochs.
The decision to move the race from Saturday to Sunday had already been made on Wednesday in order to avoid a major disturbance. On Saturday evening, given the continuing meteorological instability, it was rightly decided to avoid the climb to Castore: “The uncertain weather made us decide not to go up to altitude – comments Alpine Guide Adriano Favre – but to opt for a technical route. The teams started regularly from Saint Jacques but instead of arriving at the Rifugio Guide di Ayas shortly after Pian di Verra Superiore, they deviated towards Bettolina, partly following the normal track that goes towards Quintino Sella and then, turning left, they emerged at the start of the classic equipped itinerary that leads to the refuge at an altitude of 3585 meters. From Sella they descended towards Gressoney la Trinité, lowering their altitude by about 300 meters on a track created specifically for the event and only possible due to a spring rich in precipitation. Here, in fact, normally in summer there is a scree, but now with the snow it was possible to draw a very interesting route. After this first part of the descent the teams went up towards the pass above the Bettolina, then down towards the Colle della Bettaforca, Resy and finally Saint Jacques».
The change in the itinerary reduced the meters of altitude difference, which became 1900 instead of 2500 uphill, but the effort and technical level of the race certainly did not undergo significant changes. Without the passage on the over 4000 meters of the Castore, the participants were able to manage the effort differently, forcing the pace along almost the entire route.
Everything went according to plan, however, for the Vertical which started half an hour later, again from Saint Jacques, arriving at the Rifugio Guide di Ayas at an altitude of 3,400 metres.
In the men’s field, the victory went to Andrea Gorret who arrived at the Rifugio Guide di Ayas stopping the clock after 1h33’38” of racing. In second place, with a delay of 3 minutes from the winner, Giovanni Zamboni from Bergamo. Third Matteo Rodigari in 1h37’46”.
In the women’s race, the victory went to Barbara Sangalli from Lecco in 1h53’22”, followed by Serbian Sladjana Zagorac with a time of 1h54′, and third was Elisa Arvat from the Aosta Valley who crossed the finish line after 1h56’26”.
Having successfully completed the summer race, the Mezzalama Foundation will now begin working on the legendary ski mountaineering event which, next winter, in addition to being a stop on the prestigious Grande Course circuit, will be a unique event in the ISMF Long Distance World Championship.
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1970-01-01 00:00:00
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