Top athletes at the 25th Südtirol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run

Published by Mountainblog on .

 

Everything is ready: On Saturday, 10 September, at 10 am the start gun for the 25th edition of the Südtirol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run will be fired at Casa Sesto. Once again hundreds of enthusiastic athlete’s don’t want to miss out on the classic mountain run from the bottom of the valley to Rifugio Locatelli, among them numerous top runners.

“We have some intensive weeks and months behind us. But now everything is ready and we look forward to welcoming many motivated mountain runners to our jubilee edition in Sesto. We are hoping for good weather, the final ingredient for an unforgettable day in the heart of the Dolomites”, President of the Organising Committee Alfred Prenn said ahead of his first big event this coming Saturday.

Some 700 mountain runners have registered for the 25th edition of this autumn classic event and are looking forward to an unforgettable day in the Dolomites region 3 Peaks. Among them are once again several hopefuls for the stage victory, whereby the women’s top field has expanded by two renowned names. One of the runners who will attempt the 17 kilometres long route with an elevation gain of 1333 meters is Elisa Sortini. The 38-year-old athlete of the club Atletica Alta Valtellina, member of the Italian national team and winner of the team bronze medal at the European mountain running championships in the Canary Islands, attracted attention only last weekend with a second place in the Rosetta Skyrace.

The women’s field is extremely strong

Sortini’s strongest competitor will be Julia Rath from Germany, who is normally a middle-distance runner. To everyone’s surprise, the athlete won silver in the U20 German mountain running championships last year. All eyes on Saturday will of course be on the local athlete Agnes Tschurtschenthaler from Sesto, who last year had to concede defeat only to the Finnish biathlon queen Kaisa Mäkäräinen. Experts must also keep an eye on Sara Bottarelli, winner of the Südtirol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run 2016.

Martin Hackhofer, Mauro Rasom, Silvio Wieltschnig: These three men are the top tips for the victory. The first comes from Sesto, the second from Val di Fassa, the third from Carinthia – their places of origin could not be more different. But all pursue the same goal: They are hoping to win the jubilee edition of the Drei Zinnen Alpine Run. Also running will be the two former Chairs of the Organising Committee Ludwig Tschurtschenthaler and Gottfried Hofer, who held the reins until the last edition and developed the popular South Tyrolean mountain run in the Dolomite region of Three Peaks into a top international event.

 

Awards ceremony on Saturday afternoon in Sesto

The fun doesn’t end with the race! After the participants have arrived at Rifugio Locatelli, and following some well-deserved refreshments and the traditional Flower Ceremony, they head straight back down towards Sesto, where the popular after-race party with live music and the big award ceremony will take place on the festival square.

Sunday, too, is another day of racing, this time for the little ones. Up and coming mountain runners can test their skills at the Mini Drei Zinnen Alpine Run. On a wide variety of courses ranging from 300 to 1200 metres in length, the focus is on fun for the kids and young people.

Südtirol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run – Roll of Honours

  • 1998:     Marco Gaiardo ITA 1:23.25 / Nathalie Santer ITA 1:49.18**
  • 1999:     Marco Gaiardo ITA 1:23.46 / Izabela Zatorska POL 1:38.20**
  • 2000:     Emanuele Manzi ITA 1:23.22 / Izabela Zatorska POL 1:35.17**
  • 2001:     Jonathan Wyatt NZL 1:19.58 / Anna Pichrtova CZE 1:31.47**
  • 2002:     Jan Blaha CZE 1:46.11        / Anna Pichrtova CZE         2:00.54***
  • 2003:     Thierry Icart FRA 1:47.58 / Ruth Pickvance CZE 2:11.43***
  • 2004:     Jonathan Wyatt NZL 1:40.17 / Anna Pichrtova CZE 1:57.54***
  • 2005:     Jonathan Wyatt NZL 1:40.35 / Anna Pichrtova CZE 1:56.14***
  • 2006:     Martin Ashley Cox GBR 1:45.27 / Anna Frost NZL 2:06.01***
  • 2007:     Antonio Molinari ITA 1:28.54 / Antonella Confortola ITA 1:46.44
  • 2008:     Helmut Schiessl GER 44.50 / Antonella Confortola ITA 53.52*
  • 2009:     Helmut Schiessl GER 1:28.51 / Anna Frost NZL 1:42.59
  • 2010:     Jonathan Wyatt NZL 1:26.23 / Mariagrazia Roberti ITA  1:44.45
  • 2011:     Jonathan Wyatt NZL 1:29.02 / Mariagrazia Roberti ITA  1:51.00
  • 2012:     Gabriele Abate ITA 1:26.16 / Mariagrazia Roberti ITA 1:47.36
  • 2013:     Petro Mamu ERI 1:22.44 / Renate Rungger ITA 1:49.28
  • 2014:     Jonathan Wyatt NZL 1:27.58 / Victoria Kreuzer SUI    1:48.10
  • 2015:     Andrzej Dlugosz POL 1:31.01 / Antonella Confortola ITA 1:48.06
  • 2016:     Petro Mamu ERI 1:02.06 / Sara Bottarelli ITA 1:16.24*
  • 2017:     aborted
  • 2018:     Anton Palzter GER 1:29.31 / Michelle Maier GER 1:42.34
  • 2019:     Petro Mamu ERI 1:22.37 / Sarah Tunstall GBR 1:41.45 (Track records)
  • 2020:     Manuel Innerhofer AUT 1:24.15 / Dimitra Theocharis 1:39.58 **
  • 2021:     Petro Mamu ERI 1:20.56 / Kaisa Mäkäräinen FIN 1:41.11 **

* shorter route, **variant, ***half marathon

Photo credits: Wisthaler.

INFO: Südtirol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run