England's Joe Steward King of the Mountain on his race debut

This year's Snowdon International mountain race on 20 July was held in very wet conditions with visibility on the mountain also very poor, but it didn’t stop some fantastic racing. The England team was a mixture of experience and athletes making their England debuts, but both the men's and women’s team would be competitive, all the Home Nations were competing as well as a strong Italian squad.

Men ascent

At the start Joe Steward (England, Salford Harriers & AA), who is the reigning European Off Road Uphill Running Champion led the way with Lorenzo Cagnati (Italy) and Jacob Adkin (Scotland). This was the race order for the whole of the ascent; Joe had a fantastic climb and reached the top in 41mins 37sec. The Italian team also had two athletes in 4th and 5th, so were packing extremely well for the team result. England’s Grant Cunliffe was in 10th, Jack Wright making his England debut was 15th at the top and Ben Sharrock was 21st.

Men descent

The descent was difficult due to the weather conditions, but it didn’t stop Joe Steward extending a 1mins 15sec lead at the summit to 2mins 32sec at the finish to record a convincing victory in 1hr 05mins 41sec for the 15.3km race. The Italian Lorenzo Cagnati just held on to finish 2nd as Grant Cunliffe (Rossendale Harriers & A,C Steve Duxbury) had a storming descent to go from 10th to 3rd, finishing 9 secs behind the Italian athlete. Ambleside AC's Ben Sharrock and Jack Wright struggled on the descent - Jack with an achilles injury - and they finished 16th and 21st.

The team race is calculated on aggregate time and with Cagnati in 2nd, Matteo Rossi and Elia Mattio in 5th and 7th, but more importantly a combined result of 3hrs 27mins 45sec the Italians were the first team and England were second, by just1 second!

Women ascent

In the women’s race the Italian Vivien Bonzi led the way and had a 55 second lead at the top from Naomi Lang (Scotland) who in turn had a 1 min lead over England’s Eve Pannone (Ambleside AC, Derek Hurton). Once again the Italian team were packing well and had athletes in 4th and 5th. England then had Phillipa Williams (Dark Peak Fell Runners, Mark Croasdale) and Antonia Fan (Ambleside AC )in 6th and 7th so the team challenge was very close. Lex Whitaker (Ambleside AC, Phil Townsend) making her England senior debut was in 12th.

Women descent

On the descent the race order changed very quickly and Naomi Lang caught Vivien Bonzi in no time at all. Naomi had a brilliant descent to win by 2mins 40sec from England’s Eve Pannone who had a fantastic race to finish 2nd. Next came another fast descending athlete, Beatrice Bianchi (Italy) and then Vivien Bonzi who had led at the summit.

With Luna Giovanetti in 5th the Italian Team had also won the women’s team result. Phillipa Williams and Antonia Fan both had great races to finish 6th and 7th and England were assured of 2nd team. Lex Whitaker had a good race and maintained her 12th position.

Results

Men

1st       Joe Steward                England           1hr 05mins 41sec

2nd      Lorenzo Cagnati         Italy                 1hr 08mins 13sec

3rd       Grant Cunliffe             England           1hr 08mins 22sec

4th       Jacob Adkin                Scotland          1hr 08mins 53sec

5th       Matteo Rossi               Italy                 1hr 09mins 24sec

6th       Kieran Cooper             Scotland          1hr 09mins 28sec

7th       Elia Mattio                   Italy                 1hr 10mins 08sec

8th       Tom Wood                  Wales              1hr 10mins 58sec

9th       Felix McGrath             Bristol & West 1hr 11mins 05sec

10th     Francesco Bongio       Italy                 1hr 11mins 25sec

16th     Ben Sharrock              England           1hr 13mins 43sec

21st     Jack Wright                 England           1hr 15mins 38sec

Teams (aggregate time)

1st       Italy                 (3hr 27mins 45sec)

2nd      England           (3hr 27mins 46sec)

3rd       Scotland          (3hr 30mins 02sec)

Women

1st       Naomi Lang                Scotland          1hr 15mins 48sec

2nd      Eve Pannone              England           1hr 18mins 28sec

3rd       Beatrice Bianchi          Italy                 1hr 18mins 32sec

4th       Vivien Bonzi                Italy                 1hr 20mins 00sec

5th       Luna Giovanetti          Italy                 1hr 21mins 59sec

6th       Phillipa Williams          England           1hr 23mins 51sec

7th       Antonia Fan                England           1hr 23mins 55sec

8th       Eden O’Dea                Deeside           1hr 26mins 39sec

9th       Catriona MacDonald   Scotland          1hr 26mins 58sec

10th     Helen Leigh                 Highland          1hr 28mins 26sec

12th     Lex Whitaker               England           1hr 29mins 23sec

Teams (aggregate time)

1st       Italy                 (4hr 00mins 41sec)

2nd      England           (4hr 06mins 14sec)

3rd       Scotland          (4hr 14mins 48sec)