Trofeo Nasego World Cup Mountain Race
The Nasego World Cup weekend (31 August/1 September), recently took place in Italy. The event involved two races; on the Saturday it was a VK (Vertical Kilometre) which climbs 1000m over a distance of 4.2km, the following day it’s a classic 21.5km up and down race.
The England mountain running team arrived in Casto, Northern Italy on Thursday afternoon to hot temperatures of 30 degrees. The Italian village was at the centre of the event with the start just metres from where the team were being staying. Arriving early allowed the team to settle in, relax and recce the lower parts of both courses on the Friday morning. On the Friday evening there was an elite athlete presentation which built up the atmosphere and got everyone motivated for the weekend's races.
Incorporated into the weekend was a three nations competition involving England, Scotland and Ireland; two men and two women would need to race each day and the result was a combined score of the VK and the Trofeo Nasego races. England had an overall team of 3 men and 3 women.
VK 1000m/4.2km
Women's race
On the first day of racing Finlay Grant (Dark Peak Fell Runners) and Tim Lamont (Helm Hill Runners, Sarah McCormack) ran for the men’s team and Sara Willhoit (Mercia Fell Runners) and Antonia Fan (Ambleside AC) for the women's. It was another hot day, with a slight cloud covering, which would help a little.
The women’s race was first off and it was a fast start, led out by the Kenyan athlete Philaries Kisang, with the race favourite and four-times winner, Andrea Mayr from Austria, just behind. Willhoit and Fan were in good positions and looking strong. As the athletes passed the 3k marker they had climbed 500m, but with just over a kilometre to go they still had 500 metres of ascent making the finish very tough! On the last steep climb Andrea Mayr took the lead and comfortably won from Kisang. Scotland’s Scout Adkin finished just behind in 4th. Sara Willhoit had a great run and finished strongly reaching the top in 8th. Antonia Fan, representing England for the second time this season, had a fantastic run to finish 11th.
Men's race
The men’s race started 45 minutes later and was also led out by a Kenyan athlete, Josphat Kiprotich, followed by defending champion Patrick Kipngeno, who at the pre-race conference had stated he was looking to break the course record! Also in the top 10 was the European uphill champion Joe Steward (Salford Harriers). The race's top 20 included England’s Fin Grant, having a great ascent, and Tim Lamont who was racing a VK for the first time and was feeling the strain, struggling with the steep climb.
At the finish, defending champion Patrick Kipngeno made it 3 wins in a row, Joe Steward finished 6th, with Scotland’s Rory Abernethy finishing strongly in 16th. Fin Grant finished 19th as a result of his great climb (pictured). Tim Lamont dug in and finished 35th.
After the first day Scotland had a slight advantage over England in the three nations competition.
Trofeo Nasego Classic up and down race. 1330m/21.5km
On day 2 both Tim Lamont and Fin Grant would be starting again along with the rested Grant Cunliffe (Rossendale Harriers & AC, Steve Duxbury). The men and women started at the same time, leading out the race once again were the Kenyan athletes, followed by the Italian Luciano Rota. All the English athletes were comfortably in the top 20. The first 10k was fast as most of the climbing comes from 11km to 16km as the athletes run up to Rifugio Nasego. At this stage, yesterday's winner Kipngeno had opened up a commanding lead and went on to win and do the double.
The next three positions were also Kenyan athletes, but Joe Steward took 6th. England’s Grant Cunliffe was outsprinted by Scotland’s Ross Gollan who finished 14th and 15th respectively. Bertie Houghton running for Dark Peak Fell Runners finished 16th - Bertie ran for England earlier in the season at the Senior Mountain Running Home International and is just back from injury. Tim Lamont had a strong run and finished 21st. Fin Grant was feeling the effects of yesterday’s race and just finished the race in a steady state in 47th.
The women’s race was led by Philaries Kisang in the early stages, before being overtaken by yesterday's winner Andrea Mayr, who was first to the highest point at Rifugio Nasego.
The English athletes Martha Tibbot (Saddleworth Runners), Sara Willhoit and Antonia Fan were all in great positions. Martha who didn’t race the VK was looking the strongest, but both Sara and Antonia were starting to shake off the effects of the previous day. On the descent the lead once again changed, and Joyce Njeru had a great descent and went on to win comfortably in 1hr 51m 33sec. Scotland’s Naomi Lang had an amazing descent and finished 4th. Not to be outdone, England’s Martha Tibbot also had a fantastic descent and finished 7th, with Sara Willhoit coming in 10th and Antonia Fan 12th, both having great runs after yesterday's VK.
The three nations competition was very close, but Scotland just edged the team victory from England to win the inaugural competition.
The Three Nations team results
1st Scotland 20 points
2nd England 24 points
3rd Ireland 47 points
UK individual results
VK Men
6th Joe Steward (Salford Harriers) 36m 00s
16th Rory Abernethy (SCO) 38m 55s
19th Fin Grant (ENG) 39m 43s
20th Andy Douglas (SCO) 40m 03s
21st Ian Conroy (IRL) 40m 16s
35th Tim Lamont (ENG) 45m 19s
VK Women
4th Scout Adkin (SCO) 42m 33s
8th Sara Willhoit (ENG) 45m 23
10th Sarah McCormack (IRL) 46m 49s
11th Antonia Fan (ENG) 46m 59s
16th Kirsty Dickson (SCO) 49m 20s
20th Naomi Lang (SCO) 51m 08s
Trofeo Nasego Men
6th Joe Steward (Salford Harriers) 1hr 38m 14s
12th Andy Douglas (SCO) 1hr 42m 10s
14th Ross Gollan (SCO) 1hr 43m 58s
15th Grant Cunliffe (ENG) 1hr 44m 03s
16th Bertie Houghton (DPFR) 1hr 45m 05s
21st Tim Lamont (ENG) 1hr 50m 21s
47th Fin Grant (ENG) 2hr 13m 32s
Trofeo Nasego Women
4th Naomi Lang (SCO) 1hr 54m 23s
7th Martha Tibbot (ENG) 1hr 57m 54s
10th Sara Willhoit (ENG) 2hr 03m 40s
12th Antonia Fan (ENG) 2hr 05m 59s
17th Phillipa Williams (DPFR) 2hr 13m 02s
20th Catriona Graves (SCO) 2hr 19m 11s