Nina Engelhard (Germany) and Richard Omaya Atuya have won the Grossglockner Mountain Run in Austria, that’s part of the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup.
Directly from the start the Kenyan Run2gether team mates Philaries Jeruto Kisang, the winner of last year, and Gloria Chebet took the lead. A few metres behind them followed a little group with former winner Joyce Muthoni Njeru (Kenya) and last year’s runner up, Nina Engelhard.
Half way the race Engelhard overtook the Kenyan leaders and opened up a gap of over a minute. No matter what Kisang, Chebet and Muthoni tried, they didn’t see her back until the finish. What was left for them, was the battle for the podium. A battle in which they had to look over their shoulder as well, as Scout Adkin (England) was chasing them.
Sprint for the podium
Being caught wasn’t a worry for Engelhard. Her lead was too big for that. She crossed the finish line on the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe at the Grossglockner High Alpine Road after 13,3 kilometres of running and 1.300 metres of climbing in 1 hour, 22 minutes and 9 seconds.
Behind her Jeruto Kisang hung onto her second place. She finished in 1:23:45. Chebet completed the podium just 13 seconds behind her: 1.23.58, directly followed by Adkin (1:24:05) and Joyce Muthoni Njeru 1:25:09, the leader of the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup.
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Exciting men’s race
The men’s race became a battle between the Run2gether team mates Richard Omaya Atuya and Josphat Kiprotich. The Kenyans, who live and train in Austria, gave each other no space up until the last stretch, where Atuya’s acceleration was too powerful for Kiprotich to answer. Richard Omaya Atuya clocked 1:10:04, Josphat Kiprotich 1:10:25. Michael Selelo Saoli, also part of Rungether finished third in 1:12:42.
Photos: WMRA-Marco Gulberti
All results of the Grossglockner Mountain Run
