The Jat Sky Trail, 50 kilometres (2,700m+) at the Julian Alps was a battle between two good friends; Francesco Puppi and Hayden Hawks. The Italian Puppi was clearly the strongest and won in 4 hours, 31 minutes and 15 seconds. The women’s race was won by Eliska Sieglova (Czech Republic).
Last month Hawks (USA) won the UTMB CCC in Chamonix (France), Puppi finished second at the UTMB OCC, behind Eli Hemming. At the Julian Alps the two friends laced up their shoes to see who was the fastest over 50 kilometres.
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Puppi goes solo
Puppi and Hawks took the lead from the start. The American Hoka runner had already said in advance that he wanted to share some kilometres with his Italian friend. However, Puppi had other thoughts and dropped Hawks already before the second timing point at Glica. From there the Italian Nike athlete went on alone and finished in 4:31:15.
Hawks clearly had the 100 kilometres around Mont-Blanc still in his legs. For a long time he ran in third place, but with 8 kilometres to go he moved up to second. He finished in 4:52:51. The third place was for Dimitri Chapelle. The French trail runner overtook Tine Zizmond (Slovenia) in the last couple of kilometres. He stopped the clock at 5:09:47. Zizmond finished almost two minutes later in 5:09:47.
Sprint finish Barber and Zuccollo
The women’s race was exciting until the finish line, especially for second and third. Sieglova clocked 6:23:21 and won. Behind her Anne Barber and Federica Zuccollo sprinted for second. Barber (Germany) won: 6:26:33. Zuccollo (Italy) came three seconds short: 6:26:36.
The longest race at Julian Alps was the I feel Slovenia Ultra Trail. Ales Svetina won. The Slovenian ultra runner finished after 12 hours, 43 minutes and 53 seconds. Casper Hoglund (Finland) came second: 12:49:10. Marcel Geissler (Germany) finished third in 13:13:57. Svetina: “The race was great, everything fell into place for me. In ultras, it has to, otherwise there’s no chance of winning. The first part was very runnable, fast, I didn’t have any problems there, it practically felt like a walk. But then it started. Up on the ridge it got pretty tough, with quite difficult conditions. It was slippery on the rocks, and then we had a lot of mud as well. In the last 40k, Casper and I were neck and neck, but somehow, when I reached Dovje, I knew I was going to win.”
Krawczak wins hundred miles
Paulina Krawczak was the fastest in the women’s race. The Polish athlete clocked 14:09:23. Susanne Zahlauer (Germany) finished second in 14:43:12. Esther Fellhofer (Austria) completed the podium. She stopped the clock at 14:57:50.
Julian Alps is part of the UTMB World Series.
RELATED: A guide to UTMB Running Stones
Photo: UTMB
All results Julian Alps here.
