Madalina Amariei (Romenia) and Michael Saoli (Kenya) have won the Giir di Mont in Premana, Italy, a 32 kilometres (2.700m+) mountain race, which is part of the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup.

Saoli wanted to make Giir di Mont an one man show and took the lead directly from the start at Piazza della Chiesa in Premana. The Run2Gether athlete hit the mule track to Lavinol first and was also the first one on top of Alpe Chiarino at an altitude of 1558 metres, 5 kilometres into the race. From there nothing looked like the victory wouldn’t be his.

Downhill chase

Luca del Pero (Italy, Scarpa) was more than two minutes behind, Daniel Pattis (Italy, Brooks) was already more than 2,5 minutes behind and Antonio Martínez (Spain, Asics) was even more than four minutes behind. However, Saoli clearly went out too fast, because as the race went on, the gap between him and the rest of the field became smaller and smaller.

At the last climb, Alpe Deleguaggio, Saoli was still leading Pattis by almost a minute and a half. On the last technical descent, with 6 kilometres to go, the Italian Brooks runner started to reel the Kenyan in. But with the finish line in sight, Saoli just managed to hold on, beating Pattis by seven seconds; 3.21:02 versus 3.21:09.

Behind them Antonio Martínez showcased remarkable descending skills; running from fifth position to third. He crossed the line in Premana in 3:21:03.

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Amariei dominates

Just like Saoli Madalina Amariei dominated from the start, but where Saoli had to look over his shoulder in the last kilometres, the Romanian Pegarun athlete had nothing to fear. She finished first in 4:09:20. Ikram Rharsalla (Spain, Millet) grabbed second place in 4:14:03. The third place was for the British trail runner Sara Willhoit (Scarpa) in 4:19:57.

Photos: © WMRAt- Marco Gulberti

All results Giir di Mont 2024