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Engadiner and Vertical Sommerlauf inspire with top international athletes

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Both days of the Engadiner Sommerlauf ended smoothly, with many happy faces enjoying the best summer and running weather. The Special Edition 2020 was impressive, with a very dense field of top international athletes. At the Engadiner Sommerlauf, Ivana Iozzia from Italy and James Davies from Great Britain claimed victory for themselves. Switzerland won the day in the 25th Muragl-Lauf with Maria Adele Zampa and Isai Näff coming up as the winners.

A total of 382 participants took the 20.6 kilometres under their feet, the majority of which were on the original route from 1980. The start was in Sils Furtschellas under a relaxed atmosphere in two starting blocks. The Muragl-Lauf was carried out in reverse order, from Samedan to Pontresina, with around 143 participants. “The effort is very worthwhile when you can finally look into the faces of such happy runners. The joy of finally being able to run a race in the most beautiful natural surroundings outweighed everything today” said Claudia Vogt, who is responsible for the media. She also expressed great praise to all participants who behaved in an exemplary manner both at the start and at the finish, and who adhered to the requirements of the protection concept.

Due to the numerous reports of international top athletes, which is rather unusual for a smaller run in Switzerland, this year’s edition promised to be a top-class and exciting race.

For the women, repeat Engadiner Sommerlauf winner Ivana Iozzia impressed this year as well with a time of 1:20:32. The victory is all the more impressive considering the Lombardy-born runner was hit particularly hard by the lockdown and was only able to train to limited extent for over two months. “I was a bit worried at first because of the situation, but everything worked out great and I am thrilled with the organization of the run. The win this year is something very special for me,” remarked the Italian about her participation this year. Second place went to Samira Schnüriger from Switzerland with 1:21:32, while Nesrine Leene from the Netherlands took third place (1:24:01). The Swiss Ski cross-country athletes made a great showing this year, taking three places in the top ten.

In the men’s race, James Davies from Great Britain won in 1:08.41, ahead of the Italian Markus Ploner (1:09:28) and the Dutchman Gert-Jan Wassink. Wassink is in high altitude training in Engadin and used the Engadiner Sommerlauf to prepare for the Dutch national championships at the end of August. He had this to say about the race; “The run is beautiful, but also very tough. I am glad that I spontaneously decided to take part.” Timo Schröder, who runs for the On Running crew, said the following about the slightly changed route: “The route between kilometres 6 and 13 was very demanding because the terrain is always up and down, and this means constant muscular change. As in life, I wanted to give everything from start to finish today.”

Although the runners from the 1st starting block took the top places for themselves, there were also very strong runners from the 2nd block in the top ranks. It was also noticeable how more and more athletes are competing in both the Vertical and the Engadiner Sommerlauf. The runner-pair Leboeuf even achieved a top-five result in both races. The fastest local was Max Knier, who started for the Skiservice Corvatsch Team, in seventh place, followed by Jorge Garcia from St. Moritz in 10th place. The two jubilee members Martin Schäfli and Walther Schaufelsberger also reached the finish happy and satisfied.

Muragl-Lauf in reverse order

This year the shorter race variant was run over 6.7 km from Samedan to Pontresina. The podium at the Muragl-Lauf was a home game for the local Näff family, who ranked 1st, 2nd and 4th. Sandro Michael from Zillis achieved a good third place. The women also won a victory for Switzerland. Maria Adele Zampa topped the podium in front of the two Italians Lisa Migliorini and Monica Cibin.

One of the oldest participants reached an astonishing achievement. Mitar Cvorovic, who crossed the finish line in all three runs, is in top shape at 74 years of age.

Vertical Sommerlauf run with ideal running conditions

Οn Saturday, August 15th, the 4th Vertical Sommerlauf took place on Corviglia in perfect weather. Lots of sunshine and the Maloja wind accompanied the participants on the demanding route from St. Moritz Bad to the finish at the Corviglia mountain station. Although the “free fall” section was not offered as the crowning finish due to the protective measures, the updated route with the steep middle section and the downhill section at the finish was heralded as spectacular by the participants. Due to the strong field of participants, the ranks were repeatedly shuffled as participants from the back starting blocks overtook those from the front starting blocks. The block starts every 5 minutes have proven their worth.

Μen’s number 1, the K23 Vertical World Champion and Pini racing group member Roberto Delorenzi, got his start number to the finish and won the race in a time of 47:12. “It was very nice that we all ran together at first. On the steep slope, my legs were a bit better and I was able to really accelerate again. The race demanded everything from me, but I am very happy with my victory,” remarked a satisfied Roberto Delorenzi. The strong Swiss ski runner Ueli Schnider (49:15) secured second place in a final sprint with Arnold Aemisegger from Lichtenstein, who claimed third place with a time of 49:38.

There was a surprise for the women: in her first start, 23-year-old Simone Troxler from Switzerland ran away from all the competition, winning the race with a time of 54:43. In second place was Theres Leboeuf (56.09), ahead of last year’s winner Flurina Bott-Eichholzer (58:20). In the process, Bott-Eichholzer even overtook the equally strong Swiss World Cup cross-country skiers Nadine Fähndrich and Laurien Van De Graff.

The young local athletes from Engadin Nordic also achieved very good results. Yannick Zellweger reached an excellent 11th place. The top athlete Charlotte Moerman of the catering sponsor Be the Change also made an excellent impression in 5th place.

The OC of the Engadin Sommerlauf would like to take this opportunity to thank all partners and sponsors who made this special edition possible. “I am really very grateful that we were able to carry out our run in this special edition. The participants were all very disciplined and our protection concept worked perfectly. A big thank you goes to everyone who supported us,” said the happy President Anne-Marie Flammersfeld.

Find out more HERE.

Text & Photo Credits: Engadiner Sommerlauf

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