Tatra Race Run launches 2021 WMRA World Cup

This is a preview of the 2021 Tatra Race Run. You can click here for full race report and results.

The 2021 World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Cup gets under way on in Zakopane, Poland on Sunday when a host of top international athletes joining a strong field of local mountain runners for the Tatra Race Run.

It is the first World Cup event since the Smarna Gora Race in 2019 as the competition was wiped out by the COVID pandemic in 2020.

Amongst the favourites will be Italian Bernard Dematteis and his twin brother Martin who finished fourth and seventh respectively in the 2019 World Cup. Also challenging for honours will be, Alice Gaggi, the 2013 World Mountain Running Champion, Lorenza Becaria, who is number 10 in the current WMRA World Ranking, Italian VK Champion 2020 Henri Aymonod, and exciting young talents Cecilia Basso and Raul Criado, the Spanish national U23 champion.

World Cup schedule

The World Cup races take place between June 2021 and October 2021 in eight countries. There are 12 event locations and 16 races in three categories: short uphill; classic mountain race; long mountain race.

Runners can take part in as many races as they want to, and they get points for their finishing positions. Their best seven results in the World Cup races count towards their final ranking.

The points scoring format is cumulative. Finishing positions in a WMRA World Cup race range from 100 points for first to 1 point for 30th. There are separate competitions for men and women and athletes must compete in at least two races in order to be considered in the final rankings.

The Tatra Race Run provides an incredible challenge for competitors (Image: Tatra Race Run).

Sunday’s Tatra Race Run takes place in the Tatra Mountains, an area with a rich history of mountain running. The Tatra Mountain Walk, which took place in 1925, was the first mountain run in Poland.

Mountainous challenge

The Tatra Mountain range is the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains, which spans Poland and Slovakia. The area is renowned for skiing, mountaineering, walking and running. Zakopane is in the south of Poland, approximately 85 kilometres south of Krakow.

Athletes will compete on a route of 24 kilometres with 1700 metres of positive elevation. The course will take the runners along the Tatra paths and ridges from Zakopane to Kościelisko. They will start at Kuźnice and run through the Kondracka Pass and Czerwone Wierchy to the Tomanowa Valley and the Hala Ornak, and then through the Iwaniacka Przełęcz, the Starorobociańska and Chochołowska Valley to the finish line at Siwa Polana.