Andreas Reiterer had been expected to contest the 73K Chianti Ultra Trail at the weekend but a late change of plan saw him move up to the flagship 100K Ultra Trail Chianti Castles – and it paid off in style.
The Italian ran out a clear-cut winner of the men’s race, crossing the line in 8:40:33.
That was more than 11 minutes clear of Sébastien Spehler who just pipped Paul Cornut Chauvinc in an all-French battle for second.
In a league of her own
And in the women’s race last year’s Val d’Aran by UTMB winner Azara Garcia de los Salmones of Spain was a class apart.
She crossed the line in 10:12:29, which was more than an hour and a half clear of her nearest rival after 4,000 metres of climbing.
It was closer in the 73K Chianti Ultra Trail as last year’s CCC runner-up Emily Hawgood of Zimbabwe came home six minutes in front of Britain’s Tara Grosvenor in the women’s race.
And perhaps benefitting from Reiterer’s absence in the men’s, there was a closely-fought battle between Aleix Toda Mas of Spain and Italy’s Davide Cheraz, with the Spaniard shading it by less than a minute.
Happy at late entry
It was the scenic event’s debut on the UTMB World Series stage and afterwards Reiterer said: “I’m happy to have had a late entry to do the 100K, but it was really long!
“The first part of the race was very fast, then you get short but very steep climbs which is also technical, and that really gets your legs.
“But the race is wonderful, the views were incredible!”
![Andreas Reiterer wins Ultra Trail Chianti Castles [Photo credit: UTMB]](https://run247.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ultra-trail-chianti-castles-Andreas-Reiterer.jpg)
