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The Canadian Women’s Mountain Running team laid down some impressive results today at the 2012 World Mountain Running Championships in Temu, Italy, pulling in some of the strongest women’s results in recent years. This was the first world championships for all four women, so these results are particularly exciting for the future! Stacey Cleveland lead the way, achieving a top 50 result, with Catrin Jones 4 seconds behind her in 51st place. Shannon Penway was close behind in 65th, and Mirabelle Tinio not long behind in 78th place. As in the men’s race, the field was significantly deeper this year than last, with the senior women’s category just slightly less than twice as large as last year’s race in Albania. This also meant that the team competition was a much more competitive affair, and although the Canadians dropped from 12th to 15th, there was an additional 7 teams to contend with. Ultimately the American women won the women’s team competition.
Senior Women
1st - Andra Mayr – Austria
Stacey Cleveland - 50th
Catrin Jones - 51st
Shannon Penway - 65th
Mirabelle Tinio - 78th
The Canadian Men’s Mountain Running team had a mixed day on the trails in Italy at the World Mountain Running Championships. Robert Krar lead the way with a strong 33rd place result in an extremely tight group, where the difference between 26th and 36th place was 30 seconds. National Team veterans Mark Vollmer, Ed McCarthy and Alex Hutchinson and newcomer David Le Porho had consistent performances, finishing right in the middle of the pack, where the race was still so close that mere seconds separated multiple positions. National Champion James Gosselin was unfortunately forced to pull out mid-race due to a back injury. The depth of the field ballooned from 104 at last year’s world championships to 138 this year, so although the Canadians were unable to upstage last year’s 11th place team performance, there were far more teams to contend with.
In the junior men’s category, Louis Erik Demers had a tough ask being the lone Canadian in a strong field where team tactics were an integral factor in the race; many athletes finished with 10 seconds of one or two other team members. However, this will be an excellent experience for the Canadian junior, and will be at an advantage over his senior competitors in years to come, having already experienced the sport at the World Championships level.
Senior Men
1st - Petro Mamo - Eritrea
Robert Krar - 33rd
Mark Vollmer - 70th
Ed McCarthy - 79th
David Le Porho - 83rd
Alex Hutchinson - 85th
Junior Men
1st - Michael Cherop - Uganda
Louis Erik Demers - 69th
Congratulations to all the Canadian athletes! Check back for more reports from the race, or join the association's facebook group, Canadian Mountain Running. Full results are available at http://www.wmrc2012.it/ |
