Nadir, Wyder Run Away From The Competition At Ring Of Steall

Drama in the Scottish Highlands shakes up Top 10 rankings in last race before Grand Final

Kinlochleven, Scotland, September 23, 2019—The mountainous terrain of the Scottish Highlands was awash in rare sunshine on Saturday for the 29km Ring of Steall Skyrace™, but that doesn’t mean the trails were dry and easy for the elite runners and everyone else brave enough to toe the starting line in Kinlochleven. This sixth and final race of the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS) represented the last chance for runners to secure their place inside the top 10 season standings and qualify for the Grand Final—being held this year at the Annapurna Trail Marathon in Nepal in October. On Saturday, several runners took full advantage and leapt up the season-long standings with strong results.

In the men’s race, Italy’s Nadir Maguet (Team La Sportiva) captured what had been an elusive GTWS victory until now, while Switzerland’s Judith Wyder (Team Salomon) continued to show that she is one of the strongest trail runners on the planet, winning the women’s race in record time and finishing 10^th overall.

Maguet was 2^nd at the Ring of Steall last year and also finished 2^nd at the Marathon du Mont Blanc and Dolomyths Run this season. On Saturday, the ski-mo star was simply too strong for the competition, winning in 3:14:47.

Behind him was Switzerland’s Marc Lauenstein (Team Salomon) in 3:19:37. After an early-season injury left him needing a miracle finish to vault into the top 10 for the Series, the veteran delivered just that. His 2^nd place effort earned him the 10^th and final spot in the men’s field of the Grand Final.

Just behind Lightfoot, in 10^th place overall, was Wyder, the women’s winner in 3:36:46. She has now won both the Ring of Steall and the Dolomyths Run in record time this season. She also finished 2^nd at Sierre-Zinal. The mother of two has won six World Championship titles in orienteering so the technical terrain was certainly to her liking. Wyder will be a favorite in Nepal, along with fellow Swiss Maude Mathys (Team Salomon) and New Zealand’s Ruth Croft (Team Scott), neither of whom raced in Scotland.

The 2^nd place finisher in the women’s race, Great Britain’s Holly Page (Team Adidas Terrex) was nearly 20 minutes behind Wyder in 3:54:18. Still, Page’s great result on familiar home terrain was enough to get her the 10^th and final spot in the women’s Grand Final field. Last year, she won the Grand Final race in South Africa.

Sweden’s Fanny Borgstrom (Team Salomon) finished 3^rd in 4:02:01. South Africa’s Meg Mackenzie and the USA’s Emily Schmitz battled it out for 4^th, with Mackenzie coming in 35 seconds ahead in 4:13:06. Mackenzie earned a spot in the Golden Trail World Series Final for the second consecutive year, finishing 7^th overall in the season standings.