Nepal, October 22, 2019 – The second season of the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS) will culminate with the Grand Final this Saturday, October 26 at the Annapurna Trail Marathon in Nepal, where the crowning ceremony for the GTWS champions for men and women will take place. The top 10 men and women in the current standings earned the right to take on some of the best international competitors amid the high elevation of the Himalayas in this 42 km race that includes 3,560 meters of elevation gain and reaches to 3,753 meters.
The best “short-distance” trail runners on the planet will be there. The men’s side includes several established veterans, one legend of the sport and a number of rising stars. The women’s race has three clear favorites joined by an international cast of runners with the potential to seize the moment. Similar to 2018, the top-10 men and top-10 women who qualified for the Grand Final represent 11 different nations—France, Great Britain, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
In 2019, the GTWS touched down at the Zegama Mountain Marathon in Spain’s Basque Country, the Marathon du Mont Blanc in Chamonix, the Dolomyths Run in the Italian Dolomites, Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland, Pikes Peak in Colorado and the Ring of Steall in the Scottish Highlands. To determine the season-long champion, each athlete’s top three performances in the first six races of the series, plus his/her result at the Annapurna Trail Marathon combine to produce the season-long result.
Spain’s Kilian Jornet (Team Salomon) is the heavy favorite in any race he enters, and that will be the case in Nepal. Jornet has plenty of experience at elevation. He has summited Everest twice and recently returned from a family vacation in the area where he was exploring above 8,000 meters.
“After a long expedition the body takes a big toll,” Jornet said. “The fatigue is big. I had one week at home to train and recover a bit and I’m feeling the running shape is coming along.” His lungs should have had time to adapt to the altitude, but Jornet has not raced since August when he won at the Pikes Peak Mountain Marathon in Colorado. Two weeks prior to that he shattered the course record at Sierre-Zinal. He also won at Zegama in early June. If he wins this week, Jornet will have won all four trail races he entered in 2019.
The women’s race looks to have three clear favorites who have been a step ahead of the rest whenever they have laced up their running shoes in 2019. Defending GTWS overall champion Ruth Croft (Team Scott) of New Zealand won at Marathon du Mont Blanc, was 2nd at the Dolomyths Run and was 4th at Sierre-Zinal. She is going into the final ranked 3rd behind a pair of Swiss athletes from Team Salomon, Judith Wyder and Maude Mathys.
The up-and-down nature of the race would seem to suit the two Swiss women. Mathys, winner in record time at both Sierre-Zinal and Pikes Peak, is often unmatched on long climbs. Wyder, a former orienteering star, won at both the Dolomyths Run and the Ring of Steall in record time and was 2ndat Sierre-Zinal. At the Ring of Steall, Wyder finished 10th overall while winning the women’s race. Together, Mathys and Wyder broke course records at every race they ran in the GTWS.
You can view the full press release at the rygr newsroom here.
