The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail 2012

Press Release / 02.07.2012

The North Face caused a digital frenzy as ultra-running fans followed athletes through continual live updates during the 6^th edition of The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail, June 29-30^th 2012, Cortina, Italy.

Continuous tweets and Facebook posts kept friends, families and running communities up-to-date both night-and-day as The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail action brought the Dolomites close to home, as fans digitally witnessed the arrival of winners Iker Karrera (ESP) and Francesca Canepa (ITA) running to victory. Runners also chose to activate the Live Trail APP automatically posting their location details on Facebook and Twitter pages.

Starting for the first time in Cortina, The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail took 1,020 competitors through the heart of the Italian Dolomites, passing the spectacular Cinque Torri and the world famous Tre Cime/Drei Zinnen. The headline 120km race covered an accumulated height gain of 5,740m.

Under temperate but humid conditions, 512 highly trained ultra-runners from 25 countries set off into the night at 10pm on Friday June 29^th to run one of Europe’s most stunning and yet technical ultra races. As runners ran through the night, morning brought blazing sunshine reaching over 30ºC during the day. Crowds of spectators remained loyal throughout the race, greeting the athletes along the trail and into the finish line.

From the start, Iker Karrera (ESP) and Sebastien Chaigneau (FRA) held the pace for the majority of the course. However, it was Karrera who surged forward through the final 25km mark in order to claim the 2012 title with a winning time of 12h:26m:29s: ‘This has been a wonderful experience, full of emotion. The technical features of the race suit me perfectly. The timing I’ve achieved was a great performance as when I started I had no expectations,’ said Karrera.

Finishing just minutes later to take 2^nd place with a strong time of 12h:42m:30s, The North Face athlete Sebastien Chaigneau explained: ‘The race was really hard and challenging but I’m happy to finish second place because I was about to drop out when I was at the Refugio Auronzo due to being sick. Iker performed really well and I’m glad to arrive only minutes behind him because he is an extraordinary athlete. The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail is one of my favourite races and my goal was to finish it even if I was not in perfect shape.’