Salomon 4 Trails
Fourth Stage - Caballero dominates the field, Bonsor victorious despite setback
11.07.2015
Miguel Ortega Caballero also dominates the fourth and final stage and dethrones last year’s winner Dimitris Theodorakakos. Daniel Jung from South Tyrol manages to defend his overall third place against the Scot Andrew Fallas who finally claims a podium position today after he came in fourth on all three previous stages. In the women’s category, Tina Fischl fights back and clinches her second stage victory – however, this years’ overall winner is Helen Bonsor from Scotland.
Who else than Miguel Ortega Caballero? The 33 year-old Spaniard also dominated the last of the 4 stages of the fifth SALOMON 4 TRAILS. He mastered the almost 43 kilometers combined with a vertical gain of 2663 meters from Lofer to Maria Alm in 4:44.59 hours. An amazing performance of the man from Catalonia who thus follows in the footsteps of Dimitris Theodorakakos. The defending champion from Greece had to content himself with rank two this year. Only last year, he was the one to not only win but dominate all four stages. Despite big problems with his Achilles tendons, Daniel Jung from Italy managed to defend his overall third place against the Scot Andrew Fallas who was second to finish today. The biggest surprise in the women’s category today was Tina Fischl’s first place. The German mountain running champion fought hard, came in first and regained her overall second place from the Russian Zhanna Vokueva on todays’ royal stage crossing the Steinernes Meer (“the Sea of Srones”). The likable blonde Russian thus achieved rank three, just as the year before. 2015’s overall winner in the women’s category is Helen Bonsor from Scotland who prevailed in the end and defended her victory with a lead on Fischl of 15,35.0 minutes.
Most recently, it had become quite quiet around Miguel Ortega Caballero who had drawn attention to himself for the first time in the trail running community after he had won the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN in 2011. After several good results in 2012 and 2013, the 33 year-old Spaniard had to make a long pause in 2014 due to a bad knee injury. And then on July 8, 2015, the man from Catalonia was back – Caballero dominated the field in an impressive way and won the first stage of the SALOMON 4 TRAILS 2015 on the day of his 33rd birthday. But that was not it – the first one should be followed by three more commanding victories. “This was definitely the hardest and longest stage, but also the most impressive one. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous up there”, said Caballero about todays’ route which lead through the Steinernes Meer and passed the two highest points of the SALOMON 4 TRAILS, the Weißbachscharte (2150m) and the Riemannhaus (2177 m). “First of all, I will now have one week of holidays with my wife Ester. It is so beautiful here. During the race there is definitely not enough time to enjoy the beauty of the nature here”, explained Caballero and seemed as if he had already recovered from the exertions of the last four days.
Also on todays’ final stage, the competitors were without a chance against an all-powerful Caballero. The surprise in this category was rather Andrew Fallas second place after the Scot had to content himself with rank four on all three previous stages. However, also this immense feat of Fallas was not enough to influence the overall ranking in a decisive way. With his third place today, last year’s winner Theodorakakos was able to defend his overall second rank. “Miguel was simply running in another league this week” said the defending champion Theodorakakos ungrudgingly acknowledging Caballero’s outstanding performance: “I am more than satisfied with rank two and I will now start with the preparation and training for the regular marathon season. This was the last trail of the season for me.”
The race was a lot tighter for Daniel Jung who started in overall third place this morning. At the finish line his time deficit compared to Fallas had grown to 8.46 minutes. In the end however, his lead from the previous stages was big enough to defend his third place in the overall ranking. “I am just happy that I was able to finish the race at all”, said Jung after he had reached the finish in Maria Alm obviously groggy and tired. The former mountain-biker survived the 43 kilometer long ordeal despite heavy pain in his Archilles tendons.
Also the women’s race was very exciting today. Tina Fischl, the German mountain running champion, had recovered from the exertions of the day before and surprised her competitors when she stepped up the pace right at the first climb to the Litzalm (1321m). “This section suited me well. Despite the technical difficulties, this part was good to run. I think this ideally fitted my personality” said the 39 year-old German with a smile on her face. She reached Maria Alm after 5:34.18 hours and thus 3.16 minutes ahead of Helen Bonsor from Scotland and 11.58 minutes ahead of Zhanna Vokueva from Russia. In the end, this was fast enough to regain her overall second place from Vokueva.
Overview of stage four results:
Men:
1. Miguel Ortega Caballero (Spanien) 4:44.59,4 Std.
2. Andrew Fallas (Schottland) 4:45.41,5 Std.
3. Dimitris Theodorakakos (Griechenland) 4:46.30,2 Std.
Women:
1. Tina Fischl (Fürstenstein) 5:34.18,8 Std.
2. Helen Bonsor (Schottland) 5:37.24,1 Std.
3. Zhanna Vokueva (Russland) 5:46.16,9 Std.
Master Men:
1. Josef Vogt (Liechtenstein) 5:11.12,1 Std.
2. Stefan Holzner (Bad Reichenhall) 5:15.54,2 Std.
3. Christian Meusburger (Österreich) 5:20.20,5 Std.
Master Women:
1. Lauren Jeska (Schottland) 6:20.51,1 Std.
2. Uta Jurkschat (Schmiedefeld) 6:56.39,2
3. Stephanie Lieb (Lautertal) 7:02.29,2 Std.
Senior Master Men:
1. Hermann Daucher (Österreich) 5:31.45,4 Std.
2. Bernd Tritscher (Österreich) 5:39.03,5 Std.
3.Thomas Miksch (Kempten) 5:40.44,5 Std.
Final Results:
Men:
1. Miguel Ortega Caballero (Spanien) 13:30.50,6 Std.
2. Dimitris Theodorakakos (Griechenland) 13:47.43,3 Std.
3. Daniel Jung (Italien) 13:58.57,5 Std.
Women:
1. Helen Bonsor (Schottland) 16:15.43,9 Std.
2. Tina Fischl (Fürstenstein) 16:31.18,9 Std.
3. Zhanna Vokueva (Russland) 16:38.46,8 Std.
Master Men:
1. Josef Vogt (Liechtenstein) 14:59.34,8 Std.
2. Stefan Holzner (Bad Reichenhall) 15:13.36,8 Std.
3. Christian Meusburger (Österreich) 15:40.27,8 Std.
Master Women:
1. Lauren Jeska (Schottland) 17:56.32,2 Std.
2. Uta Jurkschat (Schmiedefeld) 20:18.28,6 Std.
3. Eva Färberböck (Murnau) 20:25.34,6 Std.
Senior Master Men:
1. Hermann Daucher (Österreich) 16:22.40,6 Std.
2 Thomas Miksch (Kempten) 16:36.47,9 Std.
3. Bernd Tritscher (Österreich) 17:19.44,5 Std.
