Buff Skyrunner #7 - Zegama-Aizkorri
Mudge and Jornet are Skyrunner Champions
25.09.2007
In the men’s category Catalan sensation, Jornet won the title at Zegama (Spain) after winning the sixth edition of the Zegama-Aizkorri Mendi Maratoia on Sunday September 23rd. At only 19 Jornet is the youngest ever champion of the Buff® SkyRunner® World Series and he completed a flawless season with 4 wins out of 4 this year, in Andorra, Malaysia, Japan, and now Zegama.
In the women’s category, the Scot Angela Mudge has retained the title she first won last year, but it was a close contest and she was beaten for the first time this year in Zegama, finishing second. That was just enough for her to win the championship by 10 points ahead of Corinne Favre of France, the winner at the weekend.
The race, held in the Sierra de Aizkorri, had a marathon distance (42.195km) and an accumulated ascent and descent of 5,472m. It was a very technical and difficult route, crossing the highest peaks of Euskadi (Aratz, Aizkorri, Aketegi and Aitxuri).
Jornet put himself among the leaders at the beginning of the race, along with the Segovian Raúl GarcÃa, and members of the Catalan team Tòfol Castanyer and Jessed Hernà ndez, and local racers Zuhaitz Ezpeleta and Fernando Echegaray. This group quickly broke away from the rest of the 450 participants, and it was predictable that they would compete for the final victory.
After crossing Mount Aizkorri, Jornet took the lead, which he kept until he crossed the finish line to win. Raúl GarcÃa was second, but he tried hard to overtake Jornet and came close to succeeding. He cut the distance between them, especially in the last meters of the race, but finally crossed the line just 6 seconds behind the Catalan. Journet’s time was 3h56'59", followed by GarcÃa and third was Zuhaitz Ezpeleta, 7 minutes behind the winner.
In women’s race, Favre and Mudge put on a great contest. The Scot dominated the first part of the race as she climbed Mount Aratz, followed by Favre and by the Andorran Stephanie Jiménez. But, Mudge began to feel the pace at the peak and the race changed. Farve overtook her rival and in the long descent, the Frenchwoman keep her position and crossed the finishing line in a time of 4h50'01". Mudge finished 4 minutes later and third was the Andorran Stephanie Jiménez, 15 minutes behind the winner.
In the teams’ category, the Catalan team was already guaranteed the world title and in Zegama they corroborated that position as they finished first, fifth and sixth.
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