Italian double victory at the Drei Zinnen Run

Cesare Maestri ended a long losing streak on Saturday. For the first time since Gabriele Abate's triumph in 2012, an “Azzurro” was able to win the South Tyrol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run. And it was a victory with an announcement. Because immediately after the start at 10 a.m. at Haus Sexten, Maestri took the lead.

After the village lap at the start of the race, the Trentino native already had a lead of around 20 seconds over Andreas Reiterer (Hafling), which he extended to over two minutes in the flat part of the route up to the valley end hut. But even in the subsequent steep climb to the Zsigmondyhütte, the 28-year-old from Borgo Lares was unstoppable and ran the fastest part time.

The start of the run. © Harald Wisthaler

In the end, the reigning European mountain running champion and 2019 runner-up world champion completed the 17 km with 1333 meters of altitude in a strong 1:27.14 hours. A time that the two-time Italian trail champion Reiterer could not come close to. The 29-year-old ultra specialist, who came third at the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc-CCC two weeks ago, reached the finish at the Dreizinnenhütte at 1 meters above sea level after 35.04:2405 hours. Filippo Barizza completed the podium. The 41-year-old from Mira in the province of Venice has taken part in all 25 editions of the South Tyrol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run and achieved a top 3 result for the first time on Saturday. In addition to Filippo Barizza, his father Giuliano Barizza, as well as Robert Amhof, Roberto Crosato, Adriano Grion, Markus Innerbichler, Georg Trenker and Giuseppe Ventura have also taken part in all previous editions of the South Tyrolean mountain running classic. Bottarelli alone in the field, Tschurtschenthaler a strong second There was also a start-to-finish victory for the women on Saturday. Sara Bottarelli ran her pace right from the start and led Agnes Tschurtschenthaler by just over a minute at the end of the valley hut. On the way up to the Zsigmondy hut, Bottarelli gained almost another minute and on the section of the route to the finish, no competitor could hold a candle to the 31-year-old from Sarezzo in the province of Brescia. In the end, Bottarelli won with the ninth fastest time overall of 1:46.59 hours and celebrated her second triumph in the popular mountain run in the 2016 Zinnen Dolomites region after 3 - back then on a shortened route.

Tschurtschenthaler remained in second place, as he did last year and in the 2015 edition. The 40-year-old broke the 1:49.31 hour mark in 1:50 and achieved the 13th time overall. Third place, however, went to an athlete from Germany. Monika Pletzer from Kirchberg an der Iller recorded a time of 1:58.18 hours. Two other athletes, Katharina Esswein from Germany and South Tyrol mountain running legend Edeltraud Thaler, stayed under two hours. Two ex-presidents of the organizing team want to know Two former presidents of the organizing committee, Gottfried Hofer and Ludwig Tschurtschenthaler, also mingled with the 730 participants on Saturday. Tschurtschenthaler, the brother of top athlete Agnes, was also the one who invented the South Tyrol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run and held it for the first time in 1998. “When I stand here today and see these many participants, it fills me with joy and pride. The athletes have certainly made the greatest contribution to the fact that the South Tyrol Drei Zinnen Alpine Run has grown so much and has become such a great event over the past 24 years,” explained Tschurtschenthaler shortly before the start.

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Italian double victory at the Drei Zinnen Run

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