Val Gardena Mountain Run: Kenya and Germany are trumps

At the start on the main square in Ortisei there were very interesting athletes, such as the Kenyans Ndege, Surum and Njeru in the women's category as well as the local heroes Georg Piazza from Ortisei, Tobias Geiser from Mölten, Alberto Vender from Valchiese, who is already in the had good days at Seceda in recent years. Among the women, the strong Antonella Confortola, the German mountain running champion Michelle Maier, the Kenyan Joyce Njeru, the course record holder Renate Rungger and the eternal Petra Pircher were among the inner circle of favorites.

The race was anything but tactical, as the two Kenyans Ndege and Surum broke away almost immediately and dominated the race for 14,5 km to the finish. The only competition left was the fight for third place, which was fought by the young Italian Alberto Vender, the experienced Georg Piazza from Val Gardena and the strong Tobias Geiser from Tschögglberg. So the chronicle was already written, with Stephan Ndege, born in 1989, crossing the finish line first with a time of 1:13'02” and a lead of 50” over his compatriot Robert Panin Surum of the same age. Third came 21-year-old Alberto Vender from Atletica Valchiese, 4'24" behind and 1'37" ahead of local hero Georg Piazza, who took fourth place after recently finishing second at the Brixen-Plose- had become a marathon. Fifth place went to Tobias Geiser from Möltner, who suffered a serious crisis at kilometer eight.

In the women's race, German mountain running champion Michelle Maier from Bad Aibling, who runs for PTSV Rosenheim, was in the lead from the start and was never pressured by her competitors. Start-to-finish victory for the 26-year-old from Bavaria, who, however, was unable to endanger Renate Rungger's record time with the best time of 1:23'53”. Maier had to wait a full 6'26" until second place, Kenya's Joyce Muthoni Njeru, reached the finish line. More exciting was the fight for third place between Petra Pircher from Latsch, who was able to overtake Italian Silvia Cuminetti on the steep hairpin bends to the Pana gap and win the last place on the podium. Former Olympic-level cross-country skier Antonella Confortola came fifth, while Renate Rungger from Sarntal dropped out of the race halfway through due to problems.

While the winners Michelle Maier and Stephan Ndege were able to collect prize money of 470 euros, the extra bonus for a possible new record time was not awarded because none of the athletes were up to these best times.

Summary of overall results 2017 Men 1) NDEGE Stephan (KEN) Run2gether 1:13:02 2) SURUM Robert Panin (KEN) Run2gether 1:13:52 3) VENDER Alberto (ITA) Atletica Valchiese 1:17:27 4) PIAZZA Georg (ITA) Gherdeina Runners 1:19:06 5) GEISER Tobias (ITA) Telmekom Team South Tyrol 1:22:34

Women 1) MAIER Michelle (GER) PTSV Rosenheim 1:23:53 2) NJERU Joyce Muthoni (KEN) Run2gehter 1:30:20 3) PIRCHER Petra (ITA) Rennerclub Vinschgau 1:30:37 4) CUMINETTI Silvia (ITA) GAV Vertova 1:31:07 5) CONFORTOLA Antonela (ITA) Marathon Club Imperia 1:33:17

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Val Gardena Mountain Run: Kenya and Germany are trumps

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