The adrenaline is starting to build: everything is ready for the twentieth edition of the Sellaronda Skimarathon, which will set off on Friday, March 20 at 6:00 PM from Selva di Val Gardena. The 600 teams—making 1,200 Sellaronda racers—will tackle 42 kilometers and over 2,700 meters of positive elevation gain to conquer the four Dolomite passes: Gardena, Campolongo, Pordoi, and Sella.
Teams from across Europe as well as Italy will arrive in Val Gardena, representing Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Slovakia, Scotland, and Great Britain. American and Canadian enthusiasts will also be on the starting line.
As announced at the press conference, Oswald Santin, coordinator of the Organizing Committee, believes all the conditions are in place to break the three-hour barrier.
Last year Tadei Pivk and Pietro Lanfranchi crossed the finish line in Canazei stopping the clock at 3:06’14”; this year Pivk will race alongside Spaniard Kilian Jornet Burgada, ski mountaineering and skyrunning champion, while Lanfranchi has just confirmed his participation paired with Swiss athlete Marcel Marti.
Another team set to give the Salomon-Crazy Idea duo a run for their money is the pair formed by German Anton Palzer (Team Dynafit) and Italian Damiano Lenzi (La Sportiva). Anton Palzer returns to competition after recovering from the knee injury sustained during the Verbier World Championships. Damiano Lenzi, fresh from winning team gold at the Verbier World Championships and taking victory at the Pierra Menta a few days ago, is highly motivated and eager to add his name to the Sellaronda roll of honor. The only question mark for him is recovery time after the grueling 10,000 meters of elevation gain at the Pierra Menta.
Among the dark horses is the team of Michele Boscacci and Lorenzo Holzknecht. Michele Boscacci has just returned from the Pierra Menta where he claimed third place, while Valtellina native Holzknecht won the Kreuzspitze Trophy named after Walter Nones last Sunday on the snows of Val di Fiemme. Podium ambitions are also high for the Bela Ladinia-AS Cauriol team formed by Filippo Beccari and Thomas Trettel. Among the foreign contenders, Philip Götsch and Christian Hoffmann also have a strong chance of a top finish.
In the women’s field, the holders of the 3:52’21 record set last year, Francesca Martinelli and Roberta Pedranzini (Alta Valtellina), will have to fend off challenges from the team of Martina Valmassoi and Elena Nicolini as well as the Crazy Idea duo of Raffaella Rossi and Laura Besseghini. Among the international competitors, the Austrian/Swiss team of Michaela Essl and Victoria Kreuzer also has serious podium ambitions. Other top female skiers include Anna and Lucia Moraschinelli.
The maximum time limit to complete the race is set at 6 hours and 15 minutes. The time cutoffs are as follows: Corvara/Alta Badia: 1:20′ from the start; Arabba/Fodom: 2:55′ from the start; Canazei/Val di Fassa: 4:25′ from the start. The new cutoff is set at 5 hours from the start near the Lupo Bianco checkpoint in Val di Fassa.
As for the rules, even though weather conditions are expected to be favorable and temperatures fairly mild, carrying the following gear in your backpack remains mandatory: a PrimaLoft thermal jacket, down jacket, or softshell, mittens, and windproof pants.
for more information www.sellaronda.it
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