Hofer and Spieß set the tone at the 10th Südtirol Ultrarace

Sarentino, August 26, 2023 - On Saturday, the anniversary edition of the extreme mountain run along the horseshoe shaped Hufeisen tour in the Sarntal Alps took place in extremely hot temperatures. There were two winners from Val Sarentino on this demanding course, with a distance of 63 kilometres and 3550 meters of altitude differential, Henry Hofer and Regina Spieß. A total of almost 500 trail athletes from all over the world were registered for the three distances offered at this year's Südtirol Ultrarace.

On Saturday morning, Piazza Walther in Bolzano was the starting area of this year's Südtirol Ultrarace. At 6:30, the trail runners who had signed up for the longest distance - 63 km with 3550 meters of altitude differential - took to the course. Almost as soon as the starting signal was given, a three-way battle developed in the men's race, between top favourite Georg Piazza from Val Gardena - he had won in 2022 on the 119 kilometres, which were not held this year, Marco De Salvador from Bolzano, and local athlete Henry Hofer from San Martino in Sarentino.

At first, the trio took turns at the front until Hofer finally took the lead on the section from Corno del Renon to Croce di Lazfons. At the highest pilgrimage site in Europe, Hofer had a lead of more than four minutes over Piazza and five minutes over De Salvador. A lead that the 45-year-old did not lose during the descent to the sports field in Sarentino. In the end, Hofer won with a time of 6:24.38 hours. De Salvador finished second, 2.52 minutes behind, while Martin Psenner completed the podium in third place. The athlete from Fiè, who has been living in Sarentino for many years, also stayed under the 7-hour mark in 6:54.53. Piazza, on the other hand, had to abandon the race early.


Regina Spieß struck for the third time

In the women's race, Regina Spieß once again set the benchmark for everyone. The 50-year-old from Sarentino mastered the 63 kilometres with 3550 metres of altitude differential in 8:20.23 hours and celebrated a start-finish victory. Last year, Spieß had outrun the entire competition on the 119 kilometres distance, while in 2018 she had already won the second-longest route. Second place this year went to France, to Maud Combarieu (+33.15), while Trentino's Irene Zamboni (+35.12) completed the podium.


Innerebner took revenge on Pescollderungg at the Südtirol Ultrarace 45k

The second longest distance at the Südtirol Ultrarace this year was 45 kilometres with 2750 metres of altitude differential. After the starting signal at 7:30 there was an extremely exciting duel between Andreas Innerebner (Valdurna) and Luca Pescollderungg (La Villa in Val Badia) on the whole distance up Corno del Renon, further to Chiesetta del Morto, and finally down to Sarentino, in which Innerebner prevailed, taking revenge on Pescollderungg, who had beaten him on the 28 km course in 2021. For the man from Sarentino, who won for the first time after two previous podium results, the timer stopped after 4:23.20 hours. The Spartan Race European Champion was a good three and a half minutes slower. Arnold Hiller from Avigna finished in third place with a time of 4:35.54.


Mitchell surprised serial winner Thaler

The women's marathon distance was won by a British athlete. Louise Mitchell from Cornwall caught up with serial winner Edeltraud Thaler from Lana a few hundred metres before the finish, passed her and triumphed in 5:32.21 hours, 16 seconds ahead of the grand dame of South Tyrolean running. After the long climb of Corno del Renon, Thaler was still 12 minutes ahead of the young British runner (born in 2002), who, however, supercharged her turbo especially downhill and prevented the fifth victory of the South Tyrolean athlete in a row. Third place went to Germany's Inga van Buren from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, who broke the 6-hour mark in 5:52.24 hours.


Mangger left no stone unturned

Following an 8:00 start, the third route with a length of 28 kilometres and 1880 metres altitude differential led from Bolzano to San Genesio, on to the Omini di Sasso and finally down to Sarentino. Here Lukas Mangger from Racines was convincing, winning in 2:33.36 hours and beating his team mate from the Campo di Trens running club Patrick Ramoser by five minutes. Fabian Pichler from Meltina was pleased with third place. His time: 2:48.57 hours. Rainer Senoner, President of the Saslong Classic Club and thus of the Gardena Ski World Cup races, and top chef Egon Heiss, also participated in the South Tyrol Ultrarace 28k.


Impressive Zaltron

In the women's race, victory on the "shortest" course went to an athlete from Vicenza. Giulia Zaltron relegated the German Verena Bachmayer and Irene Senfter from Lana to the places of honour. Zaltron clocked a time of 3:09.14. The 26 year old was thus around eight minutes faster than Bachmayer and even made up 18 minutes on Senfter - who had won on the 119 km course in 2016.


Comments from the winners:

Henry Hofer (Winner Südtirol Ultrarace 63k): "I actually did well over the whole race. At the end, it became exhausting once again due to the heat. But I didn't really have a crisis. I tried to run my own pace and not to concentrate too much on my opponents. This is the most beautiful victory of my career - for one, because the competition was strong and also because it's my home race."

Regina Spieß (Winner Südtirol Ultrarace 63k): "I am very happy about this victory because it came as a surprise. I have been suffering with my left foot for a long time. Was it a start-to-finish victory? Yes, you could say that. At first, there were two competitors ahead of me, but I was soon able to catch and overtake them."

Andreas Innerebner (Winner Südtirol Ultrarace 45k): "It's just amazing that I was able to win here in my home race. Luca (Pescollderungg) and I had a great battle. At the end he ran out of steam a little and I took my chance. For the first kilometres it was very humid and on Corno del Renon the sun was really beating down - after that it got better as far as the weather was concerned."

Louise Mitchell (Winner Südtirol Ultrarace 45k): "It's great to win in this beautiful race and beat a legend like Edeltraud Thaler. Compliments also to the organisers for the great running of this event."

Lukas Mangger (Winner Südtirol Ultrarace 28k): "I am very happy, even though I just couldn't break the 2:30 hour mark I had set myself as a goal. Uphill I was doing well today and downhill I was able to catch up quite a bit with Patrick (Ramoser) after the Omini di Sasso. I like the route very much and the organisation was excellent. I will certainly be back."

Giulia Zaltron (Winner Südtirol Ultrarace 28k): "To be honest, I didn't expect the first kilometres up to San Genesio to be so steep and therefore almost a vertical race. But it was fun to challenge myself here too. Where I could finally charge ahead? After about five or six kilometres in the ascent, my opponents fell behind. I will come back next year because it was my first time at a competition in South Tyrol and I really, really liked it."


Results:

Südtirol Ultrarace 63 km - Men
1. Henry Hofer ITA (Val Sarentino) 6:24.38 hours
2. Marco De Salvador ITA (Bolzano) 6:27.30
3. Martin Psenner ITA (Val Sarentino) 6:54.53
4. Martin Graf ITA (Val Casies) 7:01.53
5. Christian Springhetti ITA (Sarnonico) 7:11.40

Südtirol Ultrarace 63 km - Women
1. Regina Spieß ITA (Val Sarentino) 8:20.23
2. Maud Combarieu FRA 8:53.38
3. Irene Zamboni ITA (Altopiano della Vigolana) 8:55.36
4. Francesca Crippa ITA (Olginate) 9:13.56
5. Audrey-Ann Brunelle CAN 9:18.08


Südtirol Ultrarace 45 km - Men
1. Andreas Innerebner ITA () 4:23.20
2. Luca Pescollderungg ITA (La Villa) 4:26.55
3. Arnold Hiller ITA (Avigna) 4:35.54
4. Thomas Guadagnini ITA (Predazzo) 4:46.17
5. Jack Kosky GBR 4:46.51

Südtirol Ultrarace 45 km - Women
1. Louise Mitchell GBR 5:32.21
2. Edeltraud Thaler ITA (Lana) 5:32.37
3. Inga Van Buren GER 5:52.24
4. Karolina Rosa Thaler ITA (Sarentino) 6:07.03
5. Stephanie Langebner ITA (Tesimo) 6:14.00


Südtirol Ultrarace 28 km - Men
1. Lukas Mangger ITA (Racines) 2:33.36
2. Patrick Ramoser ITA (Campo di Trens) 2:38.37
3. Fabian Pichler ITA (Meltina) 2:48.57
4. Jürgen Wieser ITA (San Genesio) 2:52.48
5. Alex Stuffer ITA (Sarentino) 3:00.44

Südtirol Ultrarace 28 km - Women
1. Giulia Zaltron SUI 3:09.14
2.Verena Bachmayer GER 3:17.20
3. Irene Senfter ITA (Lana) 3:27.20
4. Goller Sabrina ITA (Laces) 3:35.41
5. Julia Hofer ITA (Bressanone) 3:36.20

Foto: Wisthaler