Bolzano, 11 February 2020 - the eighth edition of the Südtirol Ultra Skyrace will not take place as usual at the end of July. The extreme mountain race along the Hufeisen tour in the Sarntal Alps will take place from 28 to 30 August. The start gun for the Südtirol Ultra Skyrace 2020 will be fired on Friday, 28 August at 7:00 pm on Piazza Walther in Bolzano; an hour earlier than previously.

As in previous years, the organizers offer 4 different distances with varying degrees of difficulty. The South Tyrol Ultra Skyrace, one of the most demanding and technically challenging extreme mountain races in the world, is 121 kilometres long. On the legendary horseshoe tour in the heart of the Sarntal Alps the athletes have to conquer an elevation gain of 7554 metres.

The South Tyrol Skyrace measures just over half of the marathon distance (69 km/3930 m elevation), while the South Tyrol Sky Marathon for mountain runners covers a distance of 42.2 km and 2863 m elevation. Less experienced athletes can opt for the Südtirol Sky Trail with a distance of 27 km and an elevation gain of 1000 m. The three shorter races will start on Saturday, 29 August in the early hours of the morning.

Since the first edition in July 2013 the organizers of the extreme sporting event in Val Sarentino have been committed to keeping the risk of accidents at close to zero. To achieve this, civil protection and mountain rescue experts work closely with the race management at the headquarters in Bolzano. The dismay and sadness over the tragic accident that overshadowed the Südtirol Ultra Skyrace 2019 were intense. Silje Fismen, an athlete from Norway, was struck by lightning near Lago San Pancrazio and fatally injured. As usual in such cases, the public prosecutor's office started investigations. These have since been concluded and the file archived early this year. Postponing the date by one month and the bringing the start forward by one hour are essential measures to further reduce the risk for participants.