Skygames 2012 Final winners: Spain takes the team title. Luis Alberto Hernando and Nuria Picas the individuals.

Posted by mayayo oxigeno on July 8, 2012 in Carreras de montaña, carreras por montaña, luis alberto hernando, miguel caballero, nuria picas, oihana kortazar, skygames 2012, skygames 2012 rankings, skygames 2012 results, skyrunning, skyrunning 2012, trail running, trail running spain 2012 | 2 Comments

The Skygames 2012 have celebrated its final mountain races, with the Skymarathon as the main course for the whole event, then moving on to the final combined rankings and results. In those, Luis Alberto Hernando (ESP) and Nuria Picas (ESP) won the individual combined titles. Spain dominated the team rankings with 1.404 points; Italy second at 448 pts and France with 282 pts.

See the first events of the Skygames 2012 here

SKYGAMES 2012: Final results and rankings.

Skygames 2012 have reached completion today. Six skyrunning disciplines stretching over two weekends had 1,300 participants and twenty nations competing for the forty medals and 14 world titles at stake. The six SkyGames disciplines were: SkySpeed, 100 metres vertical climb with a 45% incline; Vertical Kilometer, the universally popular formula, here a mere 3.5 km with a 30% incline; SkyBike – a duathlon combining mtb and skyrunning to 2,000m altitude; SkyRaid – a multi-discipline team relay; the 21 km SkyRace with 1,350m vertical climb, reserved for runners aged 16-21. The events concluded with an epic SkyMarathon reaching 3,100m altitude – valid for the combined points title.

The central event for the whole Skygames 2012 (29jun-8jul) was this SkyMarathon, ran on a most demanding course of 42km and 3,000 meters climb. It was held this morning with departure and arrival in the town of Vilaller. The Spanish team has come to dominate both the men and women rankings, with Luis Alberto Hernando and Núria Picas, respectively. There was alfo a half marathon race calle the SkyRace (21 km), with Jessed Hernandez winning the men´s title and the women´s going to Mónica Ardid.

SKYMARATHON REPORT: Winners Luis Alberto Hernando and Nuria Picas.

Vilaller woke up this morning with clear skies and some light fog up in the mountains. Moderate temperatures and little wind rendered and ideal day for the competition.As seen in the video above, the course covered 42km and 3,000 meters of vertical climb. First there were 2 flat kms to the neighboring town of Ginast, before embarking on the first ascent over 1,200 vertical meters to the Coll de Salines. From there, the race lost about 400 meters of altitude, only to climb back strongly again to the Pic de Llauset (2910 m), highest point of the track. From there, a very long downhill challenge along a spectacular ridge took the skyrunners back to the Coll de Salines, and then all the way back to Vilaller.

At 7:30 in the morning female SkyMarathon took off with Nuria Picas and Oihana Kortazar as the two favorites. Already out of Vilaller both had set out set a strong pace. The Salomon runner took on the first ascent at the Coll de Salelles to open a gap with its rival. Kortazar reached it almost five minutes ahead, but the effort seemed to take its toll and saw her on the last leg of the climb losing strength. After overcoming the technical zone, equipped with fixed ropes, Núria Picas was able to catch her up and both arrived together at the summit.

In the downhill, the local runner launched at full speed toward Vilaller. The Andalusian Blanca Serrano also came fron behind to reach Oihan as well and left her to settle for third position. Picas and Serrano reached the finish line below five hours of racing with about two and a half minutes of difference in between, while Kortazar let go and lost almost 25 minutes to end up third.

The male race was launched at 8:00AM. Luis Alberto Hernando left no room for doubt and held the top position from start to finish. Behind him there was a quite a struggle for the remaining podium positions. Tofol Castanyer seemed to be the favorite for the second place, but seemed to accuse the fatigue of another marathon raced last week. The effort has proved too harsh and he was overtaken by Miguel Caballero first and David Lopez making a powerful surge from behind, to finish well ahead of the USA Alexandros Nichols, who was finally sixth.

As these two races closed the program of this Ribagorza SkyGames 2012, we now con publish the final results for the Combined Rankings, that included the results of the Skymarathon, plus the two best results from Km Vertical, SkySpeed and SkyBike.

Final Combined rankings: Men´s title goes to Luis Alberto Hernando: 1st in the SkyMarathon, 3rd in the SkySpeed, 5th at Km Vertical. Women´s goes to Núria Picas: 1 st in SkyMarathon, 5th in the SkySpeed and 1st in SkyBike.

Final Team Rankings: The final medal count had Spain soaring ahead with 7 gold medals, 6 silver and 4 bronze, followed by France, Italy, Japan, Andorra and Venezuela. The ranking points, based on the best results of three men and one woman per nation, read as follows: Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Greece, Andorra, USA, Great Britain, Poland and Switzerland.

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SKYGAMES 2012 RESULTS: Complete lists downloadable in pdf.

Skygames 2012 Results Combined final rankings 8jun12

Skygames 2012 Results Skymarathon Men 8jun12

Skygames 2012 Results Skymarathon Women 8jun12

Skygames 2012 Results Skyrace 21km 8jun12

Skygames 2012 Results Vertical Km international 30jun12

Skygames 2012 Results Vertical Km Open 30jun12

Skygames 2012 Results Skyspeed Men 30jun12

Skygames 2012 Results Skyspeed Women 30jun12

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SKYMARATHON TOP FINISHERS

Men
1.-Luis Alberto Hernando (Spain): 4:11:54
2.-Miguel Caballero (Spain): 4:20:14
3.-David Lopez (Spain): 4:21:59
4.-Tòfol Castanyer (Spain): 4:22:09
5.-Jokin Lizeaga (Spain): 4:34:14
6.-Alexandros Nichols (USA): 4:41:41
7.-Maurizio Fenaroli (Italy): 4:54:24
8.-Ivan Ortiz (Spain): 4:54:28

Women
1.-Núria Picas (Spain): 4:55:15
2.-Blanca Serrano (Spain): 4:57:56
3.-Oihana Kortazar (Spain): 5:21:48
4.-Maud Gobert (France): 5:24:40

COMBINED RANKING

Men
1.-Luis Alberto Hernando (Spain): 246 points
2.-Miguel Caballero (Spain): 226 points
3.-Jokin Lizeaga (Spain): 198 points

Women
1.-Núria Picas (Spain): 268 points
2.-Oihana Kortazar (Spain): 266 points
3.-Blanca Serrano (Spain): 220 points

TEAM RANKINGS
1.-Spain: 1,404 points
2.-Italy: 448 points
3.-France: 282 points

SKYGAMES 2012: SkyMarathon & Skyraid photo galleries.