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WMRA: MOUNTAIN RUNNING WORLD CUP: BROKEN ARROW SKYRACE, THE WORLD CUP ARRIVES AMERICA

adefrutos

 

The second round of the 2019 World Cup goes to America crossing the Atlantic for the first time, arriving in the snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Just West of Lake Tahoe, the race will take place in historic Olympic Valley; home to the 1960 Winter Olympic Games and starting line of the famous Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. The elite field is stacked with World Champions, National Champions, OCR Champions & Olympians from 6 countries.

The Kenian Lucy Wambui and the Scottish Andrew Douglas lead the ranking after their victories in Short-Race Annecy

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MOUNTAIN RUNNING WORLD CUP 2019: Broken Arrow Skyrace (26km/D+970)

Broken Arrow Skyrace represents a unique style of European-inspired mountain running characterized by off-trail scrambling, steep terrain, and massive amounts of vertical gain and loss. The majority of this takes place above 6,000 feet – above treeline – and consists of five iconic distances, each distance showcasing the beauty of Lake Tahoe, “The Jewel of the Sierra Nevada.”

The 26K Broken Arrow Skyrace which will be the second stage of the Mountain Running World Cup 2019,  will start Sunday morning at 7:00 AM local time at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort. The 26 km takes place on a course of exceptional beauty and difficulty with over 1600 meters of vertical climbing (D+) and passes near the iconic Emigrant Pass located 2600 meters above sea level. The famous “stairway to heaven ladder” will be the highest point of the race at over 2700 meters above sea level. A number of American elite runners will toe the start line on Sunday including those with exceptional results at world championships, national championships and other well known races like Western States, UTMB, North Face 50, JFK 50, White River 50 and more.
In addition to these local stars, a number of high profile International mountain runners will join the field including Scotland’s Andrew Douglas (GBR) who won the first World Cup race last month in France and is aiming to raise the World Cup trophy at the last event this October.

Here we have some details about the course: “The course for the Broken Arrow 26k starts from the European arch in front of Coffeebar in the heart of the Squaw Valley Village. After the start runners head through the Village and east up single track trails along the Western States trail toward CA Highway 89. This relatively smooth 3.25 mile section may be the fastest and most runnable section of the course. The course stays in the woods and turns back westward for ~2.6 miles, climbing ~1200 ft. along more single track trails and beautiful two-track ski area access roads to the top of Snow King. Runners then travel back down a ~1 mile steep ~730 ft. descent to the Easy Street aid station below KT-22. At this point runners are 6 miles into the race. The north facing parts of Snow King may still have some areas of snow on the descent into Easy Street. Out of the Easy Street aid station, runners climb up the KT-22 road for about 1.4 miles and ~1150 ft. There will assuredly be snow on the upper half of this climb. From the top of KT-22 ski lift the course follows a two-track trail down along the ridge. The views here are stunning as they stretch out over the Granite Chief Wilderness to the west and Squaw Valley to the east. After descending the ridge from the KT-22 ski lift runners traverse for one mile and 1,000 feet of vertical gain along a mix of open single track across the saddle between KT-22 and Squaw Peak. At this point is one of the more challenging and spectacular climbs on the course as runners ascend up steep trails to the top of the Headwall lift. At this point, the climb scrambles up the ridge line between the top of the Headwall Lift and the top of Squaw Peak. It is here that the course traverses an exposed rocky ridge to the “Stairway to Heaven” ladder. It has craggy views and steep drop offs on either side. It represents one of the most iconic sections of running/scrambling in the entire race and is the high point of the race at approximately 9,000-feet.  Runners then descend and traverse about 1200 ft. in ~ 2.5 miles from the top of Squaw Peak down into Shirley Basin. Along the way, runners will pass through the Siberia Aid Station at mile 8.85. The Shirley Canyon sections is always the the snowiest section of the course. From the bottom of Shirley Basin the runners climb another snowy ~550 vertical ft. in about .9 miles back up to the High Camp Aid Station at mile 11.75. From High Camp, racers descend back down the Thunder Mountain single track to the finish line at the KT Sun Deck.”

 

 

There will be 4 additional races during the weekend a kids run, a Vertical Kilometer of Friday, and a 52 km and 11 km on Saturday, with over 1000 hearty runners participating across all 5 events.

2011 World Mountain Running Champion Kasie Enman (USA) is recently back from the Trail World Championships in Portugal and will be vying for the win against 2010 Winter Olympian Morgan Arritola (USA) and 2017 Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) World Champion Lindsay Webster (CAN).

Other favorites for the men’s win joining Andrew will be 2016 World Mountain Running Champion Joseph Gray (USA) and 2001 World Mountain Running Championship runner-up Emanuele Manzi (ITA).

Let’s go for the list of some of the top runners to watch in the 26 km World Cup event.

WOMEN:

MEN:

 

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MOUNTAIN RUNNING WORLD CUP 2019: Photo Gallery by @abeldefrutos

 

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Info by Abel de Frutos for Trailrunningspain

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