THE GOLDEN TRAIL WORLD SERIES 2021: THE OLLA DE NÚRIA STARTS THE SERIES

Posted by Héctor Rubio on June 7, 2021 in golden trail series, trail running spain | 1 Comment

THE GOLDEN TRAIL WORLD SERIES 2021 STARTS: the Olla de Núria. The countdown to the first race of the 2021 series has started! And the Elite are chomping at the bit!Today our GOLDEN TRAIL WORLD SERIES bring us today the beginning of the Golden Trail World Series.

The starting list for the GTWS 2021 is the highest level it’s ever been! An elite compilation from around the world are gearing up to thrash it out at The Olla de Núria in the province of Girona in Catalonia, replacing Zegama this year, for the first stage in the Golden Trail World Series 2021!

OLLA DE NÚRIA 2021: START OF GOLDEN TRAIL WORLD SERIES

The Olla de Núria, 9 am Start, race route: 21.5k, with 1,940m vertical elevation and zero asphalt. The race starts and finishes at Santuari de Núria (1,900m) climbing over some of the Pyrenees’ most iconic peaks including: Puigmal (2,913m), Pic del Segre (2,809m), Pic de Finestrelles (2,827m), Pic de Noufonts (2651m) along the border between Spain and France. 72% of the race takes place above 2,700m in a privileged environment that you can only reach by train or on foot. Wild, unique, beautiful – a hidden jewel! This high-altitude, fast and furious, lung-buster set in the extraordinary backdrop of the Catalan Pyrenees will be a rip-roaring first race of the season.

The records to beat: Kilian Jornet, 2h 14 min 56s, and Mireia Miro, 2h 36 min 00s

OLLA DE NÚRIA 2021: ELITE WOMEN

The Elite Women’s line-up is top level, fiery, gritty, and they ain’t taking no prisoners! Check out the top ten here:

All eyes are on the Swiss Maude Mathys (Team Salomon, Switzerland), the current Sierre-Zinal and Pikes Peak record holder, and Golden Trail Championship 2020 winner, who will fighting off her Swiss teammate, Judith Wyder (Team Salomon, Switzerland), GTWS 2019 title holder, Dolomyths Run and Ring of Steall record holder who’s back after her second baby to fight to keep her GTWS title. The Blandine L’Hirondel (Team Hoka One One, France) snatched up by a new sponsor, 3rd overall GTC 2020 & IAU World Champion 2019 is a new dimension of true grit runners to watch very closely, American Rachel Drake (Team Nike Trail, USA), 2nd overall at GTC 2020 and on the GTWS attacks the circuit for the first time, Denisa Dragomir (Red Bull/Merrell, Romania), European Skyrunning Champion 2019. Other tenacious women in the top 10 include the British Holly Page (Adidas Terrex, UK) 2^nd in Ring of Steall 2019 (if travel rules allow), Fanny Borgstrom (The North Face, Sweden), Mathilde Sagnes (Team Hoka One One, France) Dani Moreno (Hoka One One/Rabbit, USA),  but the list doesn’t stop there… the Spanish are in force Oihana Azkorbebeita (Team Merrell, Spain), Oihana Kortazar (Team Salomon, Spain), Nuria Gil (Team Salomon, Spain), Spanish trail running champion and 3^rd at Olla de Núria 2019, this is her first international trail-runnning competition, and rookie Sara Alonso (Team Salomon, Spain), will the Spanish surprise the favourites?

OLLA DE NÚRIA 2021: ELITE MEN

Elite Men’s top-10 line-up is a testosterone-filled, adrenalin-pumped Formula 1 start line:

Who can catch the Italian rocket Davide Magnini (Team Salomon, Italy) 2019 Mont-Blanc Marathon and Dolomyths Run winner, 2nd overall GTWS 2019 who is fast becoming the reference in this distance and fuelled by a spectacular skimo season, can his compatriot Nadir Maguet (Team La Sportiva, Italy) Ring of Steall 2019 winner, ride the flames off his heels? The buzz who’s also creating a storm, Bart Przedwojewski (Team Salomon, Poland), Golden Trail Championship (GTC) 2020 winner, Stian Angermund (Team Salomon, Norway) Zegama record holder, 5th overall GTC 2020, sure value on all types of circuit. The promising Jan Margarit (Team La Sportiva, Spain) sporting new colours this year, Nicolas Martin (Team Hoka One One, France) 10th overall GTC 2020, and Rémi Bonnet (Team Salomon, Switzerland) 8th overall GTC 2020, the explosive and powerful Thibaut Baronian (Team Salomon, France), Andrew Douglas (Team Hoka One One, UK), winner of the WMRA World Cup Series in 2019, William Boffelli (Team Crazy, Italy) 1^st place in the Matterhorn Ultraks 2020 – Extreme…

The Grand Final, on November 6^th, 2021, travels to the far reaches of South America: Villa La Angostura, Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina, for the K42 Adventure Marathon; a race that began in 2003 with a mere 345 runners, and now gathers 2000 runners. An exciting end in store for the 2021 Golden Trail World Series!

GOLDEN TRAIL WORLD SERIES 2021

This 3^rd edition will no doubt attract an even greater number of elite athletes due to this year’s lack of racing possibilities, and different types of elite racers from different sporting backgrounds, as well as rising stars from new international teams! This edition will definitely be riveting!

K42 Villa La Angostura 2019. Cerro Bayo Summit. Photo: Iván Elías

PRIZE MONEY

In 2021, a few changes have been made:

• At the Grand Final, the Golden Trail World Champions will receive €10,000, 2^nd to 5^th positions will receive €6,000, the 6^th to 10^th positions still receive €3,000 and 11^th position will receive €1,000.
• The points from the final are doubled and here anything can happen in the final ranking where the last could suddenly be the first.
• Now, the top 11, and no longer the top 10, will be invited on the dream trip to the Grand Final in Patagonia.

Runners must take part in at least 3 out of 6 qualifying races and reach the top 11 to be invited to the Grand Final. If a runner didn’t reach the top 11 but participated in 3 of the 6 qualifying races, he/she can still go to the Grand Final at his/her own expense and still have the chance to win the race and prize money!

The Golden Trail World Series final ranking will be determined by the runners’ 3 best results during the season, plus their result at the Grand Final.

THE GOLDEN TRAIL NATIONAL SERIES

While the GTWS aims to gather the best international athletes, the GTNS aims to reunite the best national athletes and give them the opportunity to be invited to the GTC and measure themselves against the world’s best athletes. Each national series highlights each country’s best races & best athletes with 2 to 5 races + a national final, and an overall GTNS Grand Final gathering the best from each GTNS. See the 2021 list of national races here.

On the GTWS year, the top 3 men and women from the GTNS Grand Final will be invited to participate in the Golden Trail World Championship the following year.

On the year the GTC takesplace, there will be no GTNS Grand Final, the top 3 men and women from each GTNS final will receive a Golden Ticket for the Golden Trail Championship.

The 2021 GTWS will of course go ahead as planned assuming that sanitary health conditions are safe, and that we may all travel abroad.

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