TRANSGRANCANARIA 2025: MARATHON 47K RACE REPORT, BY MAYAYO

Posted by mayayo oxigeno on February 21, 2025 in trail running, trail running spain, trail running spain 2025, transgrancanaria, transgrancanaria 2025, transgrancanaria live, transgrancanaria marathon, transgrancanaria races, Ultra Trail, world trail majors, world trail majors 2025 | Leave a comment

TRANSGRANCANARIA 2025: MARATHON 47K RACE REPORT, BY MAYAYO. Our TRANSGRANCANARIA section brings brings you the latest news from the iconic event now into its 26th edition with races from Transgrancanaria Classic 126k to VK El Gigante, plus Transgrancanaria Advanced 82k, Transgrancanaria Marathon 47k and Transgrancanaria Half 21k.

Francesco Puppi and Jennifer Lichter won Transgrancanaria Marathon 47K. Francesco took the win just 300 meters to finish lines! Jennifer made it a double, after having taken the 2024 Marathon as well. It was a fast race with victories in a time of 3:23:26 and 3:59:42 respectively, for 47.8 km, +1840 and -2856 m. Silver and bronze slots at the podiums went to men Robert Pkemoi and Tiago Vieira, plus women Sylvia Nordskar and Celia Balcells

Read in spanish at our sister website CARRERASDEMONTANA.COM: Crónica Marathon, por Mayayo

TRANSGRANCANARIA 2025: MARATHON 47K

The Short Series by Gran Canaria World Trail Majors just held its third stage at Transgrancanaria Marathon, starting from the town of Tejeda at 1041 metres above sea level and finishing at sea level, lots of descending on the route, -2856 m, but a healthy dose of climbing with +1840 m. A total distance of 47.8 km, because mountain marathons are never quite just “a marathon”

It has been a most spectacular race with its downhill course forcing a blistering pace for all between Tejeda and Maspalomas. In addition, it is the race where the number of registered participants has grown the most, exceeding 1,600 participants, who will start in three waves from the center of the municipality.

At the start, top favorites included:

Among the women Jennifer Lichter and Sylvia Nordskar, whereas the north american from The North Face team already won the 2024 edition, while the Norwegian of the HOKA team was making her debut in the Gran Canaria race.

In the men’s category a tough rivalry was expected between top riders such as Francesco Puppi, Robert Pkemoi  The Italian Puppi has an ITRA ranking of 928 and it will also be his first time on the island. Kenyan athlete Robert Pkemoi will try to chain his third consecutive victory in the race and make history. Little did we know the race final would live up to all expectations of an exciting finish…and surpass them.

Also top seeded were the Portuguese Miguel Arsénio, he is the recent winner of the international circuit Gran Canaria World Trail Majors and has participated twice in the Classic modality. Nor should the Italian Henri Aymonod, winner of the KV El Gigante last year and this one as well, be ruled out. Let us check race profile before we move on to the race report.

TRANSGRANCANARIA MARATHON 47K

RACE REPORT BY MAYAYO

The day was beautiful, the runners were ready, and the fastest were ready to fight through the rocky trails of inland Gran Canaria all the way to the coast. The most watched man was, without any doubt, Robert Pkemoi (Kenya, Joma Sport), earned by his two victories in the past two editions and looking for the hat-trick that from the start was obviously his goal. And the woman to beat was last year’s winner Jennifer Lichter (USA, The North Face).

Leading groups quickly formed,

including Robert Pkemoi, Francesco Puppi (Italy, Hoka), Marcin Rzeszotko (Poland), Juho Ylinen (Finland, Hoka), Henri Aymonod (Italy, The North Face), Manuel Anguita (Spain) and Tiago Vieira (Portugal, Joma Sport) among others. The women’s leaders were Jennifer Lichter, Norway’s Sylvia Nordskar (Hoka) and Germany’s Daniela Oemus (Nike).

Up to the first aid station at 11.7 km with 1000 metres of ascent the gaps were minimal. By the time the runners got to the town of Tunte, ten kilometres further on, and a descent of 1000 metres, the field began to spread, leading the way were Robert Pkemoi follwed closely by Francesco Puppi for the men and Jennifer Lichter with Sylvia Nordskar just a minute behind and Celia Balcells (Spain, Merrell) 5 minutes apart.

ROBERT PKEMOI AND JENNIFER LICHTER TAKE THE LEAD

By Tunte, ten kilometres further on and after a climb of 500 m and another sapping 1000 m descent, the leaders were Pkemoi with 2 minutes over Puppi with Adil Moussaoui (Morocco, Egari Trail), Marcos Ramos (Spain, Asics) and Henri Aymonod just 3 minutes behind the leaders. Still less than hlaf of the race in the pocket. In the women category Lichter and Nordskar were leading clearly with 10 minutes over Balcells.

The third and last aid station, Ayagaures included another 1000 m descent and the race looked stable: Pkemoi with a little advantage over Puppi and Moussaoui expecting a failure from the leaders. Also the women seemed to be a copy of Tunte aid station: Lichter, 5 minutes over Nordskar, another 14 over Balcells. The race would be decided over the next fourteen kilometres, ‘flat’ by mountain running standards with 240 m of ascent and 500 m of descent, a real time trial that kept the spectators in Maspalomas and those watching the live stream on the edge of their seats. Great athletes can make a difference, but great blow-ups are also possible.

Puppi ‘steals’ the win from Pkemoi

Robert Pkemoi was leading, the spectators were not aware how close Francesco Puppi was from Pkemoi. In a demonstration of strategic excellence, Francesco Puppi ‘stealed’ the win just 300 meters to the end!!! Pkemoi was unable to react to Puppi’s change of pace and couldn’t secure the victory. What a finish! Francesco Puppi, “the strategist”, wins The North Face Transgrancanaria 2025! 3:26:33 was Puppi’s time, 18 seconds more for Pkemoi. Tiago Vieira completes the podium after 3:31:02. Marcos Ramos (3:31:36) and Adil Moussaoui (3:33:34) are the top 5.

Jennifer Lichter clinches her second win

Knowing the final kilometres, Jennifer Lichter saved her strength to win again in the race that brought her to the attention of the European trail running community in 2024. Finishing in a time of 3:59:42, followed by Norway’s Sylvia Nordskar at 8 minutes, with Spanish Celia Balcells in third place. Veronika Kalinina (Russia, Lidingöloppet) was 4th and Beatriz Parrón (Spain, Joma) 5th in Maspalomas.

A fantastic Short Series race following on from the Hong Kong 100 – The Half and Black Canyon Ultras 50K. Six different winners and the rest of the season to determine who will be victorious overall in the first edition of this new series.