 
The 25th World Mountain Running Championships was worked off recently
in the Italian ski resort of Madesimo close to the town of Chiavenna
with Elisa Desco taking the senior women's honours for the hosts and
Uganda's Geoffrey Kusuro taking the senior men's gold.
The racing was held on a lap, up and down course; one lap was 4.3km
long with 275m difference in altitude; the Junior Women ran one lap,
Junior Men and Senior Women ran 2 laps and Senior Men ran 3 laps.
The start was 1750m above sea level, which made the races even more
difficult for the athletes having to run at altitude. The course
required many changes in rhythm; the surface changing from grassy to
rocky terrain.
Weather conditions were excellent for the runners - after some days
of rain in the area the weather cleared on the day before the race and
the course dried nicely. After a cold and windy morning with
temperatures just above freezing point the sun came out and warmed up
the course.
In total approximately 330 runners from 35 countries participated in
the event and many thousands of spectators lining the course enjoyed the
spectacle on a beautiful clear day.
 In the senior women's race once again the Italians were the
favourites for the team gold medal, but no one expected them to run a
perfect race and for them to achieve individual gold, silver and bronze
positions.
Valentina Belotti was in the lead for the first lap but Elisa Desco
overtook her on the second lap to win the race. Perhaps even more
spectacular was the performance of bronze medal winner Maria Grazia
Roberti who came right through the field in the second part of the race.
In the senior men's race seven of the top ten places were taken by
African runners. The winner Geoffrey Kusuro from Uganda is no stranger
to mountain running having won the junior title in 2007 in Ovronnaz.
Eritrea's Azerya Weldemariam slit Kusuro from compatriot James Kibet.
In the team competition the final order was the same as in Bursa
2006, when the Italian team was beaten for the first time. Once again
they fell victim to Eritrea, but on this occasion on an up and down
course.
- IAAF
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