Announcement from the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) written by Alexander Beaven. ATRA founder Nancy Hobbs is also the WMRA General Secretary. Above photo: Marco Gulberti.
After the great experience of the 2022 Mountain Running World Cup, Valsir and the WMRA are happy to announce that their partnership will be renewed for the next two years – the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup will take place in both 2023 and 2024.
“It has been a fantastic opportunity to work with Valsir,” said Jonathan Wyatt, WMRA President from 2017 to 2021 and now World Cup Manager. “We have moved our World Cup forward with their support, with an increased emphasis on becoming a credible force in off road running. Now we can continue and increase this progress for a further 2 years and make bigger strides into supporting the World’s best mountain running races, the World’s best mountain runners and encouraging new participants to give mountain running a go. Old and new fans will have plenty of exciting action to cheer on!”
In 2022 the partnership with Valsir enabled a greater than three-fold increase in the prize money available on the World Cup, as well a doubling of the travel support for athletes.
In addition, Valsir’s collaboration will allow the WMRA to make meaningful investments in supporting clean sport, with World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) accredited anti-doping at all Gold Label World Cup races in 2023.
[PRO TIP: Want to learn more about anti-doping programs in mountain and trail running and why they are important? Check out our five part series about anti-doping programs.]
Photo: Marco Gulberti.
Wyatt continues, “The spirit of respect for sport in nature is something we share with Valsir who are based in the Northern Italian mountains and who have embraced what we do and our vision for encouraging participation through the inspiration that the events we partner with in the World Cup provide.”
By continuing to improve media and communications around the World Cup, we hope to persuade new athletes to try mountain running and experience the powerful experiences that the sport has to offer. World Cup events are all open races, which means that mountain running presents a unique opportunity for everyday runners to rub shoulders with the world’s best off-road athletes, racing in stunning locations with the passionate support of local communities.
Mattia Gandini, director of marketing at Valsir, sees significant overlap in the values and motivations of Valsir and those who test themselves through sport: “The passion that moves and drives all runners to reach the top and push their limits – whoever they are, professional or amateur, it makes no difference – is the common value that binds WMRA and our company: aiming to improve ourselves and become better people living in a better world.
“We look forward to the 2023 season, hoping that many new participants will join the show: let’s race and have fun!”
Follow along and join the fun on social media with #ValsirWorldCup and catch-up on all our past World Cup articles.
Photo: Marco Gulberti.
About the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup:
With 12 Gold Label races across 6 countries and 9 locations, and a further 5 Silver Label races in 5 different countries, the 2022 World Mountain Running Association’s Valsir Mountain Running World Cup featured 5 months of quality racing in the mountains. All World Cup events are World Athletics (WA) Permit Mountain Races. Races fall into one of 3 categories; Short Uphill, Classic Mountain and Long Mountain. As well as the overall World Cup standings, calculated from an athlete’s best 6 results, there will also be a classification for each category, calculated from an athlete’s best 3 results in that category.
About the WMRA:
Formed in 1984, the World Mountain Running Association is the global governing body for mountain running and has the goal of promoting mountain running for all ages and abilities. As well as the Valsir World Cup, the WMRA organizes Masters, U18 and area championships and this year will work in partnership with the World Athletics, ITRA and IAU to deliver the inaugural World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The WMRA also maintains the Mountain Running World Ranking, a system of points allocated to athletes based on the results in designated races. More information on the WMRA website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
