On Sunday, September 17, USA earned two medals at the inaugural World Masters Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in Madeira, Portugal, which was part of the 22nd World Masters Mountain Running Championships. A gold medal was presented to the U.S. men’s 70 team of Buzz Burrell, Len Hall, and Bob Mulvaney. Rose Weltzel ran to a silver medal in the W40 category.
The event was the second of two events in the Madeira-hosted championships coupled with the Uphill Race on Friday, September 15, where USA netted five medals.
Of the 400 athletes competing at the championships, quite a few ran both events including several US athletes. The men’s 70 team from USA doubled (earning a silver on Friday) as did Brett Winegar (7th in both Friday and Saturday races in the M40 category). Chris Grauch also raced (long distance) and finished fourth in the M50 category after a hard fought race, much of it running in third place.
Winegar, Wetzel, and Grauch at the finish line of the World Masters Long Distance Mountain Running Championships.
World Masters Long Distance course
Like Friday’s race, the Long Distance 32K course started in the town square of Ponta do Pargo. Most of Friday’s uphill course was included in the route on Sunday, and there were additional climbing sections and even some level terrain with a mix of pavement at the start and finish, grassy sections, single track, double track, and 4WD paths.
Since it was a loop course reaching the halfway mark at the high point on course, a significant amount of the nearly 16K of downhill was on tap for the runners making it a quad buster on the descent.
Winegar on course at the World Masters Long Distance Mountain Running Championships – approximately halfway.
As the island is one of tropical pedigree, it offers coast lines, cliffs, and forests with elevations ranging from sea level to over 4000 feet. As such, changing weather conditions are a constant. Temperatures were cool and breezy in the low 60s at the start, with a few clouds looming over the upper reaches of the island.
Combined there were just over 200 runners (ages 35-79) with the majority (roughly 150) in the men’s race. The women went off first at 8AM followed by the men at 8:30.
World Masters Long Distance top finishers
First to the halfway point was Germany’s Simone Raatz, who never relinquished her lead and bested the women’s field by nearly three minutes earning her the championship title overall and a win the women’s 45 category.
Raatz, like the rest of the field, encountered fog, mist, and intermittent rain along the course. Raatz finished in 2:45:08 in the pouring rain, but soon after crossing the line, the skies cleared. In second, and first in the W40, was Vera Bernardo (POR) in 1 2:48:39, followed by W35 champion Dee Collins (IRL) in 2;49:32. Rose Wetzel (USA) was second in the W40 category and fourth overall in 2:51:47.
Mustafa breaks the tape for the overall championships title.
Prior to Raatz finishing, men’s winner Shaban Mustafa, M45, (BUL) crossed the line, also in pouring rain. He broke away from the field early on and increased his lead substantially by the halfway point. He finished with a time of 2:11:52, nearly eight minutes ahead of second place Massimiliano Bernardi (ITA), winner of the M40 division. In third was Tiago Aires (POR) in 2:20:22 taking M40 silver.
World Masters Long Distance Champions
Titles were awarded in age categories 35-79. On the women’s side, Germany and Spain each had five individual medals followed by Great Britain with three, Portugal, Ireland, Romania with two and one each for Italy and USA. On the men’s side, Great Britain led the count with four, followed by Spain, Germany, and Portugal with three, France with two and one each for Ireland, Slovakia, Italy, Bulgaria, Australia, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
Leading the team combined medal count (for men and women) was Portugal with seven, followed by Spain with 6.
Women:
Dee Collins (IRE, W35); Vera Bernardo (POR, W40); Simone Raatz (GER, W45); Isobel Sandoval (ESP, W50); Nicoletta Ferrari (ITA, W55); Ana Mori (ESP, W60); Maria Romero (ESP, W65); Elfriede Ganter (GER, W70).
Men:
Edward Connor (IRL, M35); Bernardi Massimiliano (ITA, M40); Shaban Mustafa (BUL, M45); Andrew O’Brien (AUS, M50); Miguel Molero-Eichwein (GER, M55); Mike Whyatt (GBR, M60); Bojan Galin (SLO, M65); Vasile Harjoc (ROU, M70); Geoffrey Howard GBR (M75)
Rose Wetzel (USA) with silver at the World Masters Long Distance Mountain Running Championships.
Team USA Results
Chris Grauch M50, raced to a solid fourth place in his category with a time of 2:32:20 placing him 15th overall. Brett Winegar M40 posted an outstanding time of 2:36:39 for 24th overall and seventh in his age division.
Buzz Burrell led the M70 U.S. men in 3:34:48, finishing 4th in the division and 122nd overall, followed by Len Hall in 3:57:01 securing sixth in the division, and Bob Mulvaney in seventh timed in 4:17:39.
Catching up with Burrell after the awards ceremony, he said,“The World Masters Mountain Running Championships that just concluded in Madeira, Portugal were my first World Championship event. It was great! I’ve always heard that when runners attend these official team events, they are delighted with the camaraderie as much as with the top competition. This was true: it was special to be on our Age Group team and on Team USA.
“I was in Chamonix, France two weeks ago for the UTMB World Finals, and the atmosphere here in Madeira was of course very different, but equally enjoyable. I hope more US runners participate in official Championship events.”
Complete results can be found here.
Spain will host the WMRA World Mountain Running Masters Championship for the first time in 2024.
