Spain fell just one point from the women’s podium, led by Italy, and nine from the men’s – led by England – in the WMRA Nations Cup for mountain races, contested this Sunday in the framework of the Val Bregaglia Trail in Chiavenna (Italy), on a route of 19 kilometers with 660 meters of positive elevation gain.
In men, Italy won with 26 points, ahead of England (28), Romania (36), the Czech Republic (38) and Spain, which tied at 45 points with Germany. In women England beat with the same 21 points as Italy, followed by the Czech team (34) and Spain (35). On an individual basis, the runner-up of Spain, Alejandro García, eleventh, was the best of the team, followed by Miquel Corbera, who was twelfth and best under-23 in a test dominated by the German of Kenyan origin Filimon Abraham with a time of 1h18 : 29. The Spanish team was completed by Juan Javier (22nd place) and Jan Margarti (36th), current champion of Spain. Sara Alonso, ninth, led the Spanish quartet, which was completed by María Ordóñez (eleventh), the Spanish champion Nuria Gil (15) and Yolanda Martín (20).
Chiavenna’s Val Bregaglia Trail was the first international Trail Running competition to be held since 2019, when the Spanish men’s team won the title of mountain racing world champion and the women’s runner-up. The Nations Cup is a new competition created by the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) with the purpose that the athletes, who for the last year have been preparing for the World Mountain Racing Championships in Thailand canceled due to the pandemic, could compete in an international event defending their country.