Jon Morgan sent us this comprehensive report:
We recently competed in the 4th World Ski Mountaineering Championships (mine and Nick Wallis 3rd World Champs). There were a series of 5 races over the week, of which most of us did 4. There were about 300 individual racers from 28 countries. We were 9 Brits in the team, and results of the fell-runners amongst us were:
Sunday 24th Feb, individual race, 1650 metres of ascent and descent:
1st Florent Perrier, France 1h30:03
64th Ben Bardsley, Borrowdale 2h05:28
80th Nick Wallis, Dark Peak 2h26:16
Monday 25th Feb, Relay Race 260m up and down each person- 4 in each team
Italy 1st 58:59
UK 14th 1h13:14 (Jon Morgan, Al Powell, Jon Bracey, Carron Scrimgeour)
Tuesday 26th Feb, team race in pairs, 1950 metres of ascent and descent
1st Florent Perrier and Alexandre Pellicier, France 1hr55:40
25th Jon Morgan and Al Powell 2hr26:27
36th Ben Barsley and Nick Wallis 2h51:53
Wednesday- rest day (well needed)
Thursday 27th Feb, uphill only race, 930m. This was a beast of a race, with some outrageously fast winning times
1st Florent Perrier, France 35:04
4th Kilian Jornet, Spain 35:54 (I stuck him in the results as he is 20, and when he was only 17 he set the current World Mountain Running record for the fastest ever 1000m uphill in a shade over 31 min. So for him to be beaten gives you an idea of the calibre of the field)
36th Ben Bardsley, Borrowdale 41:04
45th Jon Morgan, Dark Peak 41:49
85th Nick Wallis, Dark Peak 51:13
Friday 28th Feb, individual long race, 2870 metres of ascent and descent. Horrendous pouring rain in the valleys, blizzard on the summits…..
1st Guido Giacomelli, Italy 2h54:48
48th Jon Morgan, Dark Peak 3h52:59
57th Ben Bardsley. Borrowdale 4h04:39
67th Nick Wallis, Dark Peak 4h36:09
Overall, from 28 countries entered:
1st Italy
13th UK
14th US (ha ha- at one point me and Al heard an American team behind us saying “go get those Limeys”. They didn’t…..)
18th Canada
21st New Zealand
Ski Mountaineering is a seriously exciting sport, ideally suited to fell running fitness and mentality. Ben was a novice to the sport this year, and although his ski level was not amazing he made up for it with determination. We have NO women in the team, so that means if you want to do it as a woman you could automatically be in the British team! And the blokes could easily fit more individuals in. It will probably be an Olympic Sport in the future (it was previously in the 20s and 30s). So if you can ski at all, particularly if you are female, then get in touch. Funding may be available in the future- it has been in the past, but not this year. Falling over downhill is usually painless, unlike the equivalent running downhill!