“293 runners of 32 Nations were present at the 31st World Mountain Running Championships 2015 held at Betws-Y-Coed, (Conwy – North Wales).
Seven nations took the 24 medals distributed at the end of the competitions.
Leader in the medal table was Uganda with 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze, in front of Turkey that won 2 gold and 2 silver.
Four Nations gained a world title: USA was third in the medal table with 1 gold and 3 silver, Great Britain &amp, N. I. fourth with 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze, then in fifth position in the medal table were Czech Rep. and Italy both with 1 gold and 1 silver.
Last Nation that kept&nbsp, medal was France with 1 bronze.
Perfomances of the runner were really wonderful, thousands of spectators on the track clapped their hands for the fantastic runners in a beautiful sunshine day!
Many people were involved in the organisation of the Championships, making it a great success: Officials from the County of Conwy and from the Welsh Athletics were able to do all the best!
“
“USA&rsquo,s Allie Ostrander (19:44) romped to victory in the junior women&rsquo,s race, almost a minute ahead of the Czech Republic&rsquo,s Michaela Stranska (20:23) in second position (Stranska&nbsp,finished third last year at the World Championships in Italy).
Elsa Racasan (20:31) from France was third with Brecon&rsquo,s Heidi Davies performing well for Great Britain &amp, NI as she finished fifth.
Just before her, Teresa Korvasova, from Cezch Rep. finished in fourth position: so&nbsp,their team won gold medals with 6 points. Czech Republic claimed the junior women’s team title, with hosts Great Britain &amp, NI second (points 13) and Turkey third. Very closed the team result specially for third position where three Nations finished with same point (20) and Turkey was third, Italy fourth and France fifth. Poland finished sixth with 22 points.
15 Nations had full team in the result.
Turkey&rsquo,s Ferhat Bozkurt, who was bronze medal at the World Championships last year in Italy, was in excellent form as he won the junior men&rsquo,s race clocked 33:56, by almost two minutes from USA&rsquo,s Levi Thomet (35:50). Bozkurt&rsquo,s fellow countrymen Mustafa Geksel (35:53) and Abdullah Yorulmaz (36:12) were third and fifth respectively to hand Turkey team gold ahead of the USA (29 points) and GB &amp, NI (30 points). Italy finished fourth just two points behind third (32 points).
14 Nations had full team in the result.
In the senior women&rsquo,s race over 8.9km the winner was Ugandan Stella Chesang (clocked 37:52), despite her young age: she last year won world junior women title in Italy and this year she won the title in the senior women race.
Only one women runner in the past years was able to do the same: Italian Rosita Rota Gelpi won world junior title on 1992 and world senior title on 2004, but Stella Chesang repeat these wonderful performances in two following years: really great!
Great Britain debutant Emily Collinge (38:23) took silver , with early leader Emma Clayton finishing in third in 38:33.
They were backed up by Kendal&rsquo,s Sarah Tunstall (39:05), who finished just outside the medal positions in fourth, as Great Britain &amp, N.I. (with 9 points) comfortably won the team gold medal from USA in silver (points 27) and Uganda in bronze (points 28). Fourth place, once more, Italy with 33 points.
16 Nations had full team in the result.
Collinge said: &ldquo,I&rsquo,ve never fought so much in my life. I&rsquo,m ecstatic to win a medal and I&rsquo,m so happy for Emma (Clayton) and I wish Sarah (Tunstall) could have got a medal as well, she deserved it. &ldquo,It&rsquo,s amazing to win the team gold, I&rsquo,m so proud.&rdquo,
In the senior men&rsquo,s race over 13km, the winner of the world title 2015 was Fred Musobo (49:00) from Uganda. Italy&rsquo,s Bernard Dematteis (49:42) taking silver medal after that in the past he finished for fourth times in fourth position at the World Championships: 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2014.
Robbie Simpson (50:31) from Great Britain won bronze.
Italy took the team gold medal with ahead of Uganda and Great Britain &amp, NI claimed bronze.
Simpson said: &ldquo,I&rsquo,m absolutely delighted, it was really tough all the way. I started quite fast but I actually felt quite comfortable, just in the rhythm I wanted to be in. &ldquo,Coming off the second lap I was fourth but I could see the Italian in front was tiring so I just pushed and pushed and caught him by the top and managed to hang on during the descent.&rdquo,
Next year the 32nd WMRA World Mountain Running Championships 2016 will be held in Bulgaria, on 4th September 2016, at Sapareva Banya.

&nbsp,

Edited from Tim Lewis (Press and PR Officer Welsh Athletics) and Bruno Gozzelino (WMRA President)

Source of the picture (photo by SportpicturesCymru):
on front page:
– start of men race,
on second page:
flower ceremony of:
– junior women,
– junior men,
– senior women,
– senior men.

“