Gaiardo and Pichrtova triumph.
The following WMRA Grand Prix report appears on the IAAF web page
Saturday 6th October.
There was a surprise defeat for the womens World Mountain Running Champion in the final WMRA Grand Prix race on the Smarna Gora, in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on Saturday.
The weather conditions were truly dreadful. After two weeks of warm autumn
weather, the race was run in torrential, cold, rain making underfoot conditions treacherous on the forest tracks.
Victoria Wilkinson (GBR) going into the race leading the Grand Prix rankings
did all she could to hold on to the premier position by inflicting a rare
defeat on Champion Anna Pichrtova (CZE). Victoria won a world title herself in
1997 when she became junior champion in the Czech Republic. Since then she has
had some injuries, tried the cycling sport, but now appears poised to make a
serious mark in the senior mountain running scene. Anna, in second position 47
seconds behind, finished top of the Grand Prix ranking (308 points) as
expected and collects the $1500 prize. Victorias win placed her second overall (270 points) in the final ranking. By finishing race fourth,
Iva Milesova (CZE) moved up to third position with 266 points).

Marco Gaiardo was under no pressure in the mens race having already secured
the overall ranking gold with 300 points. He trotted in a careful fifth.
Nevertheless he would have been hard pressed to beat the winner Andrzej
Dlugosz (POL) who was second in this race last year. The conditions seemed to
suit him as he nimbly negotiated some tricky descent parts of the course. His
fine performance was good enough to give him second position in the final
ranking (246 points). Joe Symonds(GBR)had a rather disappointing run and could
only finish 8th so finished third overall ((227 points). Robert Krupicka (CZE)
making an impressive comeback from injury finished race second in front of
local boy Mitja Kosovelj (SLO.
Full results of the race appear on the event web page via the link on
www.wmra,info.
This concludes the 2007 WMRA Grand Prix series and the full final ranking list will appear shortly on the WMRA web page.

Race results Men,
1. A. Dlugos (POL) 41.25
2. R.Krupicka (CZE) 42.00
3. M. Kosovelj (SLO) 42.04
4. J.Rancon (FRA) 42.12
5. M Gaiardo (ITA) 42.22
Race Results Women,
1. V.Wilkinson (GBR) 48.54
2. A.Pichrtova (CZE) 49.41
3. M. Kosovelj (SLO) 50.24
4. I Milesova (CZE) 51.56
5. S.Tunstall (GBR) 52.06

Grand Prix final ranking men:
1. M.Gaiardo (ITA) 300
2. A.Dlugos (POL) 246
3. J.Symonds (GBR) 227
4. G Abate (ITA) 223
5. J Havicek (CZE) 207

Grand Prix final ranking women:
1. A Pichrtova (CZE) 308
2. V Wilkinson (GBR) 270
3. I Milesova (CZE) 266
4. M.Roberti (ITA) 237
5. P.Havlova (CZE) 216