“The International&nbsp,Smarna Gora Mountain Running Race&nbsp,remains one of the highlights of the mountain running season, and its rich tradition will continue on Saturday, October 4, with its 35th edition.
In the fall season of 1979, running enthusiasts from Ljubljana &ndash, Slovenia&rsquo,s capital &ndash, decided to organize a race to the top of one of the most popular mountains in Slovenia at Smarna Gora.
Nobody envisioned that it would become such a massive event with worldwide popularity.
The mountain running champions of the world will again be crowned this Saturday at this magnificent mountain peak.
In the early 1990s the event was the first national championships in the new state of Slovenia and later that decade, world champion Lucio Fregona (ITA) made the Smarna Gora race an internationally recognized event.
After the millennium, the Smarna Gora race became one of the founding members of the WMRA World Cup and since then it has been the final World Cup event on thirteen occasions.”
“In the last 35 years many world championships medallists have been tested on the demanding course that takes&nbsp,runners 360 meters uphill to the first summit, followed by 300 meters of technical descent before a 300-meter climb to the finish.
The top men will race just over 40 minutes for this 10-kilometre course.
This Saturday, the best mountain runners will again meet to test their strength, speed and skills. This will be the first official WMRA meeting after the World Championships and many will strive to climb the famous podium at Smarna Gora.
This will be a tall order, as the top female runners will include Sarah Tunstall (GBR) and Alice Gaggi (ITA), 4th and 5th at the World Championships just two weeks ago in Wales, GBR.
Alice wan this race in 2013 and last year they finished 4th and 3rd, an interesting combination.
In the men&rsquo,s event, Ugandan only 19 years old Fred Musobo, the actual senior World Champion, will test his skills on the Smarna Gora course for the first time.
Eritrean Mamu Petro, 2014 &Scaron,marna Gora winner and World Champion 2012 will do his best win the race again. His fellow runners Azeira Teklay and Abraham Kidane will also try to earn a spot on the podium.
Alex Baldaccini (ITA), returns to defend his Smarna Gora title from 2012, in 2013 and 2014 he finished 3rd, on the same position as European Championships 2015.&nbsp,
David Schneider (SUI) raced &Scaron,marna Gora five consecutive years, always finishing in the top four positions, but never as the champion.&nbsp,
Robbie Simpson and Andrew Douglas, both representing GBR, are two of the strongest mountain runners of this season, they finished in top positions wherever they raced. Robbie finished 3rd and 4th respectively at the World and European Champs, Andrew won the first World Cup and finished 5th and 6th respectively at ECh and WCh. A strong England team will again be present with their upcoming stars (U23 team).&nbsp,
Lucio Fregona, 1995 World Champion and first international class runner who took the name of Smarna Gora race abroad, is coming back with his son &ndash, also a prospective runner (do you mean podium finisher?).
In this strong international competition, Slovenian runners will try to use the benefits of home soil.
The weather forecast promises excellent running conditions and maybe even course records.

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Edited from Tomo Sarf (WMRA Council member)

Source of the picture (photo by LOC of Smarna Gora):
on front page:
– sprint at finsh line of the edition 2012,
on second page:
– top runners on downhill section (edition 2013)

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