6th WMRA/WMA World Masters Athletic Championships - Mountain Running championships. Saillon-Ovronnaz

Saillon-Ovronnaz 23rd September 2006

700 athletes gathered in Saillon-Ovronnaz for this popular 'out of stadium’ masters event. WMRA (World Mountain Running Association) were joined by the WMA (World Masters Association) in promoting the races, Brian Keaveny and Josep….attending on WMA’s behalf. Categories for men and women 35 to 75+ in 5 year steps were all catered for, each age category starting together 20 minutes after each other. Of the nine defending champions only Gerlinde Schmittner (GER- W60) was able to retain her title. However the other defending champions did not surrender their positions without some fierce battles. Baggio (ITA - M70) slipped to 5th but Reinhart Volger (GER-M55)was 2nd, Nigel Gates (England -M50) was 3rd, and Maureen Laney (England- W50) was second. Previous champions emerged to re-establish themselves after a year or two out of gold medal position. Kasper Schiber (SUI) moved up an age group to win M65 and Marianne Spronk (GER0 regained her W55 title. The M45 group was the largest with 104 competitors. This year, for the first time, team awards were given to the winning country in categories 55 and younger. The result was calculated by taking the first three from a country to finish in a category and adding the position as points to give a score – lowest score winning of course. Full results can be seen on the French version of the event web page via www.wmra.info Next years championships take place in Bludenz (Austria) on September 23rd.