1^ Stava sky race: the show begins!

-On the 20th of August a new race made its debut in the Valley of Fiemme, Italy
-A demanding test 21,5km long with a vertical gain of 2125 m.

It is high summer, when the mountains show off their best side and the will to be outdoors and do sport is accentuated.
One of the high altitude sports which is gaining a lot of attention and has a large following is sky running. The Fiemme valley with its mountain trails and its Dolomites, is an ideal place for this discipline and this is how the “Stava Sky Race” was born, exactly at the same time as the Sports team “Cornacci di Tesero” celebrates its 60 years of activity. 
Among the sporting enthusiasts great interest was shown in this event which offered a fascinating course which developed between the two mountain groups of Latemar and Cornon (this mountain gives its name to the sports group “Cornacci”).
The first “Stava Sky Race” took place on a sunny August Sunday (on the 20th) on a course that started off from the town of Tesero’s historical centre, passed through the trails and the ridges which are among the most beautiful in the area to finally end at Stava after 21,5 kilometres, gaining a considerable amount of vertical height which came to a total of 2.125 metres.  
The course was “designed” carefully by qualified technicians and alternated technical sections with sections which were definitely more “walkable”.
The Stava Sky Race took place in the middle of the ski area “Ski Center Latemar” with views over stunning landscape. The hardest part of the race was on Mount Agnello. There was a large number of entries and the organizing committee was forced to limit the number to a maximum of 150, an ideal number in terms of insuring a quality service to the competitors as well as making sure that the organizational machinery worked well.

The Competition:

They were like chamois competing on the mountains around Tesero in the Fiemme Valley, in the first and spectacular edition of the Stava Sky Race. Skyrunners competing like chamois in facing the steep climbs of a course which was demanding but at the same time gratifying thanks to the views which surrounded it. A success which was crowned by an incredible sunny day which kissed the competition as well as the victory of the two athletes, both from the Fiemme Valley: Paolo Larger and Cristina Paluselli. Two top class cross country skiers, with the national athlete twice winner of the long distance World Cup, athletes formed by their training for extreme fatigue like the over 120 runners  who set off in the early morning from Tesero.

The race surged uphill straight away towards Mount Cornon and from the first steps three runners took off,  Michele Tavernaro, the orienteering champion, Paolo Larger and the runner from Varese, Giacomo Sangalli.
The struggle for the podium was limited straight away to the three runners just mentioned, and no wonder since their pace broke away from Luca Miori who on Mount Cornon was running in fourth place but detached at a distance of over a minute. There was a 2 minute difference from Fabio Varesco of Tesero. The other favourite who was Fausto Rizzi from Valtellina who had won third place in the National championships was only seventh, preceded  by Marcello Delladio.
Among the women the race was even harder with Cristina Paluselli gaining more than 3 minutes at the first intermediate time over Michela Rizzi and approximately 7’ over Silvana Iori.
The men’s race was in continuous turmoil. On the downhill section of Mount Cornon towards “Casera Vecia” Tavernaro gave up his leadership to Larger who pulled Sangalli behind him.. A crazy pace which made Tavernaro give up,obviously he was not having a good day.
The challenge was still open, with a new spectacular section on Mount Agnello’s ridge. Larger tried not to lose his important lead pushing hard with his legs and the GPM (Mountain Grand Prix) was his, even if only by 3 seconds over Sangalli.
The forceful pace by the two leaders put Tavernaro in difficulty, his delay on Mount Agnello which was witnessed by a large group of fans, was considerable for someone who was aiming for victory, 1’19”. Even Paluselli insisted with her sustained rhythm, detaching Rizzi by a further minute.
Armentagiola, where the last fuel stop signalled the beginning of the hectic descent towards Stava, Larger released his breaks and jumped on Sangalli’s back, who from then on was forced to follow.
Larger was very quick downhill and nobody could take victory away from him on Stava’s finishing line, where he arrived with his arms in the air.
Sangalli arrived after 9” and made do with second place, while Tavernaro was third but distanced by a heavy load of 4 minutes.
In the final section Fabio Varesco stood out for his great downhill talent by overtaking Miori, gaining fourth place ahead of his amazed opponent. While the arrivals followed one another repetitively, the 40th place signaled Cristina Paluselli’s arrival who shortly before the finishing line was met by Larger and a huge bunch of flowers, it was the double victory of the Fiemme valley’s runners. 
On the downhill Paluselli further detached Rizzi and the stopwatch, after the cross country skier’s arrival stopped for Rizzi at 9’41”. Third place for the unstoppable Silvana Iori.
A great success for the Cornacci Sports Union who achieved a great success after this first edition, this is also thanks to the enthusiasm of the technical Director Massimo Dondio and to the support of the many volunteers spread along the 21,5 km course.