Kiriago breaks men’s Trofeo Nasego record as Gitonga takes women’s crown
All the news from one of the most prestigious events on the WMRA World Cup calendar.
After an exciting Vertical Nasego the previous day, won by Nina Engelhard and Patrick Kipngeno, attention turned to the 25th edition of Trofeo Nasego. With many of the same athletes lining up for both races, there was little doubt that stage 13 of this year’s World Cup would be fiercely contested.
Trofeo Nasego has steadily grown in stature over the years, becoming a regular fixture on the international mountain running calendar and playing host to both Italian Championships and World Cup races. This year’s field reflected that status, bringing together reigning and former World and European champions, World Cup winners and leaders, alongside a new generation of athletes looking to make their mark.
All eyes were on Casto as the field gathered, on another hot day, for one of the most established races on the mountain-running circuit.
The course
This 21.5km route has something for every runner. The crux of the race is the climb of over 700 metres from Ponte Vrenda up to Rifugio Nasego (1300m).This climb starts at the 10km point and gets steeper until it reaches the rifugio at 16km. What begins as a fairly fast rolling first 10km on good trails, which can create some early gaps, changes completely as the runners reach the long, sustained climb.
And if the long climb plays to the strength of the uphill specialists, the 4km downhill section with technical sections to the finish at Famea will be an advantage to others. Trofeo Nasego is a hugely tactical race and to win here you really do have to have it all – speed on the rolling sections, strong climbing skills and technical downhill abilities.
Men’s race
There were two clear favourites in the men’s race – Patrick Kipngeno and Philemon Kiriago (both KEN) were two all in last four years of the race – but the field ready to challenge was deep. As we saw yesterday in Vertical Nasego, Italians can benefit from home advantage here and we sometimes see a runner for the first time in the World Cup come in and create shockwaves. Kipngeno came into this race as the course record holder (1.30.46, set in 2022) but would it survive this year of exceptional competition?
Kiriago decided to set his stall out early and lead from the front. He arrived at the Piani di Alone 6km mark ahead of Elija Kamau Kariuki (KEN), one of the breakout stars of this year’s World Cup, with Michael Selelo Saoli (KEN) in third. At this point Kipngeno was in fourth, with fellow Kenyan runner Ephantus Njeri in fifth.
By Pannelli, the checkpoint at 11km, which comes just before the runners begin the big climb to Rifugio Nasego in earnest, the men’s top five remained the same with very little separating them. As expected, it was going to come down to the climb and descent.
As they reached Rifugio Nasego Kipngeno had made his move, arriving just a few seconds behind Kiriago. Paul Machoka (KEN) had also moved up into fifth. At the start of the 4km downhill a minute separated the men’s top three, so it was still very open.
Eventually Kiriago reached the finish line at Famea first, breaking Kipngeno’s course record to win in 1:30:08. Kipngeno held on to second (1:31:10) and Saoli held off the challenge from Kariuki and Machoka to keep third. Afterwards Kiriago said: “I was dreaming about breaking the course record and I’ve managed today to break it”.
Men’s top 5
Women’s race
World Cup leader Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga (KEN) has won every classic race she has entered in the competition this year, so she is hard to bet against, but here she was taking on the current World Champion in the discipline, Nina Engelhard (GER).
Gitonga actually finished second to Engelhard in that classic race at the World Championships last year. We saw from yesterday’s win at Vertical Nasego that Engelhard is back to fitness after an injury, so it was going to be an interesting contest, particularly given the depth of the field which included two-time winner Andrea Mayr (AUT), Vertical Nasego’s runner-up Kirsty Skye Dickson (GBR) and top Kenyan runners Miriam Chepkirui ,Joyce Muthoni Njeru and Gloria Chebet, among many others.
Gitonga struck out for the front early and at the 6km point at Piani di Alone she was chased by Engelhard, with Chepkirui, Njeru and Chebet making up the top five.
Before the start of the major climb, at Pannelli at 11km, this top five was unchanged, but Chebet had overtaken Njeru. We knew from Vertical Nasego that Engelhard is back to full strength on the uphills and possibly had the edge here. And this was an interesting section of the race, really shaking up the women’s field.
Gitonga emerged at Rifugio Nasego (16.5km) first, and she had in fact managed to keep a 22 second buffer to Engelhard. Chepkirui remained in third but by this point she was two minutes behind Gitonga and Engelhard and it was starting to look unlikely that she could catch them. Skye Dickson had made her move on the climb, arriving in fourth place just over a minute behind Chepkirui, and Arianna Dentis (ITA), who has had good results at Grossglockner and Vauban this year, had come through to fifth. Mayr had also moved up and was in the mix at the summit.
The last, long downhill was to prove more decisive in the women’s race than in the men’s. Engelhard didn’t manage to close the gap and Gitonga won in 1:47:06, with Engelhard taking second in 1:47:33. Chepkirui maintained her third place. Dentis continued to push, finishing in fourth, with Chebet fifth.
Women’s top five
The World Cup now heads to Poland on September 19 for our last long distance race of the competition: Maraton Trzech Jezior: Three Lakes Marathons.
