New races, a new partner, all-round rebranding and website, the Series is set to reach new heights.
A breath of spring air sweeps across the Skyrunner® World Series just days before the 2016 season kicks off.
The Series’ new management company, Geneva based SkyMan SA, is pleased to present a new Main Partner, Migu Xempower, a Chinese exercise and health management platform which also counts a rich experience in organising marathons, city and mountain races for millions of runners.
In addition, the Skyrunner® World Series is delighted to count on the continued support of Alpina Watches, together with the three Official Pool Suppliers, Compressport, Salomon and Scott Sports.
The 2016 season launches with the Series’ highest race, the Yading Skyrun reaching 4,664m in China’s Sichuan mountains on April 30. From here, the race calendar expands to stretch across the globe from East to West featuring 23 races, six of them new to the Series.
The well-established, Sky, Ultra and Vertical format is joined by the Extreme Series presented by Alpina Watches, which more than ever expresses the true spirit of skyrunning defined not only by distance, but vertical climb and technical difficulty.
Kilian Jornet, the sport’s best known figure and organiser of the Extreme Series’ Tromsø SkyRace® in Norway, comments, “When I started to run I was inspired by the images of Bruno Brunod, Fabio Meraldi and Marino Giacometti climbing (and descending) technical ridges, passing climbers and alpinists with just a pair of running shoes – and amazing technical skills! I’m very glad that today there’s an Extreme Series with this alpine philosophy and, as an organiser, to share my passion for scrambling and travelling light on big mountains.”
The Skyrunner® World Series is known for attracting the best athletes in the sport at each event. They compete for an end of season prize purse of €36,000, in addition to the prize purse of over €100,000 distributed across all races.
Mike Foote, world class trail runner and organiser of The Rut events in the rugged Montana mountains, adds, “It’s an honour to be a part of the 2016 Skyrunner World Series. As the organisers of three events here in the United States, it is exciting to host many of the world’s best. I love the ethos of skyrunning. Steep, technical and dramatic courses inspire me as an athlete and it has been such a pleasure to also organize events with these traits here in my backyard.”
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