The Rut 28K, the only US stopover of the Migu Run Skyrunner® World Series, was conquered yesterday by Pascal Egli from Switzerland and Briton Holly Page in Big Sky resort, Montana, the ninth stage of the ten-race Sky Classic category.
Page not only dominated the women’s field but finished an incredible 12th overall in a field of 650 runners. The 28 km race reaches 3,403m, the summit of Lone Peak, the highest mountain in the area, with a gruelling 2,375m.vertical climb.
Leaving a gap of 33’44” to the second woman, she closed in 3h42’06”. Page commented, “I was a bit worried before the race yesterday as I haven’t spent much time at altitude recently. It’s a pretty high race. I went up some of the course and saw all the rocks which filled me with confidence as I really like it technical.
“Some people told me to set off hard as it’s runnable so I did. I just kept going reasonably hard and kept looking back and didn’t see any women so it was quite a nice feeling the whole way. I didn’t have to push super-hard on the downhills – it’s not worth breaking my ankles for but my feet are absolutely killing me! Great race, shame I didn’t have time to look around at the top. It felt like a really American race with American music and everyone saying ‘good job’!”
Second was American Dani Moreno in 4h15’50” and third, Emily Hawgood from Zimbabwe in 4h21’32”.
On placing second last year after getting lost, winning here was an enormous satisfaction for Egli who closed in 3h06’53”. “I pushed quite hard from the beginning and I was running with Oscar [Casal Mir] and Marc [Pinsach] which is really nice. I like these exposed ridges very much but I got very tired towards the summit so I guess I made the difference on the downhill and the technical parts and tried to open up a gap on Oscar. I got really tired towards the last part but super-happy to win!”
Andorran Oscar Casal Mir was delighted with his second place in 3h10’02” followed by Spaniard Marc Pinsach in third, in 3h12’39”.
“At the start there was a group of five runners who were pushing very hard but at the bottom of the first big climb Pascal moved up and I followed him,” Casal Mir commented. “On the downhill he was very, very fast, maybe two or three minutes ahead for all the race. The last uphill was hard as I had cramps and I saw Pascal had cramps too! I was very happy because I took second place. It’s like a dream and I did the race 15 minutes faster than last year!”
The standing records set in 2016 remain: Hassan Ait Chaou in 3h06’39” and Megan Kimmel in 3h36’23”.
It’s a hat trick for Holly Page. After winning both the Yading Skyrun and the Buff Epic Trail 42K, she now leads the Sky Classic ranking. Lina El Kott and Laura Orgué slide to second and third respectively.
It’s the top rung of the ranking also for Pascal Egli rising, like Page, from third. Marc Casal Mir and Finlay Wild occupy the second and third slots.
The top spots of the Overall rankings remain unchanged.
The tenth and final race of the Sky Classic category will take place at the Limone Extreme closing the 2018 Migu Run Skyrunner® World Series on October 13.
In the meantime, the Sky Extreme category moves to Scotland for the Salomon Glen Coe Skyline on September 16. Join us for the action!
The Rut 28K results
Men
- Pascal Egli (SUI) – 3h06’53”
- Oscar Casal Mir (AND) – 3h10’02”
- Marc Pinsach (ESP) – 3h12’39”
- Benjamin Stout (USA) – 3h14’43”
- Kiril Nikolov (BUL) – 3h23’51″
Women
- Holly Page (GBR) – 3h42’06
- Dani Moreno (USA) – 4h15’50”
- Emily Hawgood (ZIM) – 4h21’32”
- Emmiliese Von Clemm (USA) – 4h24’08”
- Meaghen Brown (USA) – 4h30’30”
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