2023 Monte Rosa SkyMarathon – excitement triples

The 2023 Monte Rosa SkyMarathon is on its way and this year the events that will animate the mountain village of Alagna Valsesia, Italy, the weekend of June 17-18 are three: the Monte Rosa SkyMarathon, Europe’s highest race; the AMA VK2, a double Vertical Kilometer® and new addition, the Monte Rosa Vertical, a classic VK.

Athletes from 28 countries will participate across the events with far-off countries such as New Zealand, Australia and Ecuador represented. The main race, the Monte Rosa SkyMarathon, where athletes race in pairs roped together for safety, is a mere 35 km long but with an extremely demanding 7,000m vertical climb between ascent and descent, summitting at the Margherita Hut, the highest refuge in Europe at 4,554m altitude.

Saturday’s event represents the fifth edition after the relaunch in 2018 of this iconic race, birthplace of the skyrunning discipline where skyrunning stars and world champions such as Kilian Jornet & Emelie Forsberg, Hillary Gerardi, Stian Angermund and multiple winner, Franco Collé participate.

Heading the men’s line-up is Italy’s William Boffelli – three-time winner of the race in 2018, 2019 and 2021 with different partners (including Collé), absent last year due to injury. He’s back on form and will team with last year’s winner, Tadei Pivk, also from Italy.

Top podium contenders are an Italian-French team sponsored by SCARPA, comprising Daniel Antonioli (second last year) and Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz. “After last year’s amazing experience, I can’t wait to run the Monte Rosa SkyMarathon again. I met Aurelien some months ago at a SCARPA training camp in Sardinia and he said he’d love to run it too, so we teamed up! Apart from being a strong runner, he’s also a strong skimo athlete. I’m in good shape so I think we can place well, aiming for the podium!”

Dunand-Pallaz who has a European Skyrunning Championships silver medal under his belt, said “I’m very happy and impatient to discover this high altitude skyrunning race. It’s also a great opportunity to share the experience with Daniel Antonioli, my team mate!”

Concomitant with the race to the summit is the AMA VK2 – 9 km of pure uphill with 2,086m vertical climb, this perfect double Vertical Kilometer^® tops out at 3,200m altitude. Last year’s winner, Italian Marcello Ugazio, another SCARPA athlete, will try to repeat his win and beat the standing record of 1h32’13” set by Damiano Lenzi in 2021.

Current Skyrunner® World Series ranking leader Iris Pessey from France, will be aiming for the win but will face strong competition from Mojca Koligar from Slovenia, a strong vertical specialist and top-ten at the 2022 Skyrunning World Championships.

Pessey is not new to the events after taking the VK2 win in 2019 race and third in 2021. She also placed fourth in the SkyMarathon in 2019. “I’m super excited to be back for the third time. I love this place and this race. I feel very good this season and Monte Rosa will be my chance to see where I am as I’m aiming to beat my personal record. I’ve worked very hard to get faster on flats and downhills over the last months but want to prove I’m still the uphill runner I was,” she commented.

The new Monte Rosa Vertical will kick off the following day, Sunday, June 18, starting from Alagna with a 1,150m vertical climb over 5 km, topping out at the Bocchetta delle Pisse via the new ski slope. The event is open to two categories: runners and hikers. Entries for the two VK’s close tomorrow on June 15, 2023.

Safety, sustainability and diversity are always among the organisers’ priorities and this year the prestigious ISO Sustainability Certificate is being addressed. Since 2019, environmental impact has been reduced by imposing personal reusable cups to avoid plastic on the course and meticulous waste collection at aid stations.

Inclusion is key to the Monte Rosa SkyMarathon with the AMA-Bilmente project where amputees ascend to the summit a week before and also act as forerunners in Sunday’s Monte Rosa Vertical.

Cash prizes amount to approximately €12,000 with the addition of sponsors’ awards including a technical product from the MICO 2023 collection to all winners, and for the youngest and oldest competitors in each race, a choice of the latest SCARPA footwear models and NORTEC micro crampons.

Three events – a choice for the world’s top skyrunners to compete in Europe’s highest race, for those who love a hard uphill challenge at altitude, and those who like it short and sweet, as fast, or as slow, as they can – all with the magnificent backdrop of a snow-covered Monte Rosa.