First race report from the World Championships in Andorra

Today 6 of the Canadian racers kicked off the World Championships with the vertical race.

The race was a “sprint” of 880m vertically over 6km of uphill climbing only. The women started half and hour before the men start with every racer wearing a “chip” for time. The course had a nice graduate climb most of the way and some fast times were recorded.

The Spanish racer Killian Jornet won the men’s category race with a time of 39:50 while on the women side the Italian powerhouse Roberta Pedranzini finished with a time of 48:25.

As far as placement for the Canadian contingent, Reiner Thoni placed 48th, Ian Gale 69th, Jeff Colvin 71st over a total of 83 men while Melanie Bernier finished 19th, Julie Matteau 25th and Billie Velisek 28th over a total of 37 women.

Click here for photos and results.

Following the race was the opening ceremony that took place in Canillo with every participating country showing their colors. I had the honor of being the flag barrier and every team paraded while their own country anthem played.

Re-hydration and recovery is on the menu for tonight and tomorrow before the next Individual race on Wednesday.

Next update to come…