The 24th edition of the SellaRonda Skimarathon will start from Selva di Val Gardena on 22 March of the year 2019.
Oswald Santin: «It is possible to break the 3 hour barrier!»
A month has past since the victory of the Swiss athletes Martin Anthamatten and Werner Marti with the record breaking time of 3h:04’31’’, but the Organization Committee, coordinated by Oswald Santin is already hard at work organizing the next edition. As well as the Swiss men’s victory at Canzei the female supremacy of the Italian Alba Del Silvestro and the Swiss Jennifer Fichter must not be forgotten. Even the Italo-Swiss duo registered a new record with the time of 3h38:00.
After the SellaRonda Skimarathon, as well as analysing the edition which has just ended, the Organization Committee has laid the foundations to get 1300 Sellaronda athletes back into action. Choosing the date was the first step towards edition number 24. «We met up a few days ago – Oswald Santin told us – with the various valley committees to evaluate the impact the competitors in the town of Selva di Val Gardena have. It is obvious that hundreds of athletes with hundreds of people accompanying them will fill up quite a few hotels, and it is for this reason that we have thought of picking a weekend during a period which does not have many tourists so we consequently marked the 22 March of next year on the calendar!».
«I hope – says Santin – that in conjunction with the Sellaronda there will be other events so as to lessen the pressure of everyone wanting a race bib at the beginning of January. Registration for Italian teams will open on the 3rd January next year, while foreigners can register from the 10th Janaury. There will be 300 race bibs available for Italians, 250 race bibs for international competitors and 100 reserved for the organization to choose at a later date. The maximum number is 650 teams». «The 2018 edition- Santin ended – finished in the best way possible, as well as the athletic aspect of the race which established two new records, we have improved the live streaming even more by reaching roughly 5000 passionate ski-mountaineering fans. The chat on our website “speedy skins” also gained remarkable success. Next year I am sure that with the starting point situated in Selva di Gardena we will be able to break the 3 hour barrier».
Here are a few stats for you: the Sellaronda 2018 edition saw 638 teams registered, 52 of these did not start, while 536 teams cut across the finishing line at Canazei, that is 92% of those who started. A record which high lights the competitor’s excellent athletic preparation. 50 teams stopped during the race (8% of those on the starting line) while 19 countries were represented with 36% of participants coming from countries other than Italy.
