54th Trofeo Vanoni Mountain Relay

This is a mounatin relay race in Morbegno, Iatly.  The team I was running on was selected from the Snowdon Race in July of this year.  Llanberis, where Snowdon is, is twinned with the town of Morbegno and as part of their twinning Llanberis invite a team to run the Snowdon Mountain Race and in return they host a relay team selected from the race.  The top three finishers from the Snowdon race are asked to represent the race at the relay and this year all top three men took up the offer of their place on the team.  So the team consisted of me, Murray Strain (2nd at Snowdon) and Robbie Simpson (3rd at Snowdon)  Murray and Robbie are both Scotish and have international vests at Mountain running and/or Orienteering.  Both are very nice chaps as well.  Robbie is very young and won the Snowdon race last year and is probably the youngest ever winner of the race.
The relay race we headed off to run in I did back in 2006 when I first won Snowdon.  The team finished second that year so I was wanting to equal this or do one better and win it this time.  Our team was very strong on paper and a good run from us all would make us up there on the day.
The race is three legs, all the same route.  About 7k in total each leg with just over 500m of climbing.  About 4k to the summit and then the next 3k down very steep rough ground.  I checked the course out on Saturday lunchtime when I arrived in the town.  As I started to run the route it came back to me just how steep up and how very steep down hill it was.  Infact I could feel my quads that afternoon having only jogged round the course.  maybe I was asking too much of my old legs to hit this race hard after not really doing a session since the marathon. 
Race started and I hit the front.  The first 500m is good, all flat running in the town.  Then it heads up steep and doesnt level out until you hit the top.  I suddenly found myself in 4th place but wasn't worried about this.  I pushed on and satyed in fourth when I reached the summit.  It was the next three k that was going to do me.  I started off what I felt was fast going down hill, suddenly to have two lads run straight by me.  I tried picking up the pace but could only go as fast I could at that time.  Too busy thinking about where my feet were going and looking out for the next wall to jump down.  I got back to the finish line and handed over to Murray in 8th place. (Time of 31.11 13th fastest of the race) He had a few athletes in his sight from the start and ran a great leg.  He pulled us through to 4th spot in a time of 30.56 and handed over to youngster Robbie who not only wanted to try and win the event like we all did but was after running the fastest U23 time.  Robbie ran a strong climb and maintained fourth place at the summit.  On the downhill Robbie did the damage and overtook two teams and came home second in a time of 30.53.  Robbie was pleased as the second place beat his team finish last year and then he later found out his time was the second fastest for an U23 on the day so even happier to pick up some more Euors!!!
Full results of the race can be found here.
I will be looking forward to viewing the uphill split times when they are released later in the week to see if I can restore some pride against my Scotish rivals!!!
Write up of the event as it appears on ther website mud sweat and tears.
All we need to do now is finish top three at Snowdon on 28th July 2012 and see if we can go back and try and win this event!