Symonds and Owens win 5th GORETEX ® Transalpine-Run
The two British racers Andrew Symonds and Tom Owens of Team Saab Salomon Outdoor won today’s last stage of the GORE-TEX® Transalpine- Run 2009 from Schlanders to Latsch, Italy…
As if victory wasn’t enough, they also set a new record on the 28.62 kilometer-long course in the mind-boggling time of 02:46:51.8 hours. The ‘British Blitz’ team also managed to beat the overall record for the entire course of almost 240 kilometers distance and a vertical gain of roughly 15,000 meters. In total, they spent 24:02:47.2 hours on the trails of the Western course through its eight stages.
‘Saab Salomon Outdoor’ didn’t just provide the fastest Men’s team but also the victorious Mixed duo. Angela Mudge and Ben Bardsley, accustomed to stepping up to the podium, secured the last of eight consecutive stage victories in a time of 03:08:44.0 hours, which added to a total time of 27:26:24.4 hours on the trails. This made Mudge not just the fastest woman today but overall in the 2009 GORE-TEX® Transalpine-Run
Angela Mudge
Speaking on the Saab Salomon blog Andy Symonds said:
“It’s going to be a shock to the body to not be getting up to run 3-4 hours every day. Not sure how I’ll cope. In any case it’s amazing how the legs adapt and it becomes almost normal to run with quite trashed muscles day after day. Having said that I’m not sure how many more days I could manage. There would be only one way to find out, and no, I’m not going for a long mountain run tomorrow…”
Provisional Top 3’s
Men
1. Andrew Symonds/Tom Owen – Saab Salomon Outdoor Team – 24:02:47.2
2. Thomas Geisenberger/Michael Veit – Team Dr. Steinbauer – 25:57:59.4
3. Roland Osele/Michael Fischer – Telmekom Team Südtirol – 26:21:10.4
Women
1. Irene Senfter/Petra Theiner – Team Latsch – 32:10:21.6
2. Martina Pfeifhofer/Elisabeth Egarter – Team Sexten Salomon – 32:50:29.5
3. Regine Schlump/Carmen Schnindler – Intersport-Salomon Womenice – 34:02:47.4
Mixed
1. Angela Mudge/Ben Bardsley – Saab Salomon Outdoor – 27:26:24.4
2. Iona Robertson/Casey Morgan – TPC Freight Management – 29:21:35.0
3. Annemarie Gross/Ulrich Gross – Telmekom Team Südtirol – 29:50:13.4
Master
1. Anton Philipp/Dr. Thomas Miksch – BLT Laufsport Saukel Haglöfs – 26:45:58.5
2. Oscar Perez Lopez/Eladio Guiller Lantada Zarzosa – Team Elyos – 29:04:27.6
3. Joseph Gallagher/Sven Buchheister – Team Schwarzwald Express – 30:16:32.2
