Sam Sahli reflects on his European Mountain Running Adventure

Written by Sam Sahli. Sam was the top American male at the Trail World Championships this past June. Raidlight is an American Trail Running Association corporate member and sponsor of our View from the Pack series of articles. Photo above by Corsa in Montagna.

The Piz Tri Vertical and the Fletta Trail races this past weekend have been absolutely phenomenal! Racing at the home of mountain running in Italy is a special experience and I’m fortunate that I’ve had this amazing opportunity. The fans, hospitality, and race organization is unmatched and I will do all I can to make the trip again next year in 2020.

The first race was the Piz Tri Vertical on Saturday. It was my first attempt at a vertical kilometer as well as my first time racing in front of Italian fans. I highly recommend both! The race was 3.5k of running with 1000 meters of gain, so it was ridiculously steep. I finished 14th in a time of 39:52. I was happy with this performance as it was my first race of this discipline, but I need to improve on super steep power hiking!

 

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The race started fast on roads in town, after which everyone quickly settled into a steady climbing pace over steep roads, trails, and grassy meadows on the side of the Piz Tri mountain. After 30 minutes of burning legs, I started to hear the cheers and cowbells of all the Italian fans waiting at the mountain top finish. The “tifosi” formed a spectacular gallery to cheer on all the runners in the last 400 meters. They were raucously loud! You could tell all of the locals loved the sport and were passionate about their history of mountain running. The race organization also threw a quick party for all the athletes and fans after the finish so it was loads of fun all around.

On Sunday was Fletta Trail; a 21k and the premier race of the weekend. I unfortunately had to pull out a bit after 10k with a minor injury but still got to experience the energy and environment of an Italian mountain race. We raced through small mountain villages and at each one the locals put on costumes, played music, and cheered loudly. Fletta Trail holds a competition to see which village can put on the best show for the runners. It showed just how much everyone cares about the sport of mountain running. The fans are wild and abundant so it makes a fantastic environment for all who are there. It’s not just a niche sport like in America, but an event that the whole community comes together to celebrate and experience together. Americans have football and Italians have mountain running!

 

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Prior to Fletta Trail I raced WMRA Mountain Running World Cup events Grossglockner Berglauf in Heiligenblut, Austria and the Snowdon International Mountain Race in Llanberis, Wales. All of these races has shown me the extremely high level of competition in Europe as well as the technical mastery required on the trails needed to succeed.

Admittedly, I’ve finished lower than I’d prefer in each race, but this has fueled my motivation to train harder over the next year to get to the front of the pack in Europe! I have every desire to get stronger and come back for more WMRA World Cup races next year. The combination of amazing people, new countries, and world class races have made for a phenomenal experience and I can’t wait to come back and do it again!

 

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Until then, my final European race will be Sierre-Zinal on August 11 and can’t wait to run the most historic mountain race in the world! Sierre-Zinal is a 31 km net uphill race with 2200 meters of climbing and been a benchmark for American mountain runners for over 25 years. I’ll have to monitor my heel injury leading up to the race and hopefully it won’t prevent me from toeing the start line.

After Sierre-Zinal I don’t have any American races planned but I’m sure I’ll find a challenge prior to racing the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in Argentina this November. Representing Team USA at the Trail World Championships in June was amazing the and I’m fortunate to put on the national kit and do it again in a few months!

 

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The trip and races this year would’ve have been possible without my sponsor, RaidLight. They’re a small French company new to the American trail running market, and I heard through other athletes they were looking to start a trail team, so I reached out and they were excited to help me travel to these World Cup races.

My favorite shoe is the Responsiv XP. It’s a lightweight trail race shoe that is incredibly stable going up and down technical trails while still coming in a minimal package. I’ve worn the XP for all of my European races this summer. All of their apparel is also insanely functional with pockets and storage for everything you need on a trail outing! I’m excited to run for them and hope to do big things with RaidLight on my feet in the near future!

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