Just one week after the European championships in Ticino there was another important appointment: the Italian championships middle and relay! The whole PWT Elite Team was there, with Noemi Inderst as a substitute for Lia Patscheider, still recovering from an injury. For the event even the strong Austrian Robert Merl was wearing PWT’s colors. Both races were held at Passo Lavazé, on the boarder between Trentino and Südtirol, at 1800m above sea level, not far away from the finish of the legendary Marcialonga.

On Saturday the athletes had to face very bad weather conditions, with rain, wind and even hailstorm! Our runners were well prepared and ready to tackle the challenges of the courses. Unfortunately the challenges were very limited, due to the great visibility in the forest and the course often following clear handrails. The men’s race was dominated by the duo Riccardo and Robert, the latter being some second faster in the end. Sebastian’s performance was below pared finishing in 7^th position. Tommaso started really well, but a big mistake ruined his race. Our star in the women’s class Carlotta was also still quite fatigued from EOC and big work loads, finishing in 6^th position. A few seconds behind was Anna, coming back from an injury, with a good 9^th place.

For the night we were guests at the Hotel Grünwald in Cavalese, where we found the best conditions to recover well for the next day’s race.

On Sunday the weather was much better, which made it very pleasant for spectators to enjoy the relay. It was the debut for our women’s team with Anna at the start. She made a stable race and changed over to Noemi in 5^th position. Also Noemi, who was uncertain to start because of an ankle injury some days before, performed well changing over in 6^th position. Carlotta on the last leg was able to gain some positions ending just outside the podium. A good debut for our women’s team! The men’s team was favourite and had to defend the title from the last year. The runner’s order was the same as last year. Tommaso on the first leg wasn’t the favourite, but with a great performance he was able to leave behind all others on the most technical controls, changing over to Sebastian with 30” advantage. The Ticinese was also able to perform better than the previous day and maintained the lead, changing over to Riccardo with 1’ advantage. Riccardo once again proved his talent and brought the team to the second consecutive victory, well done!

Worth to mention was also the victory in the Open class, where Robert crossed the opponents on the first leg, changing over to Alessandro with a 13’ lead! Alessandro and Damiano were then able to keep the lead gaining a victory and a great experience for the future.