Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s mountain runners put in some strong performances at the Challenge Stellina race in Italy on Sunday winning team gold and silver.

Scout Adkin (Angela Mudge, Ambleside), the 2022 European up-and-down bronze medallist, finished a brilliant second behind reigning world champion American Grayson Murphy and led the GB & NI women’s team to gold ahead of Italy and the USA in the Nations Trophy. Backing her up were Kirsty Dickson (Carnethy) in fifth and Sara Willhoit (Shrewsbury) in sixth.

In the men’s event Chris Richards (Duncan Richards, Helm Hill) finished a fantastic third behind two-time World Champion Joe Gray of the USA and the 2021 winner, Italian Henri Aymonod. With Joe Steward (Salford) in the top ten and Dan Haworth (Matlock) the third counter, the GB & NI team won silver behind Italy.

The Challenge Stellina race was created to commemorate the partisan victory over the Germans on August 26^th 1944. Athletes from the nations that then faced each other in conflict race in peace and friendship on the trails where the battle took place.

Scout Adkin said, “An amazing race with a great historical heritage. It’s the first uphill race I have run with over 1000m of climbing and I tried not to get carried away in the early stages with the USA team. I’m very pleased with my position and helping a strong women’s team to gold.’

Chris Richards said “I knew how tough the race would be and I wanted to pace it conservatively along the first flat road mile. By around halfway I had worked my way up to 3^rd and manged to hold that all the way to the top. This is probably my best result in an international mountain race and is good preparation for the British trials for the World Champs in two weeks time. The race had an incredible atmosphere and is a memorial to honour those who fought in WW2.”

Next stop for the GB&NI mountain runners is the selection races for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships on 9 September (uphill) and 11 September (up-and-down). Details can be found here.