The World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships (from 2004 up to 2014 the name was World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge),[1] is an annual international mountain running competition organised by the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA).
The race is a one-day long-distance running contest for both sexes which has individual and national team aspects. The host for the event changes on an annual basis, with the minimum requirements for the challenge being that the course is no longer than 45km (28miles) in distance, includes an uphill ascent of at least 1.6 km (1 mile), and has a rough duration of between one hour and forty-five minutes and four hours for the elite men. The challenge does not take place on specially-made courses, but rather it is incorporated into pre-existing, traditional races.[2]
The competition was first held in 2004 on a course from Sierre to Zinal.[3] Since its inception, the challenge has been hosted at competitions including the Three Peaks Race in the United Kingdom, Switzerland's Jungfrau Marathon, and the Pikes Peak Marathon in the United States.[4] The event has significant variance in its level of participation: the 2007 race at the Jungfrau Marathon attracted over 4200 runners of fifty nationalities, while at the 2011 of the competition there were 405 runners representing a total of 18 countries.[5] [6]
The 2020 edition was canceled. Beginning in 2021, the event was merged into the 2021 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.[7]
| Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 |  Ricardo Mejía | Helmut Schiessl |  Billy Burns | |
| 2005 | Helmut Schiessl | Anton Vencelj | Daniel Bolt | |
| 2006 |  Matt Carpenter | Galen Burrell | Zac Freudenburg | |
| 2007 |  Jonathan Wyatt |  Hermann Achmüller | Gerd Frick | |
| 2008 | Jethro Lennox | Tom Owens | Mitja Kosovelj | |
| 2009 | Marc Lauenstein | Jonathan Wyatt | Ricky Lightfoot | |
| 2010 | Glenn Randall | Marc Lauenstein | Rickey Gates | |
| 2011 | Mitja Kosovelj | Tom Owens | Robbie Simpson | |
| 2012 |  Markus Hohenwarter | Mitja Kosovelj |  Hosea Tuei | |
| 2013 | Mitja Kosovelj | Andrew Davies |  Ionut Zinca | |
| 2014 | Sage Canaday |  Azerya Teklay | Andy Wacker | |
| 2015 | Tommaso Vaccina | Andy Wacker | Francesco Puppi | |
| 2016 | Alessandro Rambaldini | Marco De Gasperi | Mitja Kosovelj | |
| 2017 | Francesco Puppi | Pascal Egli | Tayte Pollman | |
| 2018 | Alessandro Rambaldini |  Robert Krupička | Joseph Gray | |
| 2019 | Jim Walmsley | Francesco Puppi |  Oriol Cardona Coll | |
| 2020 | None | None | None | |
| 2021 |  Stian Angermund | Francesco Puppi | Jonathan Albon | |
| 2022 | Stian Angermund | Thomas Roach | Luca Del Pero |
| Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Angéline Joly |  Maria Rodriguez |  Isabelle Guillot | ||
| 2005 |  Emma Murray | Marion Kapuscinski | Isabelle Guillot | ||
| 2006 | Emma Murray | Danielle Ballengee | Keri Nelson | ||
| 2007 | Anita Håkenstad Evertsen |  Yelena Kaledina | Zhanna Malkova | ||
| 2008 | Anna Pichrtová | Angela Mudge | Angela Bateup | ||
| 2009 | Anna Pichrtová | Evgeniya Danilova | Anna Frost | ||
| 2010 | Brandy Erholtz | Kim Dobson | Anna Frost | ||
| 2011 | Philippa Maddams |  Karen Alexander | Helen Fines | ||
| 2012 | Stevie Kremer | Sabine Reiner | Kim Dobson | ||
| 2013 | Antonella Confortola | Ornella Ferrara |  Anna Celińska | ||
| 2014 | Allie McLaughlin | Morgan Arritola | Shannon Payne | ||
| 2015 | Martina Strähl | Aline Camboulives | Catherine Bertone | ||
| 2016 | Annie Conway | Antonella Confortola | Lucija Krkoč | ||
| 2017 | Silvia Rampazzo | Kasie Enman | Denisa Dragomir | ||
| 2018 | Charlotte Morgan | Dominika Stelmach | Silvia Rampazzo | ||
| 2019 | Cristina Simion | Adeline Roche | Blandine L'Hirondel | ||
| 2020 | None | None | None |
| Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | |||||
| 2010 | |||||
| 2011 | |||||
| 2012 | |||||
| 2013 | Emanuele Manzi Tommaso Vaccina Massimiliano Zanaboni | ||||
| 2014 | Tommaso Vaccina Xavier Chevrier Massimo Mei | ||||
| 2015 | Tommaso Vaccina Francesco Puppi Massimo Mei | ||||
| 2016 | Alessandro Rambaldini Marco De Gasperi Fabio Ruga | ||||
| 2017 | Francesco Puppi Alessandro Rambaldini Luca Cagnati | ||||
| 2018 | Alessandro Rambaldini Daniele De Colo Emanuele Manzi | ||||
| 2019 | Francesco Puppi Gabriele Bacchion Luca Cagnati | ||||
| 2020 | None | None | None |
| Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | |||||
| 2010 | |||||
| 2011 | |||||
| 2012 | |||||
| 2013 | Antonella Confortola Ornella Ferrara Ivana Iozzia | ||||
| 2014 | Catherine Bertone Antonella Confortola Ivana Iozzia | ||||
| 2015 | Catherine Bertone Ivana Iozzia Francesca Iachemet | ||||
| 2016 | Antonella Confortola Francesca Iachemet Debora Cardone | ||||
| 2017 | Silvia Rampazzo Antonella Confortola Stéphanie Jiménez | ||||
| 2018 | |||||
| 2019 | |||||
| 2020 | None | None | None |
See main article: world championships.