Lucija Krkoc in the 2015 WMRA World Cup race in Zelezniki (© Organisers)
Slovenia's Lucija Krkoc and Great Britain's Andrew Douglas took the honours at the first races of the six-leg 2015 Mountain Running World Cup, the 20th edition of the Tek na Ratitovec event in the Slovenian town of Zelezniki on Sunday (7).
Krkoc, the 2011 World Cup winner under its former name as the Grand Prix series, won the 7.3km women's race, with a height difference of 872m, in the final steep two kilometre stretch through open mountain meadows.
She crossed the line in 49:09, coming home more than two minutes clear of Hungary's second-placed Timea Merenyi, who finished in 51:14.
Douglas also clinched his win in the men's 11.1km race, with 1170m height difference, two kilometres from home, winning in 1:01:40.
Switzerland's David Scheider was exactly a minute in arrears in second place. Overall 140 runners from nine countries participated in the men's and women's senior races, that had international status for the first time.
Races for children were also organised as a part of the event and more than 60 girls and boys ran over shorter distances in U12, U14 and U16 categories.
The race was also Slovenian national championship and also Slovenian selection race for the forthcoming European Championships.
The next stage of the Mountain Running World Cup 2015 will be next Sunday (14) in France, the famous La Montée du Grand Ballon in Willer sur Thur.
WMRA for the IAAF
