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2010 marks the third year of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup trail race series. With the goal of the Cup being to support and promote trail running in North America, La Sportiva is extremely gracious for the support from the Cup’s associate sponsors, Fleet Feet Sports Boulder and W.L. Gore & Associates, makers of the GORE-TEX® brand. The Cup’s emphasis is on fun, fast (or in my case, slow) beautiful trail races in North America-distances vary from 5 miles up to a marathon. The series features ten trail races in North America, offering $25,000 in prize money. To enter the Mountain Cup all you have to do is sign up for a participating race, and cash and prizes will be issued at the end of the series.

As this summer’s seventh La Sportiva Mountain Cup race coincided with Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, we thought it would be an appropriate culmination to finish the week (filled with many discussions about La Sportiva’s new Spring 2011 MorphoDynamic™ Technology) with a big run. So, along with 6 very motivated and talented journalists, La Sportiva North America teamed up with W.L. Gore & Associates to host a media trip that centered around running a 16 mile mountain race. Yes, Park City’s Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, an endurance race for the trail warrior, is a 16-mile +/- trail running loop on challenging single track trail with 3,000′ of elevation gain. So on Friday afternoon, when everyone had already departed home for their weekends, our group packed up and headed to Park City for a little more work.

After checking into Park City’s famed Sky Lodge, we decided we weren’t in a bad place to conduct some post-OR show work after all. Named as one of the seven best resorts in the world by the Robb Report in 2008, the Sky Lodge didn’t let us down. Upon seeing our rooms, I realized we could have probably fit the whole group in one room? And, I kind of wished I could sleep-in and enjoy all the luxurious amenities, rather than getting up and running a 16 mile mountain race. What was I thinking? I took it in stride though, and decided, “This is how La Sportiva rolls.”

Time to get to work though, La Sportiva North America’s President, Jonathan Lantz, gives us the lowdown on the new MorphoDynamic™ Technology which debuted at Outdoor Retailer and will start to appear on trails nationwide in 2011.

Courtesy of W.L. Gore & Associates, and their gracious host, Cynthia Amon, our media group was treated to a fabulous dinner at Robert Redford’s own Zoom restaurant, on Park City’s Main Street after our 2010 line presentation from La Sportiva. We scheduled the dinner for 6pm, with the goal being to load up on protein (and ice cream) and still have time to digest before the big race in the morning.

Thanks again to the six journalists who stuck around after OR to join such a grueling press trip! Their work can be seen in such media outlets as Backpacker, Competitor, Explore, Gear Junkie, Outside, Running Times, Trail Runner and Triathlete. And a big shout out goes to media partner, iRunFar.com, who has covered the last two years of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup with race results, informative interviews, video excerpts and contest giveaways. While we know they are all great journalists, would they be up for the La Sportiva Mountain Cup Challenge? Race day would be here soon.

And we’re off!

La Sportiva’s Bernie Boettcher improved on his third place finish from last year’s race to win this year. He worked his way up from an early fifth position into the lead before running away from the rest of the field. He won in 1:52:12, more than 5 minutes ahead of second place, David Derkacs (1:57:31).

La Sportiva’s Megan Kimmel led from the gun to repeat as the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase women’s champion. She ran 2:12:45, which was just a few seconds off her time from last year. The race puts her in a good position to repeat as the women’s Mountain Cup series champ, as well.

The champions together!

And no, we don’t really have to talk about what time I crossed the finish line.

Let’s just say, I needed a shower and a ride back to the Sky Lodge after it was all over! Thanks Gore!

Tune in to iRunFar.com as we gear up for the finale of the 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup with the Up and Over 10k race next weekend in Taos, NM. Additionally, make sure to check out Steeplechase race reports from iRunFar.com & the Gear Junkie.

Photos courtesy of La Sportiva’s own Giulia Delladio and Broudy/Donohue Photography. Thank you both!

Time to start getting ready for my next La Sportiva Mountain Cup race….