The fifth edition of the Ohrid Ultra-Trail was successfully held in Galicica National Park
This weekend, the anniversary fifth edition of the Ohrid Ultra-Trail trail running race was held on the slopes of Mount Galicica and the UNESCO protected region of Ohrid.
Ohrid Ultra-Trail this year was composed of 4 trail running races that started from different locations in the Galicica National Park, and all finished at the town square in Ohrid. In the races of 107, 65, 40 and 22 kilometers, a total of 370 competitors (out of 434 registered) started and had the opportunity to enjoy the spring conditions in the mountain.
The longest distance, which also bears the name of the event, started and finished in Ohrid, but it passes the low parts of Galicica to the monastery of St. Naum, from where it climbs sharply to the highest parts of Stara (Old) Galicica – the Kota F10 and Magaro peaks (2255 and 2272 m.a.s.l respectively). From there, across the rugged ridge, the runners moved to the karst fields of Galicica, to the section of Letnica and Visok Vrv, and all the way to the finish line in Ohrid.
The fastest ultramarathoners who managed to pass this difficult race were Keisuke Minami from Japan who finished in third place with a time of 16:05:07, Antonio Karanfilovski finished second with a time of 15:23:36 and the winner was Ivan Radev from Macedonia – 14:36:17. In the women’s competition, Sandra Gangloff from France was third in 20:26:14, second was Ivana Jovanovska in 19:30:11, and the winner was Katerina Shipović with a time of 17:51:38.
In the second ultra race Galicica Ultra 65km race, which started from St. Naum, in the men’s competition, Alek Apostolovski finished third in 09:25:58, second was Martin Jakubis from Slovakia in 08:22:04, and the fastest was the 100km record holder and winner from 2021 – Konstantinos Giannopoulos. from Greece with a time of 07:34:54. In the women’s competition, Ivana Ceneric from Serbia finished third in 10:38:44, just behind Sanja Najdovski in 10:32:28, and Stefanie Maurer from Switzerland triumphed in 08:57:24.
The Samotska Trail Marathon race starting from the village of Peshtani had 80 finishers where the battle for the podium was the most uncertain. Third in the men’s competition was Gniewomir Skrzyinski from Poland with a time of 04:34:05, just behind Dimitar Iliev from Macedonia with a time of 04:33:38, and first was Uran Ameti from Kosovo – 04:32:58. In the women’s category, My Borjeson from Sweden was third with a time of 06:13:58, Snezana Djuric from Serbia finished second with 05:08:30, and Alena Pabortsava from Montenegro finished first with 04:43:44.
A total of 182 runners took part in the shortest Letnica Trail race of 22 kilometers which started from Velgošti, third position in the men’s category was Toni Cvetkovski from Macedonia 02:44:58, and the first position was shared by Zlatko Nikolov from Macedonia and Nemanja Ristović from Serbia with same time of 02:15:45. Among the women in this race, Lucia Malastova from Slovakia was third in 03:07:51, Marija Ostojcic from Macedonia was second in 02:53:46, and Elena Rtoska finished first in 02:37:42.
The story of Ohrid Ultra-Trail began in 2019 as an event with two trail running races of 60 and 30 kilometers, and from the first number of participants – 130 registered runners, in the next four excellent editions Ohrid Ultra-Trail has grown into a recognizable multinational sports event which takes place under the open sky. This year the organizers – sports associations Trex from Skopje and Top Adventures from Ohrid hosted a total of 434 confirmed entries of runners from 32 countries, of which a total of 370 started and finished safely.
More information about the race, routes and timetables can be found on the website – www.ohridultratrail.com