2011 Sponsors/Races Announced for 4th Annual La Sportiva Mountain Cup

La Sportiva N.A., makers of technical climbing, mountaineering, Mountain Running®, hiking footwear and ski mountaineering hardware announced that W.L. Gore & Associates, makers of the GORE-TEX® brand, has confirmed as the presenting sponsor for the 2011 La Sportiva Mountain Cup. This marks the GORE-TEX® brand’s third year with the Mountain Cup. New for the La Sportiva Mountain Cup in 2011, Black Diamond Equipment and Cliff Bar have signed on as supporting sponsors for the national trail running series. The Mountain Cup’s first race of the 10-race national series is the Uwharrie Mountain Run, in Ophir, NC, set for Saturday, February 5.



“We are very pleased to have GORE return as presenting sponsor for the 2011 La Sportiva Mountain Cup and to announce our new supporting sponsors, Black Diamond Equipment and Clif Bar,” says La Sportiva’s Marketing Manager, Laura Fryer. “With our race season starting three months earlier than ever before and seven new race locations on the schedule, we hope to gain new exposure in trail running communities that have yet to experience the excitement of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup. 2011 is shaping up to be our best year yet.”



La Sportiva will also be debuting its “Going the Distance” tech tee program at this year’s first Mountain Cup event, the Uwharrie Mountain Run. In an effort to raise 15k for local/regional charities throughout the season, La Sportiva will unveil a limited edition tech tee at each one of the Mountain Cup races. Tees will be on sale at the La Sportiva booth for $15 each with all the proceeds going to local land trust, nature conservancy and trail running clubs. Such recipients include: Land Trust for Central North Carolina, Cuisine for the Healing, Charlottesville Trail Running Club, Prickly Pear Land Trust, Los Alamos Volunteer Land Trust, Tahoe Rim Trail Association and The Clear Water Conservancy. The tech tees, produced by Greenlayer, offer a breathable blend of 50% recycled polyester/50% polyester..



The La Sportiva Mountain Cup brings European-style trail/mountain racing to America, featuring ten trail races at select destinations around the country and $25,000 in prize money. The series is open to anyone who’d like to participate in any Mountain Cup event; participants may enter as few or as many events as they want. Overall scoring will be tabulated after each race and final results will be based on the participant’s best five events. Each event will be scored only for overall male and female. At the end of the season, the top 5 overall male and female runners will receive prize money for their performance. Also new for 2011, the Series will recognize an athlete outside the realm of the top competitors by presenting the Standout Award to a participant who displays some kind of notable achievement regarding the race. Recipients of the Standout Award will receive a pair of La Sportiva Mountain Running shoes and a prize package from the La Sportiva Mountain Running Team’s associate sponsors.



The 2011 La Sportiva Mountain Cup venues will include:



• 2/5/11 • Uwharrie Mountain Run (20M) • Ophir, NC (http://www.raceuwharrie.com/)

• 3/5/11 • Nueces (25K) • Rocksprings, TX (http://www.tejastrails.com/Nueces.html)

• 3/26/11 • Bel Monte Endurance Run (25K) • Sherando Lake, VA (http://www.badtothebone.biz)

• 4/2/11 • Dry Creek Half Marathon (13.1M) • Hidden Springs, ID (http://cityoftreesmarathon.com/?p=14)

• 5/14/11 • Don’t Fence Me In Trail Run (30K) • Helena, MT (www.pricklypear.org)

• 5/21/11 • Jemez Mountain Trail Runs (13.1M) • Los Alamos, NM (http://www.highaltitudeathletics.org/JemezMt.htm)

• 6/4/11 • Rothrock Challenge (30K) • State College, PA (http://www.rothrockchallenge.com/4601.html)

• 7/3/11 • La Sportiva Vail Hill Climb (10K) • Vail, CO (http://www.vailrec.com)

• 7/24/11 • Stanford Rock (13.1M) • Tahoe City, CA (http://www.pctrailruns.com/)

• 8/6/11 • Jupiter Peak Steeplechase (16K) • Park City, UT (http://www.mountaintrails.org)



For detailed commentary, standings, giveaways and timely race coverage reports throughout the season, check out the official media partner of the 2011 La Sportiva Mountain Cup, iRunFar.com. For additional information about the La Sportiva Mountain Cup, a complete list of venues, sponsors, registered athletes and local participating retailers go to www.mountaincup.com.







With over 80 years of heritage, La Sportiva has unrivaled experience in building the world’s finest performance mountain footwear. Creating innovation through passion, La Sportiva offers the most versatile technical climbing, mountaineering, Mountain Running®, hiking shoes and ski mountaineering equipment on the market. For more information on La Sportiva visit www.sportiva.com or check out the new online interactive community, La Sportiva LIVE, at: http://www.sportiva.com/live.