2nd Annual La Sportiva Mountain Cup Concludes 2009 Season

La Sportiva N.A., makers of technical climbing, mountaineering, Mountain Running® and hiking footwear announced the final results for this year’s 2009 La Sportiva Mountain Cup. The Mountain Cup, presented by Fleet Feet Sports Boulder and W.L. Gore & Associates, makers of the GORE-TEX® brand, concluded this past weekend at the “Shop to the Top” race in Ketchum, Idaho. The “Shop to the Top” race was the 10th and final race in the national, cumulative La Sportiva Mountain Cup series.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of the 2009 La Sportiva Mountain Cup,” says La Sportiva Marketing Manager Laura Fryer, in speaking about the conclusion of the series. “Starting with our partners, Fleet Feet Sports Boulder being an inaugural supporter in 2008 and new for 2009, GORE, they’ve helped us grow the event and dramatically increase our participation numbers from 2008. The 2009 Mountain Cup featured some of the best trail races in the country, along with the most talented trail runners in the sport. With the popularity of trail running emerging and the number of mountain races increasing every summer, La Sportiva is already looking forward to the 2010 Mountain Cup, and making it one of the best trail racing series in North America. On behalf of La Sportiva and our sponsors, congratulations goes out to overall Mountain Cup winners Matt Byrne and Megan Kimmel, as well as to all the participants in the 2009 series.”

The La Sportiva Mountain Cup, featuring over 4000 participants this season, 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. In addition, each event will be scored for overall female and male, with each gender being broken down into two categories, open and master.

Highlights from the 3-month-long competition were many, with 3 of 4 first places being decided at the last event in Idaho. Perhaps one of the greatest success stories from the 2009 Mountain Cup is the emergence of newcomer Rachel Cieslewicz, claiming third place overall, yet never winning an individual race. La Sportiva athlete, Megan Kimmel, scored more Mountain Cup points than anyone ever, winning 4 events outright and 1 second place finish. Men’s overall winner, Philadelphian Matt Byrne, came on strong at the end by finishing 2nd at the last two Cup events, overtaking last year’s Cup winner, Shiloh Mielke. Both Kimmel and Byrne will be teammates in Italy for the World Mountain Running championships in just two weeks. Additional information on the La Sportiva Mountain Cup, the latest news, race reports and training tips go to www.mountainrunning.com.