Skyrunning is a sport of mountain running above where the minimum average incline is 6% over the total distance and at least 5% has an incline of 30% or more. The climbing difficulty does not exceed II grade

UIAA The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, commonly known by its French name Union internationale des associations d'alpinisme (UIAA; ), was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France when 20 mountaineering associations met for ...

. Poles, crampons, and hands may be used to aid progress. The governing body is the International Skyrunning Federation. The sport comprises a number of different disciplines from the short, steep Vertical Kilometer to the more popular SkyRace and SkyMarathon. Ultra SkyMarathons are becoming increasingly popular as are short vertical SkySpeed races which include skyscraper racing.

History

The idea of skyrunning came from Italian mountaineer Marino Giacometti and a handful of fellow climbers. They pioneered races on

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

and

Monte Rosa Monte Rosa (; ; ; or ; ) is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, on the border between Italy (Piedmont and Aosta Valley) and Switzerland (Valais). The highest peak of the massif, amongst several peaks of over , is the D ...

in the early 1990s. In 1993, with the support of the Fila sportswear company, skyrunning took off across the world's mountain ranges reaching from the Alps to the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, to

Mount Kenya Mount Kenya (Meru people, Meru: ''Kĩrĩmaara,'' Kikuyu people, Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba language, Kamba: ''Ki nyaa'', Embu language, Embu: ''Kĩ nyaga'') is an extinct volcano in Kenya and the Highest mountain peaks of Africa, second-highe ...

and the Mexican volcanoes. In 1995, the Federation for Sport at Altitude (FSA) was founded to address the need for rules to govern the sport and generally manage this fast-growing discipline, which today counts some 200 races worldwide with around 50,000 participants from 65 countries. The first 10 years of skyrunning history was spent studying the limits of human performance at high altitudes. This was done through the Peak Performance Project, coordinated by Dr. Giulio Sergio Roi, which involved several researchers and has led to the publication of numerous scientific articles.

International Skyrunning Federation

Today, the sport is managed by the International Skyrunning Federation, formed in 2008 by the board and members of the FSA and founding nations. The principal aims of the ISF are the direction, regulation, promotion, development, and furtherance of skyrunning and similar multisport activities on a worldwide basis. ISF sanctions the Skyrunner World Series.

Skyrunning disciplines

The three main disciplines are Sky, SkyUltra, and Vertical. Those are the disciplines contested at the Skyrunning World Championships and Skyrunning Continental Championships. More disciplines are under the ISF regulations:

Skyrunning competitions

;* Skyrunning World Championships Annual

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. * Skyrunning European Championships Annual European championship. ;* Skyrunner World Series Annual

world cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, launched in 2004, has grown to represent the peak of outdoor running defined by a vertical climb, altitude, and technical difficulty. * VK Open Championships Annual cup to promote the Vertical discipline and highlight the Vertical Kilometer® skyrunning discipline.

References

External links