This past weekend (June 29- July 1st), five of the six athletes of the Trailrunning Team Vibram® 2012 were at the starting line of The North Face® Lavaredo Ultra Trail, a 120km / 6.000 m+ race in the heart of Dolomites mountains.

The staff of Vibram, main sponsor of the event, made its best to provide its own athletes with the perfect race conditions. Sebastien Nain, Giuseppe Marazzi, Francesca Canepa, Nicola Bassi and Ronan Moalic started the Lavaredo Ultra Trail with the secret hope of getting a happy surprise in the end (while injured David Gatti had to renounce).

And the surprise was actually great. After a few hours, the « ordinary people » Vibram weren’t far from the head of the race. And despite the rythm of the trail running champions Iker Karrera and Sébastien Chaigneau was too high, the Vibram Team made its race with constancy and persistence.

At dawn the final ranking was around to be set up, and during the morning the winner Karrera got the finish line just before Chaigneau.

The surprises by Vibram arrived some placements later and with a very good team result:

• Ronan Moalic, 8th

• Giuseppe Marazzi, 9th

• Francesca Canepa, 10th.. and first woman to arrive

• Nicola Bassi, 11th.

And to be the icing on the cake, Francesca and Nicola crossed together the finish line in Cortina (see the photo).

Francesca Canepa’s first place in the female ranking was an extraordinary event for the Trailrunning Team Vibram® , a group that originally aimed to run for pleasure first. And the ovation received by Francesca proves how appreciated the athletes are thanks to their personality and passion.

In conclusion, on its debut the Trailrunning Team Vibram® 2012 got a great result in terms of performance, considering the demanding features of the Lavaredo Ultra Trail and the top level of the runners participating in the race.