by Cesare Monetti

A road that winds steeply upward, with over two hundred years of history, paraccari in the summer, walls of snow in winter, 40 tight, hair-raising hairpin turns, over 1,500 meters of elevation gain, and a winding asphalt road that, as it happens, is exactly 21.097 km long. It’s the Bormio-Stelvio race that took place this Sunday, July 12, and the overall champion wears Oxyburn. Ivana Iozzia, a multiple Italian marathon champion and member of the Italian national mountain running team, wore 1480 long socks with the third and highest level of black-and-green compression, a black, breathable, compression-style sleeveless T-shirt ( model 5050 Twenty-one ) for maximum comfort, and then two incredible legs that always push at full speed, plus two lungs that seem to have an endless supply of oxygen.

From Bormio to the summit of Coppi, up there on the Stelvio Pass where the road meets the sky, in 1h51’28”—a course record, even though it already belonged to her, set during her last race and victory two years ago. “I would have liked to do it last year too, but my father passed away right around that time,” Ivana admits right away. “But this year, even though I still had the 42 km from the World Long-Distance Championships in Zermatt—which I ran last week—in my legs, I wanted to be there. I wanted to give it a try; I wanted to do a tough training run, and it went more than well.”

Getting in a workout and setting a course record—not bad at all: “Yes, that’s true—I’m really happy because I’m in good physical shape, and I’ll try to take advantage of this streak of good form next Sunday, July 19, at the Italian Mountain Running Championship at the Fletta Trail. It’s an up-and-down course, which might suit my road runner’s strengths even better.”

That’s right, because making the transition from the road to the mountains—while maintaining the highest level of performance—isn’t that simple or a given: “I’m finding more and more that I struggle with the ‘walls’ on the climbs. That was also the case at the World Championships in Zermatt, where I really struggled on the climbs between the 25th and 31st kilometers, as well as on the grueling final three kilometers. On the other hand, I realize I’m much stronger than my competitors and can make up a lot of ground on the more runnable sections—the flat ones. This is obviously because I still have the speed from marathons in my legs. I need to—and will have to—work hard on my strength and improve on the climbs. At the World Championships, I also got cramps on the climbs, but my determination is unwavering, and I’ll become a true mountain specialist.”

Seventh at the World Championships, first at the Bormio Stelvio, with the Italian Championships just around the corner, and finally, the hope is to be selected in September for the World Mountain Running Championships in the classic distance—about 8–9 km—to be held in Wales: “Yes, I want to try to make the team. Next week’s Italian Championships will be a qualifying event, but they won’t be the sole deciding factor for the team—for better or for worse. In any case, we came back from the World Championships in Zermatt with five medals; personally, I’d have been happy to finish seventh, as I did, even though there’s still a question mark about not having used the long Oxyburn compression socks. I was worried about the heat and chose the shorter ones, the Running Track 1495. It’s a ‘what if’… of course… but if I’d worn the long ones like I did at the Bormio Stelvio, maybe I would have made it onto the world championship podium…”.

Men’s Half Marathon

1. Massimiliano Zanaboni (Bergamo Valleys) – 1:40.07.83

2. Michele Belluschi (Daini Carate) – 1:42.01.18

3. Robin Trapletti (Lbm Sport) – 1:46.39.27

Women’s Half Marathon

1. Ivana Iozzia (Corradini Rubiera) – 1:51.28.00

2. Monica Carlin (GS Valsugana) – 2:02:58.46

3. Ana Nanu (GS Gabbi) – 2:05.46.11