Skyrunning is a

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

of mountain running up to or exceeding 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, lit. ''International Union of Alpine Clubs''), was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France ...

. Poles, crampons and hands may be used to aid progress. The governing body is the

International Skyrunning Federation The International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) is the world governing body for skyrunning. The ISF today counts 41 Member nations. The Federation of Sports at Altitude (FSA) used to be the organization which governed and managed the sports of skyrun ...

. 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 and

Monte Rosa : , other_name = Monte Rosa massif , translation = Mount Rose , photo = Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa) and Monte Rosa Glacier as seen from Gornergrat, Wallis, Switzerland, 2012 August.jpg , photo_caption = Central Mon ...

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 planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, to

Mount Kenya Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...

and the Mexican volcanoes. In 1995, the Federation for Sport at Altitude 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. A peculiar feature of the first 10 years of the Skyrunning history was the study of the limits of human performance at high altitude, 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

, 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 The Skyrunner World Series is an annual international championship of skyrunning (high altitude endurance races) and the official International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) race circuit for mountain running. Each year the Skyrunner World Series pr ...

Skyrunning disciplines

The three main disciplines are Sky, SkyUltra, and Vertical. Those are the disciplines contested at the

Skyrunning World Championships The Skyrunning World Championships are skyrunning competitions held for the first time in 2010 and organised by the International Skyrunning Federation. The second edition was held in 2014 and thereafter the championships have taken place on a bien ...

and Skyrunning Continental Championships. More disciplines are under the ISF regulations:

Skyrunning competitions

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. ;*

Annual world cup, launched in 2004, which has grown to represent the peak of outdoor running defined by 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