Massimiliano Berti and Andrea Schweigkofler conquered the Castello di Arco, claiming victory in the Garda Trentino Castle Run, which this morning brought to a close the three-day program of the Garda Trentino Trail. Over the course of the weekend, the event involved thousands of athletes and unfolded successfully despite highly changeable weather conditions, from the snowfall that blanketed the mountains between Thursday and Friday to the bright sunshine that accompanied the final race.

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Conditions were ideal for the concluding challenge: an 11-kilometer course starting and finishing in Arco, featuring two passages through the Castello di Arco, the same venue that hosted the 2016 European Mountain Running Championships ten years ago.

The course showcased the talent of 24-year-old Berti, a native of Storo who has recently joined the Sicilia Running Team after completing his college experience at California Baptist University. After earning several notable results on the track, the Trentino athlete is increasingly focusing on mountain running, and his Castle Run victory marks an important milestone. He completed the course, which featured approximately 700 meters of total elevation gain, in an impressive time of 48:36.2.

In the closing stages, Berti held off Hermann Debertolis, another Trentino athlete from Primiero and former European Under-20 ski mountaineering champion in his primary discipline. The 22-year-old from San Martino di Castrozza finished second, 43.3 seconds behind the winner. Italo Cassol of Belluno completed the podium less than 24 hours after winning the Tenno Trail (30 km, 1,700 meters of elevation gain) on Saturday.

Freshly crowned Italian champion Isacco Costa had to settle for fourth place, followed by defending champion Luca Boninsegna and Nicola Pisoni.

In the women’s race, Schweigkofler secured back-to-back victories. After winning last year, the athlete from Merano pulled away in the second half of the race to stop the clock in 58:15.5, finishing more than one minute ahead of French runner Margot Ravinel.

A last-minute entry, Ravinel was in Garda Trentino to attend the International Team Summit of La Sportiva. The winner of the Sprint Ski Mountaineering World Cup was one of the stars of Sunday in Arco, claiming second place behind Schweigkofler and ahead of local favorite Alessia Scaini, who once again finished on the podium in third.

Just behind them was Finnish orienteer Heta Virtanen in fourth place, narrowly ahead of German marathon runner Julia Franke.

The wide range of national flags on display once again confirmed the event’s growing international appeal. A total of 41 nations were represented in this year’s edition, with nearly 30% of participants coming from outside Italy.

With that, the curtain falls on the 11th edition of the Garda Trentino Trail. Garda Trentino once again proved to be the perfect stage for trail running, even in challenging conditions—because in Garda Trentino, you can run at any time.

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