The fifth edition of the Forte Village Challenge Sardinia saw the triumph of three international athletes: the 1st overall, the Spaniard Hernandez Cabrera Vicente closing in 3:57’15”, followed by two Belgians, Bart Aernouts (4: 1’08”) and Rodolphe von Berg (4: 01’15”). The athletes in the race faced a technical and challenging race made even harder by the powerful mistral wind that did not give any respite.
On the male front, Spaniard Verdejo Inaki Baldellou completes the swimming in 22:50’ followed by
the 3rd Spanish athlete at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics, Vincente Hernandez, and the
Australian Ryan Fisher and Spaniard Ricardo Marrero. The champion of 2016, Giulio Molinari,
emerges from the water in 6th position. After the first 20 km in which the head unit remains
compact, Giulio Molinari accelerated, followed by Hernandez, while the rest of the group follows at
40 seconds.
Meanwhile, Bart Aernouts starts the comeback and soon succeed in returning to the lead, followed only by Hernandez and Molinari: the 3 athletes complete the bike section, followed in a few second by Rodolphe von Berg.
In the running race section, Spaniard Hernandez immediately affirms his supremacy, running 21km
of racing alone and closing with the extraordinary time of 1:11’08’. Meanwhile Belgian Bart
Aernouts returns to Molinari on the second lap, closing second and followed a few seconds after by
fellow countryman Rodolphe Von Berg. On the Italian front, Giulio Molinari is the first Italian to
finish the competition at the foot of the podium.
On the women’s race , the Italian Margie Santimaria led out of the water, but her leadership is less
at 20 km of bikes when she is reached by Canadian Heather Wurtele and British Laura Siddal. The
leaders are followed by the Italians Margie Santimaria and Marta Bernardi and in 5th place Yvonne
Van Vlerken.
The Canadian and British complete the bike section together, detaching from the opponents by
about 5 minutes. In the running section, Heather Wurtele ran away from the pack during the first
meters and completed her half marathon alone, closing victorious in 4:27’46”. The podium is
completed by Laura Siddal (4: 28’36”) and Italian Marta Bernardi (4: 37’24”).
The Challenge Sardinia Sports Weekend has seen over 1300 athletes compete. This morning was
also the turn of the 100 athletes participating in the promotional competition TRYTOTRI, in
partnership with FITRI, whose proceeds will go to the Research for Cystic Fibrosis.
Yesterday, Saturday 28 October, 300 athletes faced each other in the sprint race, which saw on the
podium the Frenchman Nicolas Becker of PPRTeam, Austrian Marcel Pachteu Petz and Sardinian
Emanuele Aru of the Villacidro Triathlon Team. The female podium received Austrian Vanessa
Urbanz, Sardinian athlete Alice Capone from Raschiani Triathlon Pavese, and Teresa Falchi from Tri
Evolution. Emanuele Aru and Valeria Marras were proclaimed Sardinian Champions of Thriathlon
Sprint.
Last Saturday afternoon was also the turn of the Duathlon Kids, which was attended by 200 participating young athletes.
This sports weekend was also an important opportunity to support another charitable association
that operates in the territory: the Lavs of Pula and the Research for Cystic Fibrosis
