Santa Margherita di Pula, Sunday 28 October 2018 _ The sixth edition of Forte Village Challenge
\nSardinia has just ended at Santa Margherita di Pula. The international triathlon event, which took
\nplace at the Forte Village on Saturday and Sunday, involved over 1,400 participants, divided into
\nSprint, Duathlon Kids, Half Distance, individual and relay race and the Challenge Women race.
\nAn incredible sixth edition thanks to the ever\u2010growing number of participating athletes, coming
\nfrom over 30 countries not only from Germany, France, England, Belgium, Russia but also Israel,
\nJapan, Brazil, Denmark, Australia whose presence confirms that the Forte Village Challenge Sardinia
\nhas now become an unmissable end\u2010of\u2010season race appointment.
\nThe organization of the Challenge Sardinia had to face, in the early hours of the day, a challenge to
\nthe challenge. To ensure the maximum safety of all athletes the event management was forced to
\ncancel, with regret, the swimming section of the triathlon due to adverse sea conditions and
\nimplement a plan B.
\nThe pro\u2010athletes, in fact, ran 5 km and then continued with the bike segment as scheduled. The age
\ngroup athletes and the relay teams, however, started the race directly with the bike section,
\naccording to the rolling start procedure, two athletes every 10 seconds.
\nAlthough the adverse sea conditions remained unchanged, the climate of the day improved midmorning,
\ngiving warmth and sun with almost summer temperatures.
\nOn the men’s side, the first to finish the initial section of the race and enter the exchange area is
\nthe Belgian Pieter Heemeryck followed by the German Frederic Funk and the Danish Daniel
\nBaekkegard, who started the bike section solo. Just 20” behind, the group that followed was
\ncomposed of the American Matt Chrabot, the Belgian Alexis Krug and the Italian Massimo Cigana.
\nMatt Chabrot, who was recovering on the head group, lost ground due to a slip on the wet surface
\nwhere it had rained earlier but at the turning point he managed to get back to catch the first three.
\nThe Danish Daniel Baekkegard, however, lost his position due to a technical problem. The pursuit
\ngroup, headed by Massimo Cigana, remained a few minutes behind the leader. The situation
\nremained unchanged until entering the exchange area and for the entire duration of the run
\ncourse. The undisputed Pieter Heemeryc won with a total time of 03:47:44 and with the best time
\non the half marathon of 1:14:12, followed by the American Matt Chrabot to more than 4 ‘with a
\ntotal time of 03: 51:59 and the very young German athlete, born in 1997, Funk Frederic. Among the
\nItalians, the first to cross the finish line was Massimo Cigana, who also participated the day before
\nin the Sprint race, with a total time of 04:01:08, positioning himself 7th overall.
\nOn the women’s front, the Belgian Katrien Verstuyft, the Italian Elisabetta Curridori, the British
\nLaura Sidall, the German Lena Berlinger and Chantal Cummings arrived first in the exchange area,
\nfollowed by Claire Hann and Svenja Thoes. On the bike course, the head group formed by Thoes,
\nVerstuyft, Berlinger, Curridori and Sidall is followed by Jeanne Collonge, Claire Hann and Chantal
\nCummings. Once in T2, the Swiss, Svenja Thoes, born in 1991, took the lead, winning the highest
\nstep on the podium of the sixth edition of the Challenge Sardinia with a total time of 04:17:44 and
\nthe best time for the run section of 01:24:06. The Belgian Katrien Verstuyft (04:18:50) was just over
\na minute away and the German girl Lena Berlinger completed the women’s podium (04:20:32).
\nFourth overall the Sardinian athlete Elisabetta Curridori of Tri Nuoro who completeed the race in
\n04:23:39.
\nAs for the paratriathlon, Alex Zanardi shows his immense strength for the second time at the
\nChallenge Sardinia with a total winning time of 4:02:12. The Sardinian Giovanni Achenza followed in
\n04:27:45 to end his debut in the half distance and also Fabrizio Caselli in 05:43:03.
\nThe sixth edition of the Challenge Sardinia also proclaimed both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s champions
\nof the Sardinian Region, Giuseppe Solla of the TP Academy Team that closes with a total time of
\n04:05:56, arriving 14th overall, and Elisabetta Orr\u00f9 del Trisinnai (04:42: 50).
\nThis sports weekend involved over 1,400 participants including 33 relay teams. The winners were
\nRossi \u2010 Piras \u2010Pinna in 03:35:49 followed by Denotti\u2010Marongiu\u2010Cocco in 03:43:30 and Melis\u2010Vacca \u2010
\nSolla in 03: 44.39.
\nThis morning, more than 250 women participated in the Challenge Women, a walk whose proceeds
\nof over 5,000 euros will be entirely donated to the Italian charity AIRC.
\nYesterday, Saturday 27 October, the Sprint race took place in which over 350 athletes took part.
\nThe Austrian Pachteu\u2010Pets Marcel won, followed by Massimo Cigana and the Frenchman Nicolas
\nBecker. On the female front, Martina Dogana wins, followed by Teresa Falchi and the Austrian
\nVanessa Urbanz.
\nThe support of all the institutions and the towns involved in the race track was essential to the
\nsuccess of the event. We would also like to thank the many sponsors who have chosen to be part of
\nthis weekend of sports, including Forte Village, Meta Energia, Pirelli, Crai, Ferrari Trento, Enervit,
\nSlam, Oakley, Cipollini, Diamant, Head, HokaOneOne and Arborea to name some.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Santa Margherita di Pula, Sunday 28 October 2018 _ The sixth edition of Forte Village Challenge Sardinia has just ended at Santa Margherita di Pula. The international triathlon event, which took place at the Forte Village on Saturday and Sunday, involved over 1,400 participants, divided into Sprint, Duathlon Kids, Half Distance, individual and relay race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17200","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-pro-news"],"yoast_head":"\n