World Masters Mountain Running Championships, Meduno 2025 NI Runners Report

It was the second running of the successful three-race format, featuring Uphill, Classic, and Long Distance races to cater for all mountain running tastes. Nestled at the gateway to Val Tramontina, Meduno sits amid the Friulian foothills and is renowned for the slopes of Monte Valinis, a landmark for aerial sports and a natural grandstand for mountain running. The town’s setting—between river beaches, historic hamlets and panoramic ridgelines—offered a spectacular arena for this festival of mountain running.

A total of 1183 entries from 36 countries lined up across the three-race programme, underlining the reach of masters mountain running across four continents. Italy had the largest delegation (511), while it was pleasing to see Ireland having the second most entries (102), ahead of traditional mountain running powerhouses like Germany (64) and France (59). Runners from as far afield as Australia, Mexico and Uruguay were also in attendance. Adding two extra competitors compared to the previous year, 19 NIMRA / Northern Irish athletes lined up for either Ireland, Great Britain, and in one case, the United States of America.

The first race got underway on Friday, with 506 runners negotiating a 5km uphill only course, with 800m of elevation to contend with. Heavy rain over the previous couple of days left parts of the course muddy and slippery, so it was reminiscent of typical Irish conditions! In terms of NIMRA / Northern Ireland medal successes, Sinead-Marie McAllister started off her first Masters World Championships brilliantly, being the second scorer on the Irish F35 team to ensure she got her hands on the F35 team gold medal. Shileen O'Kane demonstrated her well-known climbing strength to lead home the Irish F55 team, with Aine McNeill also having a solid ascent to ensure two NIMRA runners made up the bronze medal winning Ireland F55 team. Kate Bradley represented herself very well in her first race at this level, helping the F40 Ireland team secure the bronze team medal. Phil Goss, in his first foray as an M40 at these particular championships, ably supported the new M40 world champion Ian Conroy to grab the bronze team medal; his fourth consecutive medalling year which is a great achievement. In his second time at these championships, Jason Wilson managed to finish as the third scorer on the strong Irish M35 team which won the bronze medal ahead of Uruguay and just behind the Italian and German M35 teams.

Male placings: Phil Goss 55^th 40:37; Jason Wilson 70^th 41:47; Peter McEvoy 108^th 44:26; Tim Lowry 236^th 54:35; Wilson McAlister 262^nd 56:50; Donal O'Kane 290^th 1:01:52; Peter Bell 302^nd 1:03:50; Willie John Brown 329^th 1:16:45

Female placings: Shileen O'Kane 35^th 48:51; Sinead-Marie McAllister 68^th 54:17; Kate Bradley 93^rd 58:06; Aine McNeill 96^th 58:54

The second day featured the 34km Long Distance race with 1800m of climbing. Although 357 runners started off the race, the tough course resulted in 17 DNFs. Despite only having a small number of runners taking part, NIMRA / Northern Ireland runners won two team medals. Esther Dickson, finishing off her preparations before taking part in the Elite World Mountain / Trail Running Championships in Spain later this month, was the lead Irish F35 runner who helped her team obtain a great team gold medal. Adam Cunningham (M35 Ireland) was the first Irish runner home, doing a fantastic job to improve on his 19^th position from Canfranc (15^th this time) and helping to ensure the 3-man Irish M35 team collected the silver medal ahead of Lithuania M35s.

Male placings: Adam Cunningham 15^th 3:18:55; Paul Le Blanc 163^rd 4:43:46

Female placings: Esther Dickson 20^th 4:18:41; Sonia McIntyre 44^th 4:44:30; Catriona Shatwell 90^th 6:33:02

Sunday saw the curtain close on this showcase of masters athletics with the Classic race. The biggest entry of the three races was assembled, with 605 runners negotiating a 15.4km up-and-down course, with similar amounts of climbing to negotiate as Friday's Uphill race, followed by long flowing descents back into the crowds lining the streets of the usually sleepy Meduno. More medals were won by NIMRA / Northern Irish competitors. Sinead-Marie McAllister sailed nicely up the mountain and danced her way down the descent to help Ireland F35s secure the team silver medal behind the host nation. Phil Goss had another rapid race at this level of competition, leading home the Irish M40 team to help them achieve a bronze team medal, adding to his growing medal collection. In his favoured mountain running discipline, Tim Lowry had a typically rapid descent to pass many of his rivals and help the Irish M50 team secure the bronze medal by only two points from the German M50s. Kate Bradley had another strong race to finish off her first ever Masters World Championships, coming home second Irish F40 to help guarantee her team the bronze medal.

Male placings: Phil Goss 28^th 1:11:48; Jason Wilson 37^th 1:13:38; Adam Cunningham 41^st 1:14:15; Peter McEvoy 117^th 1:21:48; Tim Lowry 190^th 1:29:29; Maurice McCartan 211^th 1:31:49; Wilson McAlister 268^th 1:39:09; Donal O'Kane 291^st 1:42:48

Female placings: Shileen O'Kane 37^th 1:29:37; Kate Bradley 61^st 1:36:51; Sinead-Marie McAllister 64^th 1:37:20; Hannah Shields 68^th 1:37:51; Aine McNeill 111^th 1:48:16

Congratulations to all Northern Irish competitors who showed how well our athletes can compete against the top mountain running nations in the world. Thank you to Meduno for providing a well-organised weekend of races and great post-race entertainment, and also to IMRA for the large amount of organisational work that went on in the background to put together the Irish teams and also for providing the Sunday night meal. Next year's event will be hosted by the Czech Republic in Janské Lázně, the third time it has been hosted at this venue.

Jason Wilson and Mark Alexander (with abstracts from the WMRA press release)