Elazzaoui flies Africa’s flag at the Golden Trail

By Stephen Granger

Leading Moroccan trail athlete, Elhousine Elazzaoui, flies the African flag at this weekend’s grand finale of the 2021 Golden Trail Series on the island of El Hierro in the Canary Island Group.

The Atlantic Ocean island lies a few hundred kilometres off the African coast, directly west of the border between Western Sahara and Elazzaoui’s home in Morocco and is a UNESCO-listed World Biosphere Reserve and Geopark. It’s proximity to the African mainland could provide the inspiration to Elazzaoui to achieve a top placing amongst the best marathon-distance athletes in the world.

Double points are at stake and Saturday’s race over 37 km with a bone-crushing 2862 metres of  vertical ascent could determine the outcome of the titles for the Golden Trail Champions of the year.

The tough Moroccan has moved up to fifth place in the Golden Trail World Series standings after the 6^th and final league race in France last month and will be eager to push hard to reach the top three after Saturday.

Stian Angermund will start favourite to win. The Norwegian’s strength on technical mountain trails is well-known and he has secured top spot on the table going into the Grand Finale, courtesy of his three wins in the series’ first three races. But Elazzaoui has often run with him during races and will be looking to match Angermund as far into the race as possible.

“We are not far from Africa, and I feel passionate about competing here,” said Alazzaoui from the island this week. “I feel at home here, because it smells like Africa and my Berber ancestors came from the Canaries.

“My goal is to do my best on a very difficult and technical race, but I will fight to give my best and do as well as possible. I think there will be a lot of surprises during the race, so anything can happen. I will just take any chance given to me and perhaps create a chance to go for a win!”

Winner of last year’s Golden Trail Championship, and second on the table going into the racePolish athlete, Bartlomiej Przedwojewski, will be pushing hard for victory. After a slow start to the season, he has improved in the second half and will be looking to end the season on a high note. Third and fourth-placed athletes, Italian Davide Magnini and Remi Bonnet of France, have excelled in the series in the past few years and have the ability and skill to race to the top of the podium.

Swiss athlete, Maude Mathys, has swept all before her in the 2021 series and, like Angermund, has a perfect s score of 300 points. However, the ‘new star in town’ Dutch Astro-physicist, Nienke Brinkman has been in top form and will challenge Mathys. With double points at stake, it Brinkman could still claim the overall title.

Golden Trail World Series League Table

Women

1 – MAUDE MATHYS (SALOMON – CHE) – 300 pts  

2 – NIENKE BRINKMAN (SALOMON – NLD) – 288 pts 

3 – ANAIS SABRIE (HOKA ONE ONE – FRA) – 254 pts 

4 – JUDITH WYDER (SALOMON – SUI) – 241 pts (OUT) 

5 – BLANDINE L’HIRONDEL (HOKA ONE ONE – FRA) – 222 pts 

6 – MARCELA VASINOVA (SALOMON – CZE) – 221 pts  

7 – SARA ALONSO (SALOMON – ESP) – 212 pts 

8 – DANI MORENO (HOKA ONE ONE/ RABBIT – USA) – 199 pts 

9 – ELISE PONCET (TEAM MATRYX – FRA) – 197 pts 

10 – CAITLIN FIELDER           (FIEDLER FINE ART – NZL) – 187 pts 

11 – ODILE SPYCHER (SALOMON – CHE) – 183 pts 

12 – IRIS PESSEY (SCOTT RUNNING – FRA) – 180 pts 

13 – NURIA GIL (SALOMON – ESP) – 177 pts 

14 – ANNA-STIINA ERKKILÄ           (SALOMON – FIN) – 174 pts 

15 – KARINA CARSOLIO (SALOMON – MEX) – 160 pts 

Men

1 – STIAN ANGERMUND (SALOMON – NOR) – 300 pts 

2 – BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI (SALOMON – POL) – 250 pts 

3 – DAVIDE MAGNINI (SALOMON – ITA) – 234 pts 

4 – REMI BONNET (SALOMON/RED BULL – CHE) – 219 pts 

5 – ELHOUSINE ELAZZAOUI           (SALOMON – MAR) – 209 pts 

6 – THIBAUT BARONIAN (SALOMON – FRA) – 198 pts 

7 – FRANCESCO PUPPI (NIKE – ITA) – 197 pts  

8 – SYLVAIN CACHARD (HOKA ONE ONE – FRA) – 180 pts 

9 – FRÉDÉRIC TRANCHAND (SCOTT – FRA) – 176 pts 

9 – JAN MARGARIT SOLÉ (LA SPORTIVA – ESP) – 176 pts 

11 – ROBERTO DELORENZI (VIBRAM – CHE) – 169 pts 

12 – ANTHONY FELBER (TEAM MATRYX – FRA) – 162 pts 

13 – KRZYSZTOF BODURKA            (SALOMON SUUNTO – POL) – 159 pts 

14 – JOHANN           BAUJARD (TEAM MATRYX – FRA) – 156 pts 

15 – CHRISTIAN MATHYS (BIENNE ATHLETICS – CHE) – 153 pts