cat flies flag for scotland in italy

Cat on her descent in the Trofeo Vanoni mountain race. Photo: Angelo Testa Exelio

Cat Macdonald took part in the prestigious Trofeo Vanoni mountain race at Morbegno in Lombardy, Northern Italy, at the weekend and in the process collected her 4th Scotland vest, although this was the first time she had represented the country outside the UK.
 
Hosted by local club CSI Morbegno, the race is now twinned with the International Snowdon Race and has a tremendous history, the men’s race having been contested for no less than 66 years.
 
It was the 40th running of the women’s event, a relay for teams of two (three for the men), run over a challenging 5 kilometre mixed terrain course with a climb of some 248 metres from start to summit, conditions made worse by ten days of heavy rain - although race day proved to be thankfully dry and mild.
 
Taking over from lead out runner Alice Goodall , Cat moved Scotland up to 4th with a time of 24 minutes 56 seconds, the tenth fastest time of the day, with Goodall, the European U/23 10,000m champion, running 24:34.
 
Although the team finished just outside the medals, with Italian outfits Valtellina and Recastello finishing 1st and 2nd and Ireland 3rd, Scotland did, however, finish ahead of teams from both Great Britain (the Snowdon Race Team) in 6th and Wales in 7th.