Mezzalama Trophy

The Mezzalama Trophy (Italian: Trofeo Mezzalama aka white marathon^[1]) is an Italian high altitude ski mountaineering competition in the region of Cervinia. The Mezzalama Trophy, that belongs to the "big three of ski mountaineering" (French: les grandes trois de ski de montagne) besides the two other best-known and classical skimountaineering events, the Patrouille des Glaciers and the Pierra Menta, is the highest alpine ski mountaineering competition of the world. The event in the Monte Rosa's massif was named in honor of the mountain guide Ottorino Mezzalama.^[2]

History

The Mezzalama Trophy Foundation was founded by friends of Ottorino Mezzalama in 1933 in his memory.^[3] The race was held very year from 1933 and to 1938. Entry was open only to men; the first female participant is presumed to be Paula Wiesinger, who had been invited to view the race in 1935. When Giusto Gervasutti withdrew due to injury, she put on his military uniform and cap and, wearing sunglasses, ran instead of him, but was discovered at a checkpoint.^[4] The 1935 Trofeo Mezzalama was filmed by Mario Craveri in his film "Maratona Bianca".^[5]

After 1938 the race was discontinued (except that in 1940 a platonic^{[clarification needed]} race was carried out under the name marcia nazionale Ottorino Mezzalama by the Ski Club Torino).^[1] Further races were held in 1971, 1973, 1975, and in 1978^[6], and the Mezzalama Trophy was revived as a regular biennial race with the eleventh race in 1997.^[7]

Cervina (starting point)

In 1975, the Mezzalama Trophy was held as World Championship of Skimountaineering. 33 civilian teams, 12 mountain guide teams and 11 military teams participated in this event.^[8] In that year, the first female team competed officially.^[9] Together with the Pierra Menta and the Tour du Rutor event, the Mezzalama Trophy is part of the Trophée des Alpes (French for Alps' Trophy) series.

Editions and results

Winner teams of the 1930s

In 1934, all competing teams were overtaken by the German reserve racer Anderl Heckmair, who started as a single racer one and a half hours after the teams left.^[10]

edition	date	ranking	participants
1st	May 28, 1933		Luigi Carrel aka "Carrelino"	Antonio Gaspard	Pietro Maquignaz[11]
2nd	May 19, 1934		Alberto Chenoz	Francesco Chenoz	Bartolomeo Carrel[12]
3rd	May 26, 1935		Cap. Enrico Silvestri	Serg. Carlo Ronc	Alp. Attilio Chenoz[13]
4th	June 13, 1936		Ten. Francesco Vida	Serg. Carlo Ronc	Serg. Luigi Perenni[13]
5th	June 19, 1937		Ten. Giuseppe Fabre	Serg. Luigi Perenni	Alp. Anselmo Viviani[13]
6th	June 11, 1938		Aristide Compagnoni	Severino Confortola	Silvio Confortola[14]

Winner teams of the 1970s and 1975 World Championship medalists

edition	date	ranking	participants
7th	September 11, 1971		Gianfranco Stella	Aldo Stella	Roberto Stella[15]
8th	June 1, 1973		Gianfranco Stella	Aldo Stella	Palmiro Serafini[16]
1st World Championship 9th edition on May 10, 1975		Category: "civilian teams"
			Renzo Meynet	Osvaldo Ronc	Mirko Stangalino[17]
			?	?	?
			?	?	?
		Category: "military teams"
			Angelo Genuin	Bruno Bonaldi	Luigi "Gigi" Weiss[17]
			Gianfranco Stella	Aldo Stella	Leo Vidi[18]
			Willy Bertin	Felice Darioli	Fabrizio Pedranzini[18]
		Category: "mountain guide teams"
			Oreste Squinobal	Arturo Squinobal	Lorenzo Squinobal[17]
			?	?	?
			?	?	?
10th	April 29, 1978	Category: "civilian teams"
			Rudolf Kapeller	Karl Sinzinger	Josef Hones[17]
		Category: "military teams"
			Mario Varesco	Fabio Cavagnet	Elvio Venturini[17]
		Category: "mountain guide teams"
			Arturo Squinobal	Lorenzo Squinobal	Danilo Barell[17]

Top ten rankings since 1997

11th Trofeo Mezzalama (1997)
ranking[19] participants  Fabio Meraldi  Enrico Pedrini  Omar Oprandi  Fulvio Mazzocchi  Leonardo Follis  Luciano Fontana  Franco Laurent  Nicola Invernizzi  Wolfgang Holzner 4  Stefano Chio  Stefano Ghisafi  Fabio Ghisafi 5  Fabienne Chanoine  Giuseppe Ouvrier  Ettore Champretavy 6       7       8       9       10       First women team  Bice Bones  Brunella Parolini  Fabiana Battel
12th Trofeo Mezzalama (1999)
ranking[20] participants  Fulvio Mazzocchi  Leonardo Follis  Luciano Fontana  Fabio Meraldi  Enrico Pedrini  Pierre Gignoux  Ivan Murada  Graziano Boscacci  Luca Negroni 4  Stefano Chio  Stefano Ghisafi  Fabio Ghisafi 5  Gaudenzio Godioz  Nicola Invernizzi  Emanuel Conta 6  Ettore Champretavy  Jean Pellissier  Giuseppe Ouvrier 7  Carlo Battel  Adriano Greco  Bruno Zen 8  Marco Camandona  Massimo Junod  Donato Barrel 9       10       First women team  Gloriana Pellissier  Danielle Hacquard  Véronique Lathuraz
13th Trofeo Mezzalama (2001)
ranking[21] participants  Graziano Boscacci  Ivan Murada  Heinz Blatter  Fabio Meraldi  Jean Pellissier  Stéphane Brosse  Franco Nicolini  Enrico Pedrini  Carlo Battel 4  Damien Farquet  Rico Elmer  Emanuel Buchs 5  Nicola Invernizzi  Emanuel Conta  Dennis Brunod 6  Luciano Fontana  Ivano Molin  Renato Pasini 7  Donato Svain  Massimo Borettaz  Giuseppe Ouvrier 8  Nicolao Leone Lanfranchi  Alexander Hug  Olivier Nägele 9  Marco Camandona  Massimo Junod  Donato Barrel 10  Alberto Stanchina  Alfredo Corsini  Gian Giuseppe Corsini First women team [22]  Gloriana Pellissier  Arianna Follis  Alexia Zuberer
14th Trofeo Mezzalama (2003)
ranking[23] participants  Damien Farquet  Rico Elmer  Rolf Zurbrügg  Jean Pellissier  Stéphane Brosse  Pierre Gignoux  Manfred Reichegger  Dennis Brunod  Nicola Invernizzi 4  Guido Giacomelli  Camillo Vescovo  Mirco Mezzanotte 5  Graziano Boscacci  Ivan Murada  Heinz Blatter 6  Didier Moret  Christian Pittex  Florent Troillet 7  Cyril Champange  Bertrand Blanc  Grégory Gachet 8  Matteo Pedergnana  Matteo Riz  Mario Scanu 9  Patrick Blanc  Tony Sbalbi  Cédric Tomio 10  Miroslav Leitner  Peter Svätojánsky  Milan Madaj First women team [22]  Cristina Favre-Moretti  Arianna Follis  Chiara Raso
15th Trofeo Mezzalama (2005)
ranking[24] participants  Stéphane Brosse  Patrick Blanc  Guido Giacomelli  Florent Troillet  Christian Pittex  Alexander Hug  Jean Pellissier  Manfred Reichegger  Dennis Brunod 4  Alexander Lugger  Olivier Nägele  Hansjörg Lunger 5  Didier Moret  Yannick Ecoeur  Stéphane Gay 6  Nicola Invernizzi  Denis Trento  Alain Seletto 7  Stephane Millius  Philippe Blanc  Ernest Farquet 8  Flavio Gadin  Giuseppe Pivano  Enrico Titolo 9  Roberto Daz  Ivan Antiga  Alberto Stanchina 10  Wolfgang Panzer  Franz Graßl  Martin Echtler First women team [22]  Gloriana Pellissier  Christiane Nex  Natascia Leonardi Cortesi
16th Trofeo Mezzalama (2007)
Men ranking[25] participants  Guido Giacomelli  Jean Pellissier  Florent Troillet  Florent Perrier  Grégory Gachet  Patrick Blanc  Manfred Reichegger  Dennis Brunod  Denis Trento 4  Alain Seletto  Tony Sbalbi  Martin Riz 5  Graziano Boscacci  Ivan Murada  Mirco Mezzanotte 6  Daniele Pedrini  Lorenzo Holzknecht  Mattia Coletti 7  Lionel Bonnel  Fabien Anselmet  Sébastien Baud 8  Alain Rey  Yannick Ecoeur  Ernest Farquet 9  Paolo Moriondo  Alberto Fazio  Fulvio Fazio 10  Aldo Christille  Carlo Christille  Nadir Giovanetto		Women ranking participants  Gloriana Pellissier  Roberta Pedranzini  Francesca Martinelli  Corinne Favre  Nathalie Bourillon  Véronique Lathuraz  Judith Graßl  Stefanie Koch  Silvia Treimer 4  Tatiana Locatelli  Marina Ferrandoz  Corinne Clos 5  Fabienne Chanoine  Silvia Cuminetti  Tamara Lunger 6  Micol Murachelli  Alessandra Gianatti  Gisella Benadotti 7  Christine Diaque  Andréa Zimmermann  Anne Carron-Bender 8  Maddalena Wegher  Petra Seppi  Annemarie Gross 9  Chiara Tallia  Bruna Riperto  Raffaella Gianotti 10  Maria Orlando  Claudia Comello  Paola Dellavedova
17th Trofeo Mezzalama (2009)
Men ranking[26] participants  Manfred Reichegger  Matteo Eydallin  Denis Trento  Jean Pellissier  Damiano Lenzi  Daniele Pedrini  Alain Seletto  Tony Sbalbi  Didier Blanc 4  Graziano Boscacci  Ivan Murada  Pietro Lanfranchi 5  Didier Moret  Pierre Bruchez  Ernest Farquet 6  Yannick Ecoeur  Marcel Marti  Martin Anthamatten 7  Jean-François Premat  Alain Premat  Sébastien Baud 8  Alessandro Follador  Riccardo Dezulian  Ivo Zulian 9  Alex Salvadori  Titta Scalet  Simone Porta 10  Renato Pasini  Fabio Pasini  Daniele Chioda		Women ranking participants  Francesca Martinelli  Roberta Pedranzini  Laëtitia Roux  Corinne Clos  Orietta Calliari  Silvia Rocca  Micol Murachelli  Giulia Botti  Alessandra Gianatti 4  Veronika Swidrak  Maria Strasser  Klaudia Tasz 5  Paola Martinale  Raffaella Gianotti  Sonia Balbis 6  Isabelle Ciferman  Alice Lauga  Sylvie Turbil 7  Birgit Hosner  Annick Rey  Lucia Näfen 8  Sabrina Zanon  Carla Jellici  Nadia Scola 9  Roberta Scocco  Maria Orlando  Claudia Comello 10  Chantal Daucourt  Lyndsay Meyer  Cécile Pasche

Literature

• Umberto Pelazza, Antonio Vizzi: Mezzalama Trophy - Myth and Reality 1933-1997
• Rolf Majcen: Bergauf - Abenteuer Ausdauersport (German) ISBN 9783900533397

External links

• Trofeo Mezzalama
• Mezzalama at euroski-on-line.com

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Le tappe dealla leggendaria "maratona binaca" (Italian)
2. ^ Trofeo Mezzalama 2007: 16. Auflage des Klassikers am 29. April (German), M2b, April 26, 2007.
3. ^ http://www.euroski-on-line.com/presto.htm
4. ^ Paula Wiesinger (German), FemBio.
5. ^ Trofeo Mezzalama, il fascino di una leggenda che si rinnova (Italian), La Stampa, April 15, 2009.
6. ^ La rinascita degli anni Settanta (Italian), p. 4.
7. ^ Trofeo Mezzalama (Mezzalama Trophy), Fondazione Trofeo Mezzalama
8. ^ Le tappe della leggendaria “maratona bianca” (Italian).
9. ^ Giuseppe Martelli: altre notizie degli alpini bolognesi romagnoli (Italian), November 15, 2005.
10. ^ Trofeo Mezzalama - Ein Hochgebirgswettlauf der Sonderklasse (German), p. 44.
11. ^ Rielaborazione storia libro Camisasca
12. ^ The winners of the 1934 edition, planetmountain.com.
13. ^ ^{a b c} [1]
14. ^ Compagnoni Aristide, Severino e Ottavio (Italian).
15. ^ [2]
16. ^ Gianfranco Stella
17. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Albo d'oro
18. ^ ^{a b} Genuin Angelo
19. ^ Cavalcata da leggenda Trionfo da Skyrunners, May 4, 1997.
20. ^ La Forestale da record trionfa nel Mezzalama (Italian), April 25, 1999.
21. ^ 2001 Trofeo Mezzalama
22. ^ ^{a b c} Men's best three and best women since 1997
23. ^ 2003 Trofeo Mezzalama
24. ^ 2005 Trofeo Mezzalama
25. ^ 2007 Trofeo Mezzalama
26. ^ 2009 Trofeo Mezzalama