Mike Smith Wins the First Windstopper Trailrun Worldmasters

The first edition of the Windstopper Trailrun WorldMasters this past weekend had two U.S. runners on the podium: Mike Smith (1st – Men) and Caitlin Smith (2nd – Women). The race held in Dortmund, Germany consisted of three challenging stages in the mountains over three days for a total of 57 kilometers and a vertical distance of 1,000 meters. Each of the three days  feature 3 races of different distances, all of them finishing at a former coal mine close to downtown Dortmund which gave the race an special atmosphere.

The event started on Friday with a short sprint run of 4,5 kilometers through a construction site and with 200 runners toeing the start line. On Saturday, the long distance run of 34 kilometers and a vertical distance of 710 meters granted Mike Smith a win good enough for the overall victory by just under a minute.  The second stage proved to be good for Caitlin smith, who moved up to second place. On Sunday, the final was a muddy course of 20 kilometers and a vertical distance of 315 meters, Mike kept his first place and beat Germany’s Nawrocki Philipp with a final time of 2:26.49. Caitlin couldn’t catch Luminita Zaituc, who would win in 2:45.57. You can check out the full race results on the website here.

Both Mike Smith and Caitlin smith also won this year’s Transrockies run.

Below, a post-race interview with Mike Smith. More videos here and here.