Scout Adkin, Elle Twentyman, Andrew Douglas, Thomas Hilton and Matthew Knowles are among the many Brits in motion in Portugal this weekend.
The 2026 WMRA Mountain Working World Cup will get underway this weekend, launching what guarantees to be probably the most spectacular season within the competitors’s 27-year historical past. In complete there are 16 races in 10 nations, 4 continents and months of breathtaking racing forward.
From the mountains of Central Portugal to the peaks of Austria, Switzerland and past, the world’s best mountain runners will battle it out throughout a few of the most dramatic landscapes on the planet. China, Spain, North America, Italy, Poland and Canada all function on a calendar that spans the globe and showcases the total, thrilling vary of the game.
However earlier than all of that, Portugal. This Sunday, the curtain goes up with São Brás Cross within the Castro Daire area, and the 2026 season will start in model, fittingly supported by Turismo Centro de Portugal – “MOVE CENTRO DE PORTUGAL – THE SPORTS REGION,” official sponsor of the Basic Up & Down class of the WMRA Mountain Working World Cup 2026.
WMRA MOUNTAIN RUNNING WORLD CUP COMPETITION
The WMRA Mountain Working World Cup spans three distinct race classes – Uphill (3–9km), Basic Up & Down (10–21km) and Lengthy Mountain (22–50km) – each a singular take a look at of velocity, climbing energy or downhill ability.
Each race carries equal weight within the general World Cup standings, with athletes‘ finest outcomes throughout the season to figuring out the ultimate rankings. Runners additionally compete inside their particular person class, including one other layer of competitors and one other title to chase. The World Cup is managed by the WMRA on behalf of World Athletics to help off-road racing, and as such, anti-doping controls are carried out at every World Cup race to make sure truthful competitors within the sport.
From the lung-busting climbs of the Uphill races to the gruelling calls for of the Lengthy Mountain occasions, no two races are alike – and with each place mattering for factors, we are going to see explosive competitors in each race.
São Brás Cross is the primary Basic Up and Down race, considered one of 5 on this 12 months’s competitors. It should set the tone for the 2026 World Cup and it will likely be the primary massive race for most of the athletes this 12 months.
SÃO BRÁS CROSS RACE
The São Brás Cross is a race with deep roots within the Castro Daire area. Now in its nineteenth version, the race has grown because of the enthusiasm of the native operating group and the help of native authorities. The race follows a Basic Up and Down mountain format throughout the rugged terrain of the Serra de Montemuro, its technical course set towards a panorama of granite ridges, forested valleys and open moorland. The occasion has lengthy been thought of considered one of Portugal’s nationwide classics in mountain operating, and its inclusion on this 12 months’s World Cup now propels it onto the world stage. Proof {that a} small, passionate group in a spectacular mountain panorama can host a race of genuinely international significance.
At 10.9km with 628 metres of climbing, the São Brás Cross isn’t any light season opener. The course has three shorter climbs however one larger climb at across the 3km mark that would type the sphere early and ruthlessly.
However the climbs do not inform the entire story. The lengthy downhill part between kilometres 4 and 6 may show equally decisive, demanding confidence and quick legs on technical terrain. And the course delivers one closing twist – a merciless uphill end that can take a look at health and resolve in equal measure. For these world-class athletes, this must be early-season take a look at. There’s nowhere to cover on this course.
WORLD-CLASS FIELDS SET TO LIGHT UP THE OPENING RACE
The beginning record for Sunday’s race reads like a who’s who of worldwide mountain operating, with world-class athletes from throughout the globe converging on the village of Granja for what guarantees to be a fiercely aggressive opening to the 2026 season.
Within the girls’s race, all eyes will likely be on defending World Cup champion Scout Adkin (GBR, HOKA EU). She has confirmed herself capable of compete on the highest stage throughout all three race classes, and arrives in Portugal as one of many favourites. She is not going to have it straightforward. Nélie Clément (FRA, Hole Hautes Alpes Athlétisme) received the Basic Up & Down race at Vauban final season and backed that up with two top-ten finishes on the World Mountain and Path Working Championships, whereas Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga (KEN, Run2gether On Path) introduced herself on the worldwide stage with a memorable silver medal within the Basic Up and Down race on the World Championships. Benedetta Broggi (ITA, La Recastello – Fuga Mountain Membership), Camilla Magliano (ITA, Kailas Fuga), Marie Nivet (FRA, Nike ACG) and Elle Twentyman (GBR, New Stability) full a girls’s subject of appreciable depth and high quality.
The lads’s race isn’t any much less aggressive. Michael Selelo Saoli (KEN, Run2gether On Path) arrives as a powerful favorite, having claimed two Basic Up & Down victories en route to 3rd place in final 12 months’s general World Cup standings. Alberto Vender (ITA, New Stability) has been a mannequin of consistency on the World Cup circuit, whereas Zak Hanna (N. Eire, New Stability) brings a wealth of worldwide expertise to the beginning line. Théodore Klein (FRA, Entente Haute Alsace) had a formidable 2025 marketing campaign and will likely be seeking to construct on that momentum, and Matthew Knowles (GBR, Salomon UK) – World Junior champion in 2019 – has been producing a collection of more and more aggressive outcomes at senior stage in latest seasons. Thomas Hilton (GBR, Salomon) may be one to look at. Former World Cup champion Andrew Douglas (GBR, Westerlands CCC) additionally strains up, as does native favorite Marcelo Gonçalves (POR, GDR Granja – Trutas do Mau), who will carry the hopes of the host nation on residence soil.
Keep tuned to WMRA channels for stay protection and updates, plus on-line protection on the AW web site, because the winners of the primary race are determined.
