For four decades, the Šmarna gora Race has gained a reputation among both domestic and foreign mountain running fans. The excellent organization and hospitality of the organizers convinced the global mountain running family to vote our Race as “the Greatest Mountain Race Of All Times” in a wide-ranging survey among a huge number of elite mountain Races from all over the world.
WMRA – World Mountain Running Organization
Mauntain-running weekend on Šmarna gora
The Šmarna gora run combine two mountain races with a long tradition.
The Šmarna Gora Record and its course is very simple - it follows the most visited, the shortest route from Tacen via saddle to the Šmarna Gora summit.
The start is at the "stairs" at the bottom, and the finish line is on the plateau on the summit.
The 360m height difference on the modest 1.85km course makes it one of the short but steep mountain runs, which even the most experienced mountain runners recognize as difficult.
Šmarna gora Race - with inclusion in the competition calendar of the International Association for Mountain Running in the late nineties, Race gained a firm foothold for international recognition, which reached its first peak at the quarter-century anniversary in 2004 with the final of the WMRA Grand Prix and the awarding of the prestigious "IAAF permit" status.
All the following years, running remains part of the iron repertoire of the international mountain-cross-country association.
In 2019, we combined both races into one running weekend. We called event the Šmarna gora run.
The history of mountain running on Šmarna gora
A short jump through the timeline
The idea matured in the fall of 1979. It was quickly decided that we would not follow the usual route, but a little-visited circular route around Šmarna gora was offered.
We didn't complicate the organization - that there was only warm tea at the top, and a souvenir for everyone and medals for the fastest. For the first dozen years, Race was a pleasant local event.
Just before independence of Slevenia in 1991, the first Šmarna gora Record was organized with a more comprehensive organizational scheme. Excellent organization was the reason for the national championship in mountain running in 1992.
With inclusion in the competition calendar of the International Federation for Mountain Running in the late 1990s, Race gained a firm foothold for international recognition, which reached its first peak at the quarter-century anniversary in 2004 with the final of the WMRA Grand Prix and the awarding of the prestigious "IAAF permit" status.
In an open survey, theŠmarna gora Race was recognized by the world mountain running scene as "the Greatest MR race of all time". The global covid euphoria probably contributed to this, but the fact is that it will go down in history.
