inov-8’s strong presence throughout the 2014 skyrunning season has underlined their enthusiasm and success. This was seen in particular at the recent Sky Series finals on Italy’s Limone sul Garda, where the team excelled in the deepest field in any race to date.

Fielding a team of experienced and novice skyrunners the UK’s leading off-road apparel and shoe brand should be very proud of their outstanding results.

Heading up the team with a podium place, Switzerland’s David Schneider followed on his impressive form at Sierre-Zinal and ran the race of his life to place 3rd behind winner Petro Mamu from Eritrea and the four-time Skyrunner® World Series champion, Kilian Jornet.

“I had a really good race today, I felt relaxed and I achieved one of my best results ever” David said post race, “Next year I will follow a similar calendar and hopefully continue to improve.”

American Alex Nichols arrived in Italy just two days before race day, hoping he could repeat the form shown in 2013. He didn’t disappoint. Running a perfectly paced race, Nichols eased himself into the race and as others faded, he moved up through the field to place 8th. He places an exellent 11th overall in the final Sky Series ranking.

Surprise package was Briton Jonathon Albion. Albion is a world class ‘Obstacle Racer’ and at just 24-years old he was testing himself in his first skyrunning race for experience. To place 14th overall in a world-class field is an exceptional result. Crossing the line, Albion had a huge smile and, when told his placing, he laughed, “Really? That’s amazing. I’m really pleased with that.”

Finishing just two places behind Albion was Britain’s Oli Johnson. Like Nichols, he paced the early stages of the race leaving something for the end. “On the first climb I must have been way back outside the top 40 but I just controlled my effort, tried to enjoy the day and at the line it all came good. Top20 in this quality of field is very satisfying.”

The women’s race was always going to be fast and furious and the competition high. Victoria Wilkinson backed up an extremely successful season on the UK fells and a top result at Dolomites SkyRace® , she took an excellent 5th on the banks of Lake Garda to place her 8th overall on the final Sky Series ranking.

Limone Extreme is a pure Skyrunning race, 2000m +/- in just 26.5kms provides a test for the most experienced skyrunner. The performance of the inov-8 team and of course their continued support in the Skyrunner® World Series is not only exciting from a global perspective but also from a British perspective. The growth of the Skyrunner® National Series and the growing UK series can only encourage more runners to toe the line in years to come.

inov-8 understand this process and, looking to the future, the brand provided an opportunity for Tom Addison and Gary Priestley to experience Limone Extreme. Of course it was a learning curve, but for Addison and Priestley, it has seriously begun.

Whether top talent or new talent, inov-8 has made its impact on skyrunning and continue to do so. Look out for the team in 2015 where they will line up to face new challenges and take the brand sky high.

Sky Series final ranking

Inov-8

Race results