The 2015 Skyrunner® World Series came to a triumphant close on the shores of Italy’s Lake Garda Saturday, with the finals of the Vertical and Sky Series which attracted 1,000 runners from 39 countries.

Spain’s incredible talent Laura Orgué took both the Vertical and Sky titles, while Tadei Pivk made history as the first Italian man to take the Sky Series crown at yesterday’s Limone Extreme.

Rocketing to stardom this year is 20- year-old Rémi Bonnet from Switzerland, who won both the weekend’s Vertical and Sky races. The Vertical title was his, but without the compulsory Continental score, the Sky title was beyond his reach.

Early on Friday morning with heavy rain and a dusting of snow on the mountains, the race directors decided to alter both the VK and the Sky courses to ensure the safety of the runners. As it turned out, Saturday’s Limone Extreme was just that. Extreme! The snow-covered ridges at altitude were eliminated, but the race was technically more demanding and counted an extra 400m vertical climb totalling 2,400m, while maintaining the 23 km distance.

Bonnet flew with apparent ease over the rocky trails to close in 2h45’25”, tailed all the way by Pivk who was chasing not only the leader, but the title. He closed in 2h51’08” followed by three Spaniards, Manuel Merillas, Jokin Lizeaga and Aritz Egea, 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.

The women’s race had Laura Orguè leading throughout, with American Megan Kimmel hot on her heels. Megan had everything at stake here with three straight wins (including a Continental) and had only to clinch 2nd place to take the title. The super-technical course and the season’s hard racing schedule took its toll and Megan had to settle for a second slot on the World Series after arriving 6th – not bad for a first-timer!

The ladies' race closed with three Spaniards on the podium: Laura Orguè, Maite Maiora and Oihana Kortazar. World Champion Elisa Desco suffered a fall and ran bravely to the finish to take 4th while Norway’s Yngvild Kaspersen, recent winner in Hong Kong, took 5th.

The two events are yet again testimony to the success of the Skyrunner® World Series, with 1,000 participants in the two races (760 and 240 respectively) marked a 400% increase since the first edition in 2012 which counted a total of 233 participants overall.

Anti-doping tests were carried out on the podium finishers and a random selection by the Italian Skyrunning Federation.

With the races over, it was time to celebrate and the Limone Extreme winners together with the Vertical and Sky Series Champions were announced at the lake-side ceremony together with nearly 30 competitors from Skyrunning Netherlands, celebrating their National Vertical Championships here.

A total prize purse of $ 25,000 is awarded to the Skyrunner® World Series Champions each year and here, in the beautiful surroundings of Lake Garda, the top three ranked men and women received their prizes for the Vertical and Sky Series. The Ultra Series finals took place on September 19 at the Ultra Pirineu in Spain.

Alpina Watches, Official Watch of the 2015 Skyrunner® World Series and European Championships awarded a luxury Horological Smartwatch to the champions in each Series: Laura Orgué (for VK & Sky), Rémi Bonnet (VK) and Tadei Pivk (Sky).

2015 marked the introduction of the Continental Championships, with Africa, Australia and China making their first appearance, further globalising the sport. Twenty-seven races in nine countries saw a selection of the best races with the best runners, great champions and rising stars, an enthralling season filled with emotion... and not without adventure.

The 2015 Skyrunner® World Series has come to a close and it’s time to look forward to the coming year’s calendar, to the 2016 World Championships and all that skyrunning has to offer.

A big thanks go to all the runners that took part, the teams, the race organisers and to our partners for their support with whom there will always be: Less cloud. More Sky!

Limone Extreme SkyRace® results

Men
1. Rémi Bonnet (SUI) Salomon:  2h45’25”
2. Tadei Pivk (ITA) Crazy Idea: 2h51’08”
3. Manuel Merillas (ESP) Mammut/Compressport: 2h52’52”
4. Jokin Lizeaga (ESP) EMF: 2h53’55”
5. Aritz Egea (ESP) EMF: 2h55’47”

Women
1. Laura Orguè (ESP) Salomon: 3h18’50”
2. Maite Maiora (ESP)La Sportiva: 3h19’07”
3. Oihana Kortazar (ESP) Salomon: 3h22’24”
4. Elisa Desco (ITA) Scott Sports/Compressport: 3h28’00”
5. Yngvild Kaspersen (NOR) Salomon: 3h28’40”

Sky Series ranking results (provisional)

Men
1. Tadei Pivk (ITA) Crazy Idea – 393 points
2. Manuel Merillas (ESP) Mammut/Compressport  - 361 points
3. Martin Anthamatten (SUI) Salomon – 330 points
4. Rémi Bonnet (SUI) Salomon – 320 points
5. Aritz Egea (ESP) EMF – 299 points

Women
1. Laura Orgué (ESP) Salomon – 396 points
2. Megan Kimmel (USA) Asics – 379 points
3. Elisa Desco (ITA) SCOTT Sports/Compressport – 364 points
4. Maite Maiora (ESP) La Sportiva – 349 points
5. Stevie Kremer (USA) Salomon – 322 points

Watch this space for news and updates on Facebook and twitter or sign up for our newsletter.