After a few years of absence, CHALLENGE FAMILY returns to Poland this weekend, CHALLENGE GDANSK is on the program. This race will undoubtedly be exciting, given the strong field of pro athletes in both the men and women’s race.
In the men’s race, most eyes will likely be on Pablo Gonzalez Dapena. The Spaniard participated in several CHALLENGE FAMILY races in recent months, regularly finishing high and performed well, but has not yet managed to win a race this season. He will definitely want to change that in Gdansk. It won’t be easy though, because he will be up against Matt Trautman, among others. The South African is perhaps more specialized in the Long Distance – for example he won CHALLENGE ALMERE-AMSTERDAM in 2019 with a race record of 7:50:15hr – but can also do well on the Middle Distance.
Furthermore, much can be expected from the British Thomas Davis, German Marcus Herbst and German Franz Loeschke. Cyril Viennot (FR), Alessandro Degasperi (IT) and Evert Scheltinga (NL) are very dangerous outsiders.
Among the women, the biggest battle seems to be between four world class athletes: Judith Corachan, Lisa Norden and Sarissa de Vries. On paper, Dutchwoman De Vries is perhaps the biggest favorite: a few weeks ago she won CHALLENGE RICCIONE, then she took a break to be as good as possible at the start in Gdansk. Women like the Spanish Corachan and Swedish Norden are actually always good and are always among the favorites in a race.
In addition, Germany’s Carolin Lehrieder and Margie Santimaria are also at the start. The German and Italian athletes are also always strong and very formidable athletes to keep a close eye on. Local favorite Ewa Komander could, no doubt supported by the home crowd, also provide some nice surprises.
MALE PRO:
1 Pablo Dapena ES
2 Matt Trautman ZA
4 Marcus Herbst DE
5 Franz Loeschke DE
6 Lukasz Wójt DE
7 Cyril Viennot FR
8 Alessandro Degasperi IT
9 Robbie Deckard US
10 Sam Wade GB
11 Dylan Magnien FR
12 Emmanuel Lejeune BE
13 Evert Scheltinga NL
14 Tomasz Szala PL
15 James Teagle GB
16 Fabian Guenther DE
17 Marcus Hoermann DE
18 Sebastian Najmowicz PL
19 Dominik Sowieja DE
20 Silas Koehn DE
21 Kristian Rod NO
22 Mark Buckingham GB
23 Jonathan Ciavattella IT
24 Robert Wilkowiecki PL
25 Henrik Goesch FI
26 Kacper Stepniak PL
27 Will Munday GB
28 Bartosz Banach PL
29 Sanne Swolfs BE
30 Marcin Lawicki PL
31 Piotr Lawicki PL
32 Pavel Wohl CZ
33 Kristian Grue NO
34 Philipp Fahrenholz DE
35 Tomasz Brembor PL
36 Pawel Najmowicz PL
37 Michal Grabowski PL
38 Martin François FR
39 Adam Hansen AU
40 Thomas Davis GB
40 Sebastian Mahr DE
41 Pawel Miziarski PL
42 Maciej Chmura PL
43 Jens Frommhold DE
FEMALE PRO:
52 Judith Corachan ES
53 Lisa Norden SE
54 Sarissa De Vries NL
55 Carolin Lehrieder DE
56 Lucy Hall GB
57 Margie Santimaria IT
58 Leanne Fanoy FR
59 Ewa Komander PL
60 Chantal Cummings GB
61 Julie Iemmolo FR
62 Katharina Grohmann DE
63 Varena Walter DE
64 Aleksandra Jedrzejewska PL
65 Annika Timm DE
66 Alena Sinay SK
67 Juliane Hofmann DE
68 Hana Kolar GB