Cortina-Dobbiaco Run: beautiful and fun

Start of Cortina-Dobbiaco run 2013

Although the number of spring season Italian races is actually huge, only few of them made me the impression I had while I was running Cortina-Dobbiaco. Cortina-Dobbiaco course is tracked in the middle of Dolomites, following the old Austrian railway that linked one of the most important tourist place in the Alps (Cortina d'Ampezzo) to Toblach (Dobbiaco), a Sudtyrolean village in Pustertaal. 

The landscape, as one can imagine, is absolutely amazing. The 30K race is quite linear, with 14K of uphill that climbs from Cortina (1211 m.asl) to Cima Banche (1530m.asl), followed by a downhill through two alpine lakes that leads to Dobbiaco (1210m.asl).
In this year' edition, more than 4300 runners started the race in Cortina, proudly facing either autumn temperatures and an annoying headwind that was blowing all the time.
I ran the race with my two club mates Fabio Bernardi and Francesco Duca (both are closed to 40 years old, still showing an incredible shape!). Anyway, at the end of the race I was the first of Silca Ultralite Team, finishing the race in sixth place (full results here, Silca UV post here). Even if the pace wasn't that fast (we ran approximately 3m25s/km), my result makes me very happy considering my actual condition.


In addition to a day of sport, I took advantage to see places close to my hometown that I had never seen before such as Cortina d'Ampezzo, Dobbiaco, Alleghe, Passo Giau (very famous for the "Giro", and now I could understand the reasons why it is...) and Passo Falzarego. I must confess that none of such places has betrayed my expectations. I believe that for mountain lovers there are a few places that come close to the beauty of Dolomites. ;)

Passo Falzarego (2109m.asl)