Skyrunning race Trofeo Kima has got iconic status, the challenging, highly technical 52km course travelling over seven passes counting a massive 4,200m vertical climb.
Film short La Gara is an inspiring story of athlete Hillary Gerardi running the Trofeo Kima race in Val Masino Sondrio, Lombardy in the Italian Alps. A beautiful journey to one of the world’s toughest mountain races, La Gara takes us through powerful landscapes and the history of an iconic race with mountain runner Hillary Gerardi, as she pushes her herself to the limits attempting the course record.
Spoiler… Set the course record she did in 2022:
Hillary has written a long letter to Kima, which starts:
Dear Kima,
I think it was Célia who first told me about you in 2016. She gave me my intro to all things skyrunning; she talks quickly and often on the assumption that I know exactly what she is talking about. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if it was my tenuous grip on the French language or my limited knowledge of the world of running, but I’d find myself nodding and smiling, not fully following. But Kima was a word that stuck out because it came up again and again. It was mentioned with reverence in her voice and in the same breath as the names of famous runners even I had heard of. She hadn’t been yet, but Kima, now that was the real deal.
She signs off, “A runner that dares to run the risk of failure but will give it all that she’s got for a chance to add her name to the legacy. Sincerely, Hillary Gerardi”. We can assure you everything in between is well worth the read, so get stuck into the full letter here. And without further ado…
Presenting short film La Gara with Hillary Gerardi:
On a roll
Last summer Hillary set the new Kima time to beat, bringing the record down by six minutes, and this summer it was Mont Blanc, for which Hillary has recorded the fastest women’s round trip with an incredible time of 7h 25m 28s! The year before that, in 2021, Hillary established a women’s speed record on the Haute Route with a time of 26 hours and 21 minutes. Read our interview here with the hero who just can’t stop setting records:
