German Olympian Anna Hahner is seeking new challenges on the trails in El Paso

Mathys sets sights on more gold in El Paso ahead of dual Olympic ambitions

Martin Dematteis: "I’ll bring all my courage and determination to the starting line in El Paso"

<h2>European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships</h2>
<p>The inaugural European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships, an innovative continental championship that combines the disciplines of trail and mountain running, took place in El Paso on the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary Islands on 1-3 July 2022.</p>
<p>The next edition will be held in Annecy, France from 31 May - 2 June 2024.</p>

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European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships

European Off-Road Running Championships

Timetable (at 27 February 2024)

Course map – Uphill U20

Course map – Uphill Senior

Course map – Up/Down U20

Course map – Up/Down Senior 

Course map – Trail Race

Countdown to the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships

https://reventonelpaso.com/eaorch/

Championnats d’Europe Off Road - MaXi-Race du lac d'Annecy

<p><strong>There are 50 days left to go until the European Off-Road Running Championships in Annecy, France. </strong></p>
<p>The second edition of the event will see the cream of the continent&rsquo;s mountain and trail runners tackle the spectacular courses in the French Alps across three days on 31 May-2 June.</p>
<p>The inaugural event took place two years ago in El Paso on the Spanish island of La Palma with 283 runners from 24 countries taking part. Already this year&rsquo;s event is set to be significantly bigger with 480 runners representing 30 countries in the preliminary entries.</p>
<p>The event consists of ten championship races over mountainous and trail terrain in senior and U20 male and female categories. There are also open races for recreational runners to <a href="https://reg-livetrail.net/maxi-race-2024/select_competition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">register and compete</a> on the championship courses.</p>
<h2>Major importance in Olympic year</h2>
<p>Looking towards the event, Andr&eacute; Giraud, President of the French Athletics Federation (FFA) said: &ldquo;Today, off-road racing encompasses a whole range of disciplines that are of major importance to French athletics.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re delighted to be hosting the European Championships in Annecy, France, in the same year as the Olympic Games! We would like to thank European Athletics, who have placed their trust in the skills of the organizer and the experience of the FFA.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>A beautiful playground</h2>
<p>The Event Director, St&eacute;phane Agnoli of MaXi-Events said: &ldquo;Nine years after the World Championships, MaXi-Race is proud to once again host an international event such as the European Off-Road Running Championships.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/european-athletics/image/upload/v1712741324/maxi-race-2023-2_c_cyrille-quintard.jpg"></p>
<p>&ldquo;These European (Off-Road) Championships will be a unique opportunity to celebrate trail running in all its forms, bringing together the best European athletes and amateur and professional trail runners on the same site.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our region is one of the most beautiful playgrounds in the world for outdoor activities and will be one of the finest stages for promoting sport and health.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<h2>A land of sports</h2>
<p>Annecy Deputy Mayor Catherine Allard commented: &ldquo;Annecy is a land of sports, and we&rsquo;re delighted for the organizers to be able to host a competition of this scale once again.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be supporting the event, making it a point of honour to limit its carbon footprint, and working with the organizers on a section dedicated to preserving the environment. So that we can continue to run for a long time to come in these beautiful areas and enjoy the mountains.&rdquo;</p>

50 days to go to European Off-Road Running Championships

<p><strong>Great Britain have announced a strong team for the 2024 European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships which will take place in Annecy, France between 31 May and 2 June.</strong></p>
<p>Thomas Roach, the reigning world short trail individual silver and team gold medallist from the 2023 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships leads the men&rsquo;s team heading to France to face the 62km trail course with 3400m ascent and descent.</p>
<p>He is joined by Tom Evans, who represented Great Britain at the 2019 SPAR European Cross Country Championships before transitioning to long distance and ultra running. Evans won the iconic US ultra event, the Western States 100, in 2023.</p>
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<p>Tom Joly de Lotbiniere also joins the quartet and will be looking to build upon an 11th place finish in the long trail race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships last year, while Luke Grenfell-Shaw earns a call-up to a British squad for the first time.</p>
<h2>Experienced athletes</h2>
<p>In-form Meryl Cooper is chosen for the women&rsquo;s trail race, fresh from crossing the line as the first British finisher at Trans Grand Canaria 46k in February. Holly Page returns from injury to earn her first international call-up since 2018.</p>
<p>Two athletes with experience of the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships, having run in the inaugeral event two years ago, Georgia Tindley and Katie Kaars Sijpesteijn add further firepower to the women&rsquo;s team.</p>
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<p>Team Leader Anne Buckley said, &ldquo;After the successes of the trail teams at the World Championships last year, we are confident we have selected strong squads to challenge for individual and team medals at the European Championships.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have seen several athletes achieve impressive results at prestigious races in the ultra-running calendar recently, so we look forward to seeing how they perform in the Championship environment in a few months&rsquo; time.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Chris Broadbent for European Athletics</strong></p>

Strong British off-road team selected for Annecy 

<p><strong>The name &lsquo;Hahner&rsquo; initially makes you think of two strong marathon runners who competed for Germany at the 2016 Olympic Games.&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, when doing so you overlook the fact the twin sisters Anna and Lisa have quite a successful past in cross country running. And that the present and future for one of them is out there on trails.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anna Hahner, who has a lifetime best of 2:26:44 in the marathon, will be one of the most familiar names in action at the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships in El Paso on the Canary Islands from 1-3 July when she will contest the trail race over a distance of 47 kilometres.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;The reason I&rsquo;ve dedicated myself more and more to trails has a lot to do with the fact I&rsquo;m still enthusiastic about running, but my ambition for street racing isn&rsquo;t what it used to be. If you want to run with the best, you need ultimate commitment and must be able to push yourself to the limit in training,&rdquo; said Hahner.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[INSTAGRAM ID="https://www.instagram.com/p/CfUXdICODAh"]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When her equipment provider approached her and asked whether she&rsquo;d like to be part of the &ldquo;Everesting&rdquo; attempt by her fellow German Janosch Kowalczyk as a guest runner, the 32-year-old top athlete happily agreed.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She accompanied him part of the way on his endeavour to run 8,848 meters in altitude in one single day. &ldquo;I was overwhelmed and elated,&rdquo; says Hahner. &ldquo;It felt so right to run up and down through nature, although I didn&rsquo;t even intend to get into trail running.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That was pretty much exactly one year ago.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One thing led to another as the equipment company also has a line of running shoes for this terrain. Hahner, who is a successful and experienced street runner and coach of others, found herself in the role of student and has been taken under the wing of Marcel H&ouml;che who has introduced her to the peculiarities and specifics of trail running.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;Luckily, I didn&rsquo;t find it difficult to use a different type of running technique, and most of the transition was straightforward,&rdquo; says Hahner. &ldquo;Somehow, it was like when I started running, and I entered a new world with my eyes wide open, trained with others and copied them. Marcel showed me how much fun running downhill can be and what it&rsquo;s like to run proactively and basically switch off your brain. Meanwhile, I can trust my body to find the right way down a mountain.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[INSTAGRAM ID="https://www.instagram.com/p/Celr78MI38y"]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Running downhill is one of her strengths. It gives Hahner confidence to know that she can fly downhill without fear after a climb and be able to keep up with others. This might come as a surprise for someone who was - and will still be - running mainly on flat and technically undemanding surfaces.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What struck the rookie trail runner though, was the equipment that comes with trails. &ldquo;There you are at a race, studying the list of mandatory equipment &ndash; such as running clothes that cover your entire body in case of sudden weather changes &ndash; and you naively ask: &lsquo;We don&rsquo;t need to carry this with us today, do we?&rsquo; And the answer is: &lsquo;Ummh, yes you do!&rsquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;Moreover, the food and drink situation is different to city marathons, where you usually have a drink station every five kilometers. On trails, there might be a station marked at kilometer 11, but in reality it could be at 10.5 or 11.8 or 13 kilometers.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hahner remembers that she once had to fill up her flasks with water from a stream because she skipped a supply station and had underestimated the distance with all the vertical meters.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That there is competition between her and other athletes is clear: once the starting signal is given, the competitor in her comes out.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And still, trail running is so much more than that. Being at one with nature, managing unpredictable situations that don&rsquo;t exist in street racing, correctly assessing uphill and downhill and your own strengths and limits. &ldquo;How technical, how steep is a section?&rdquo; Hahner asks herself and she knows she will have to make on the spot decisions during the race.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It's something she does well: she won the Chiemgau trail at the beginning of April and the Rennsteig Marathon in mid-May. These performances helped Hahner to gain nomination for El Paso. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m honoured and proud to be able to wear my country&rsquo;s colours," she said. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The German star runner is not only looking forward to the competitions on the Canary Islands, but also the interaction with others with the mass participation element a strong component of these championships.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;In street racing, there are defined areas for specific groups while trail runners are one community. We all sit at the same tables, regardless of our times or places because it&rsquo;s not primarily about competing against anyone but overcoming the distance and its difficulties,&rdquo; she said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[INSTAGRAM ID="http://www.instagram.com/p/Cd-96yposg3"]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hahner thinks the European Off-Road Running Championships are a stroke of genius &ldquo;because mountain running and trail running come together, because such an event is not only relevant for the media but also for the running community meeting there.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Where is her personal benchmark in El Paso? &ldquo;My goal is to run happily and with ease, get the best out of my body and accept the result I achieve with grace.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her focus for this and next year is on trails. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t mean that I won&rsquo;t be running any street races anymore. But I&rsquo;ve learned to listen to my inner voice and it tells me: see what else you can achieve in trail running,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships will be streamed live through the European Athletics website in its entirety from 1-3 July.</span></p>
<p><strong>Egon Theiner for European Athletics</strong></p>

<p><strong>All eyes will be on the Italian Martin Dematteis during the trail race as the inaugural European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships take place in El Paso in the Canary Islands, Spain from 1-3 July.&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The same eyes will be looking in vain for his twin brother Bernard, who is currently out-of-form due to injury and not part of the </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">squadra azzurra</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"When I talk about my sporting life, I automatically start talking about his, too," says Martin. That&rsquo;s logical: both were born on 24 May 1986 and brought up in Rore di Sampeyre, around 1000 metres above sea level in the Italian Province of Cuneo, where the Alps unite and separate Italy and France.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While all the other children chased a ball, the Dematteis brothers ran. When they got more interested, a trainer told them that they had runners&rsquo; DNA and it would be better for them to cultivate this. And so, their path was already set before the new Millennium started. They ran everything they could by the time they were 13: along roads, up mountains, through forests and across meadows.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"We never thought we would be so successful," says Martin, taking a look back in time. As a matter of fact, it rained titles and medals at national, continental and world level, in the individual as well as in team events.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There was one very special moment at the European Mountain Running Championships 2016 in Arco, when the Dematteis brothers approached the finishing line hand-in-hand after 12.3 kilometres of running with the thought of being </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">ex aequo</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> winners. The time scoring denied them double-gold. Martin won one second in front of his twin. &ldquo;It was an extraordinary moment,&rdquo; said the former world champion with pride.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gwP_LUyxscs" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It will be exactly six years to the day of this race on 2 July in El Paso. The northern Italian will compete in the Trail Race in the Canary Islands, over a distance of 47 kilometres that is new and relatively uncharted for him.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Before the pandemic, I used to run the classical, somewhat shorter mountain races. Then, my training runs started getting longer as I am coming toward the end of my career, and want to run 30, 40 and 50 kilometers.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"I wanted to qualify for the European Off Road Running Championships this year; I won the Italian Championship equivalent and became part of the team. I&rsquo;m still a bit nervous because it is a new challenge, but I&rsquo;ll bring all my courage and determination with me to the starting line."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Is this because there&rsquo;s pressure to win a medal?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Sure, I set myself goals and there is a certain pressure. I&rsquo;m not really worried about my opponents, more about the distance, as I am relatively inexperienced at it. Will I be able to manage the race and my strength well enough? And as for the medals: Italy cannot leave the Canary Islands empty-handed!"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The fact that Francesco Puppi broke his elbow in the second half of June and subsequently dropped out of the championships has been a hard blow for Team Italia. Puppi was second at the 2019 World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge in Patagonia and only beaten by Jim Whamsley from the United States.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Results are always at the forefront of title races but Dematteis hasn&rsquo;t forgotten why he started running. "Mountain runs mean everything to me. Yes, I also train on asphalt and can run a marathon in 2:17, but I&rsquo;m only really myself in the mountains on the ridges with the summits in my sights. That&rsquo;s when I feel like a fox or an ibex or an eagle. Then, I am happy and free!"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[INSTAGRAM ID="http://www.instagram.com/p/CSXY7fVsfND"]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It&rsquo;s this search for pure emotion that drives Dematteis. "Humans are part of nature, it&rsquo;s part of who we are to maintain this. Thus, running on trails brings together what goes together. It&rsquo;s not about speed or victories or defeats. It&rsquo;s about discovering your true self and your true vocation in life in a natural environment. Or rediscovering it."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And so to the Canary Islands. La Palma. El Paso. The nature here is stunning. Running is an experience. Martin Dematteis also knows that the island group is not really around the corner and that the ecological footprint left by these championships is not exactly small.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"But many participants are traveling in a small number of planes and that&rsquo;s acceptable,&rdquo; he believes. &ldquo;There is for and against just like in every other situation. While I also try to live as sustainably and climate-friendly as possible as I can at home, I still create pollution &ndash; solely through the fact that I drive my car. It would be a good idea to find future venues that can be reached using environmentally friendly transport."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Italian superstar is extremely positive about the new event format. "This is how it should be! Up, trail, up and down &ndash; I&rsquo;m really pleased it&rsquo;s all in one place, all within the framework of one event. We can celebrate a mountain and trail festival in El Paso and highlights like this will spur sponsor interest in our sport and maybe even make it into the Olympics. Not everyone will see it that way, but for me it would be the non plus ultra!"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Maybe Martin Dematteis might extend his career for a participation at the Olympic Games? Who knows. He himself remains uncertain whether he might one day consider the Ultra Trail. &ldquo;100 or more kilometers are a completely different category to 40 or 60 kilometres. I&rsquo;m not saying never. But I&rsquo;m also not saying yes right now.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><strong>Egon Theiner for European Athletics</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Maude Mathys is an off road running superstar and she is eyeing what would be a record-breaking fourth successive title in the mountain running events at the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships in El Paso, Spain from 1-3 July.&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The European Off-Road Running Championships is a new addition to the calendar, combining the disciplines of trail and mountain running. Mathys has won three successive titles at the European Mountain Running Championships and a fourth title would put her in rarefied company.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mathys is someone who might be considered to be the complete runner. The Swiss star can run the marathon in under two-and-a-half hours and was recently crowned national champion at this distance in Zurich. Yet there are reasons why she will not be competing at the European Athletics Championships in Munich in August &ndash; and these can be found in the great outdoors.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Although Mathys has set her sights on competing in the Olympic Games marathon in Paris in 2024 as one of her long-term career goals - as well as participating in the ski mountaineering event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina two years later - this year her focus is clearly on trails.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her love of this type of running is nothing new for the 35-year-old from Ollon in the Canton of Waad who excels both on the trails and in the mountain running disciplines.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[INSTAGRAM ID="http://www.instagram.com/p/Ce_2Vifr5lc"]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;I began doing this half a lifetime ago,&rdquo; said Mathys, who got into the sport by running through meadows and forests with her then-future husband.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;I wanted to keep up with him and wanted to get into running as a sport. I tried out almost all athletics disciplines in my youth &ndash; but I found stamina sports the most exciting and I specialised in them.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And with great success as well. Mathys has trained - and trained hard - and has achieved the targets on her training plan which have been put together by her coach Mael Bohren since last year.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her training programme is rigorous but Mathys follows it diligently. Sixty minutes of running means 60 minutes and not 58 minutes. And Maude Mathys would do another extra lap to reach the required time target.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;I love running outside and in the woods and I love that I keep discovering new places, wherever I am. I find all my favorite things in trail running. Running is such an easy sport. You just need shoes, pants and shirt and nothing more,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The fact that a backpack, water bottles, poles and head lamp are equipment needed - sometimes - in trail running is something the three-time European champion only partially accepts. &ldquo;I prefer being out for two or three hours at a time and so I don&rsquo;t carry much equipment. And by the time I&rsquo;m thirsty, I&rsquo;m already back home,&rdquo; she said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[INSTAGRAM ID="http://www.instagram.com/p/CN-Ud3mKN_p"]</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mathys has established a long and lucrative career with many more chapters likely to be written.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She has won the European Mountain Running Championships three times as well as the prestigious and lung-busting Sierre-Zinal race in Wallis, Switzerland three times, a race that is 31 kilometre, ranges over 2200 vertical metres and whose course passes five 4000-metre high mountains. The course record for women is 2:46:03 (unofficial), and (official) 2:49:20 both of which were set by Mathys.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;Distances between 20 and 40 kilometers suit me best, as I can play on all my strengths,&rdquo; she said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trail running has come a long way in recent years, has found acceptance and has also inspired more and more runners, says Mathys.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;This is great, as the more people who move, the healthier our society is. And trail running fits perfectly into the prevailing sentiment in terms of sustainability, climate protection and future thinking.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;But there is another side to this: the greater the number of people in the mountains, the more trash that&rsquo;s found there and then taking a plane to run in another country also leaves an ecological footprint,&rdquo; said Mathys.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mathys is conscious that people&rsquo;s intentions and actions are not in unison and educational work is needed. &ldquo;For my part, I try to be careful with resources and live green. When I travel, it&rsquo;s not only because running is my passion, but also because it&rsquo;s part of my job. And I almost always use my bike or train for my daily trips,&rdquo; she said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mathys will complete a special puzzle in El Paso on the Canary Island of La Palma. &ldquo;I know all the parts of this island group, bar one,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And I am pleased I will be in La Palma in a few weeks to run for a European Championship medal.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her programme includes the uphill mountain race and maybe also the up-and-down mountain race, although this is subject to change. &ldquo;I am currently somewhat injured as tendinitis and my Achilles are giving me problems and my training is suffering as a result. But I am going to enter to win and get medals. I think this new format of holding three disciplines in one place will be very successful and I really like it!&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Swiss athlete has won the Golden Trail Series, which was established by one of her equipment suppliers. &ldquo;It was a dream to win this competition. It was an important goal for me and I achieved it.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Although Mathys treasured these races and the attention they generated in the media, she says this is not where reputations are built. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;Title contests are more important,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;At the European Championships, you race for a place in the statistics books and for medals. No other race has the same meaning as a European or World Championship.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unsurprisingly, the Mountain Running and Trail Running World Championships in Thailand in November are another goal for Mathys. But while she might be looking beyond the European Championships in El Paso, this championship will be the next major target for the amiable athlete.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She has one final tip for anyone wanting to begin trail running: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t just train in your running shoes, but also in your swimming gear and on your bike. Do strength and core training. Become the most complete athlete possible and trails will be real fun.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The European Off-Road Running Championships will be streamed live through the <a title="" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/EuropeanAthletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">European Athletics YouTube channel</a> from 1-3 July.</span></p>
<p><strong>Egon Theiner for European Athletics</strong></p>

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European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships Features News

50 days to go to European Off-Road Running Championships

Strong British off-road team selected for Annecy

German Olympian Anna Hahner is seeking new challenges on the trails in El Paso

Martin Dematteis: "I’ll bring all my courage and determination to the starting line in El Paso"

Mathys sets sights on more gold in El Paso ahead of dual Olympic ambitions