WHY BRING AN ULTRA TRAIL RUNNING RACE TO THE SIBILLINI MOUNTAINS.

The Sibillini mountains are one of the most evocative places in the Marche region. A territory made of mountains, woods, ridges, villages, and trails, still strongly linked to its natural dimension. Trail running can help further enhance this heritage, attracting tourism that loves the mountains, nature, and sports.

Sport as a way to discover the territory

Those who run in the mountains do not simply cross a place. They live it, following paths, valleys, and ridges, and coming into direct contact with the land. Trail running can therefore become an important engine for outdoor tourism, capable of bringing runners, hikers, and mountain enthusiasts to the Sibillini from outside the region.

A race represents a first point of contact, but its value can go beyond the day of the event: those who discover these paths can return, travel them again, stay in the villages, and get to know local realities. Enhancing the mountains means, first and foremost, making them known. Bringing more people to the Sibillini, while respecting the environment and its balance, means increasing awareness of their value and helping to build a stronger and more responsible relationship with this territory.

Tourism that can support the territories

An event dedicated to trail running can also become a tool for raising awareness about the role of the Sibillini Mountains National Park and the importance of protecting the mountain environment. Running on these trails means dealing directly with a delicate ecosystem. It means understanding why path maintenance, respect for flora and fauna, waste management, and a responsible approach to visiting the mountains are fundamental elements. The presence of a sports community can therefore generate a more conscious relationship with the territory. Knowing a place is often the first step toward learning to respect it.

There is also an economic and social dimension. A trail running event involves much more than the athletes at the starting line. Runners, companions, families, and staff need to sleep, eat, travel, and experience the territory. This means involving accommodation facilities, restaurants, local businesses, and services. In territories characterized by small municipalities and villages, even a temporary flow of visitors can become an opportunity to create new connections and raise awareness of businesses that normally remain outside the main tourist circuits. The idea is to build tourism linked to the mountains, nature, and sports, capable of distributing its presence across the territory and going beyond hit-and-run tourism.

Fessura Ultratrail GSR as a starting point

This is the vision underlying the Fessura Ultratrail GSR. The Edition Zero does not want to be just a race, but the first step toward a project capable of bringing together sport, nature, tourism, and territory.

In addition to the Sunday races, the program opens on September 26th with a challenge looking toward the future: 5 athletes will set off from Amandola to travel the entire Grande Anello dei Sibillini, approximately 140 km and over 5,000 meters of elevation gain, in complete self-sufficiency. A real mission in the field to test the route and lay the foundations for a future ultra in the Sibillini. For two days, Amandola and the Sibillini Mountains thus become a meeting point for runners, mountain lovers, sports associations, and running communities, creating a space for sharing that goes beyond competition. Races, walks, training sessions, talks, and meeting moments allow people with different experiences and levels to experience the mountains together.

Fessura Ultratrail GSR is also a charity event, with support for the ANFFAS Sibillini, because enhancing a territory also means supporting the people and the realities that live there every day. Bringing trail running to the Sibillini therefore means creating a reason to arrive, get to know these places, and meet those who live there. But above all, to create a reason to return. Because a race lasts one day. A relationship with a territory can last much longer.