World masters champion Sally Gibbs will be one of the oldest competitors in Sunday's world mountain running championships in Italy but has high hopes of finishing much higher in the field of 99 than her age.
The 49-year-old from Katikati has had a good winter, winning the Huntly half marathon in 1h 17m 46s, setting a New Zealand masters marathon record of 2h 41m 15s on the Gold Coast in July, placing fifth in the national senior women's cross country championship and winning in the Waikato Bay of Plenty 10km road championships. Last Sunday she also won a race in the Dolomites in northern Italy.
Gibbs will be joined on the starting line in the women's championship in Ponte di Legno by fellow Kiwis Helen Rountree (Hamilton) and Anna Frost (Dunedin) who is now based in Wales.
Rountree won the Mt Maunganui mountain race last December and was third in the New Zealand mountain running championship in April. Frost is the 2009 Commonwealth uphill champion and the 2010 New Zealand champion.
Italy's Valentina Belotti, who won in 2009, and 2010 champion Andrea Mayr of Austria are among the favourites in the women's race.
