Following the cancellation of the Minotaur Skyrace®, the circuit resumes its journey with a stop in Ecuador, returning to the Andes with the celebration of the Ibarra Skyrace®.

San Miguel de Ibarra, “The White City”, “The City One Always Returns To”, is a historic urban center with origins in the 17th century, rebuilt in 1872 after a devastating earthquake. It is located in the province of Imbabura, in the north, in Ecuador’s inter-Andean region. Its name comes from the Basque town of Ibarra, meaning “the valley” in euskera.

Ibarra lies in a valley crossed by the Tahuando and Chota rivers and the Yahuarcocha lagoon. But what interests us for skyrunning is its altitude, 2150 m above sea level, and especially the Imbabura volcano, whose summit is reached during the race, standing at 4640 m.

The race follows an OUT-BACK route, meaning runners ascend and descend along the same path, so all skyrunners cross paths at some point.

2000 meters of elevation gain over 21 km, already demanding on their own, are compounded by technical terrain, steep slopes, and altitude, with abrupt temperature changes.
The top contenders may not have much time to enjoy the scenery, but the entire race takes place in a magical setting, with breathtaking views of valleys, lagoons, and endless Andean peaks — a truly inspiring natural spectacle for mountain lovers.

The event spans the entire weekend with races for athletes of different levels:

• Km Vertical, 4,9km +975m
• Sky 9 KM. 8,5km +545m
• Sky 19 KM. 18,5km +1450m
• Sky 55 KM. 53km +3510m
• Sky 22 KM. 21,4km +2050m

Open Team conquers Ibarra

Undoubtedly, the Open Team was the absolute protagonist of the weekend. Naiara and Alain, Alain and Naiara, the representatives of the new professional team created in 2025, claimed victories in both the Saturday vertical and the Sunday Sky race.

Men’s Race: A battle until the final descent

Although José Manuel Quispe (PER/Merrell CIVA) and Frank Muñoz (PER/Adidas Terrex)set a strong pace uphill, Alain Santamaria (ESP/Open Team) and Marcelo Olivo (ECU) followed closely. Once they summited Imbaura, they could do nothing against the runner from Ezcaray, who proved unbeatable on the descent. After the long and technical downhill, he reached the finish line in 2:36:44, Marcelo Olivo followed 2:09 later. In third place, about 4 minutes behind, was José Manuel Quispe, Joaquin López (ECU/Kailas Fuga) finished 4th and Joaquín Izquierdo (ESP/OS2O Trail Team) fifth.

Although, according to Alain Santamaría, he experienced some difficulties due to the altitude around 4400 m, he recovered and made the decisive move in the final third of the race to secure victory in Ibarra.

Special mention to Ecuadorian Joaquín López, who, although this is not his specialty —he was 3rd at UTMB— did not want to miss this event in his home country, even though he resides in Barcelona.

Women’s Race: Absolute dominance by Naiara Irigoien

Women’s Race: Absolute dominance by Naiara Irigoien

In the women’s race, Naiara Irigoien (ESP/Open Team) found no match among her competitors. Although Blanca Lumiquinga (ECU/Kailas Fuga) and Rosalia Zegarra (PER/Wild Mate) had shown excellent acclimatization in previous high-altitude races, they could not keep up with Naiara. This was the first victory for the Navarrese runner in the MSWS 2025, after the incident at Calamorro Skyrace® and a brief recovery break.

She consolidated her lead on the ascent and managed the descent masterfully, finishing in 3:13:42, followed 6 minutes later by Blanca and over 16 minutes later by Rosalia. The top 5 was completed by Ecuadorian Ana Rocío Cancan and Colombian Paola Morales.

It is worth noting that due to rapid weather changes —at these impressive altitudes the climate shifts quickly— only 7 women reached the finish line.nes.

This race counted toward the Trofeo U23 Esteban Olivero.
Claudia Corral (ESP-Scarpa), in addition to finishing 6th in the women’s category, was also the top U23 finisher.

Overall

With participation spread across other major international trail events —from GTWS in Mexico to the Marathon du Mont Blanc, Lavaredo UltraTrail, and Western States— the Ibarra Skyrace featured fewer regulars from the circuit. However, this gave South American athletes who ran the previous American races, Mexico Skychallenge and Andes Mountain Marathon, a chance to consolidate their positions for the SkyMasters and gain visibility.

Here is the overall:

Joining the already qualified athletes is José Manuel Quispe, who once again earns his spot at the SkyMasters. Athletes already qualified for the final:

Denisa Dragomir (ROM – Merrell)
Iris Pessey (FRA – Scott Running)
Rens Nijman (NED – Klub.run)
Luca Del Pero (ITA-Scarpa)
Frederic Tranchan (FRA-Merrell)
José Manuel Quispe (PER-Merrell CIVA)

Next stop: Perú – Ultra Trail Cordillera Blanca

We move from Ecuador’s inter-Andean region to the heart of the Peruvian Andes, to the Cordillera Blanca in Huaraz, Ancash region, at an average altitude of 3050 m above sea level, once again reaching up to 4510 m, starting from 3228 m.

Although the 23 km and +/- 1450 m of the Cordillera Blanca Skyrace® may not seem too demanding, the altitude and terrain make it an extremely tough and 100% sky race.

Many of the protagonists from the Ibarra Skyrace will return… we’ll have to stay tuned to see if the results repeat.