The eighteenth edition of Arrancabirra®, the ultimate fun trail by VDA Trailers, brought 1000 runners dressed as every mythology imaginable to the heart of the Aosta Valley.

On the course appeared Anubis in trail sandals, Thor with hammers replaced by one-litre beer mugs, the usual senators, reborn samurai, Chinese dragons gasping at the second kilometre, Valkyries in tights, and even an Atlas who tried to bribe the judges with polenta and craft beer. There were Neptunes and Medusas, Leprechauns arguing with Lords of Darkness, Gods of Metal and even a Maradona juggling a beer can.

The jury — made up of former Arranca Olympians, a druid, and a Siberian goat — had quite a hard time deciding the winners of the “Best Costume” award. After a heated debate at the foot of Mont Blanc (and a crate of beers), the trophy went to Neptunes and his seahorses.

Now, for the sporting part (so to speak): on the men’s podium stood the warrior Björn Yeastson, who devoured kilometres and beers in 2h08’33”, followed by the Celtic Jager McPint (2h11’12”) and the Egyptian Ram-Beerhotep (2h16’57”). On the women’s side, victory went to the Amazon nymph Sveva Weissbier in 2h37’45”, followed by Iris Luppolata (2h55’03”) and the Celtic shaman Branwen MacAle (3h01’40”).

No, that’s not true — we looked at the wrong rankings. Sorry.

Breaking the French dominance was Cupid Maxim Neganov, who downed six beers and covered the 18 km in 2h34’34”. Aurélien Petitjean, a familiar face in past editions, followed in 2h35’35”, and Francesco Auxilia came third in 2h40’11”. With a dark magic spell, the witch Martina Ghiglia won the women’s race in 3h11’56”, ahead of a staggering Michela Caprile (3h14’37”) and a hallucinating Alice Berga (3h23’43”).