The challenging weather conditions encountered in this year’s various Championships continued with the 2025 North & Central American Skyrunning Championships in Mexico, October 11, 2025, featuring the SKY discipline – but great performances were delivered by new Champions Joseph Demoor (USA) and Jael Morales (MEX).
The Pico de Orizaba, the highest volcano in North America and the highest mountain in Mexico were the site of the championships at the Reto Vulcano – 40 km long with 2,600m vertical climb to 4,440m altitude. An extra challenge to the thin air was provided by a hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico, bringing rain, clouds, and snow on the last 300m of the race.
American Joseph Demoor is no stranger to skyrunning with the 2022 and 2024 VERTICAL World Champion titles under his belt. On Saturday, in the SKY discipline, he added another gold medal to his collection.
“Reto Vulcano delivered a great experience and the running community in Mexico has been amazing, super-welcoming. The course was pretty incredible – challenging, varied, and fun. Getting to experience the high altitude and beautiful terrain alongside my team and fellow runners were the highlights, the win was a bonus. Thank you to everyone who made this race possible, I hope to be back someday!” he commented.
Demoor completed the race in 4h20’17”, followed by Mexican Justino Coronado and Marco Antonio Hernandez from Costa Rica, who tool silver and bronze respectively.
The women’s race was dominated by Mexican Jael Morales, closing in 5h03’02”, with more than 23 minutes over Callie Cooper from USA. The podium was completed by another American, Kasey Sutherlin.
The North & Central American Championships, hosted athletes from Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the United States who battled for the Continental Titles and the six medals split between the first three men and women.
The Grand Finale of the VK OPEN Championships will close the rich 2025 skyrunning season next weekend on October 18, 2025.
Continental and World Championships alternate annually on the skyrunning calendar and 2026, an even year, will be the turn of the biennial Skyrunning World Championships. The full calendar is still to be announced, but the highlight will be the Skyrunning World Championships in September in Spain, on the magic island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands. Full details will be announced shortly.
2025 NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICAN SKYRUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
MEN
Gold – Joseph Demoor (USA) 4h20’17”
Silver – Justino Coronado (MEX) 4h27’30”
Bronze – Marco Antonio Hernandez (CRC) 4h29’10”
WOMEN
Gold – Jael Morales (MEX) 5h03’02”
Silver – Callie Cooper (USA) 5h23’33”
Bronze – Kasey Sutherlin (USA) 6h09’28”
