For the first time in Peru, the third edition of the Skyrunning South American Championships marked an exciting three-day adventure with Peru, Chile and Brazil taking the top slots in the country ranking.
The three classic skyrunning disciplines, VERTICAL, SKY and SKYULTRA were held in Callahuanca in the Andes mountains at host venue, Marcahuasi Ultra Skyrunning from June 6-8, 2025.
With 27 medals at stake, seven South American countries battled for the individual, combined and country titles and medals.
The events kicked off on Friday, June 6, with the VERTICAL – a perfect Vertical Kilometer® 4.5 km long with 1,000m uphill climb topping out at 2,810m altitude, where Peruvian Fran Muñoz took the gold, one minute ahead of Bolivian Alvaro Quemaya, who took silver, and Cristobal Stack from Chile, bronze.
In the women’s race it was a fight between Nazareth Stack from Chile who took the gold, and Trinidad Ortiz from Peru, the silver. Veronica Galvan from Argentina took the first ever medal for Argentina with a bronze.
Saturday was the turn of the SKYULTRA, 59 km long with a gruelling 3,400m vertical climb close on 4,000m altitude. The tough course was dominated by local runners and saw Peruvians Emerson Trujillo and Sayda Quispe clinching the gold on home ground.
Trujillo is the reigning South American SKYULTRA Champion after the 2023 title in Brazil and a fifth place at the 2024 World Championships in Spain. This time he dominated the race from start to finish and crushed the competition winning by 22’ over Luis Soto from Chile and 40’ over Fernando Quiroga from Argentina.
“I’m very proud to have won this medal which I feel is more precious than the one I won in Brazil as I got it in my country. It gives me a great pleasure to welcome runners from across South America here, in my mountains, and to share the passion we all have for skyrunning. I hope this event will help South America grow strong in this sport and show the world the big potential we have here,” commented Trujillo.
Peru’s dominance was further underlined by Sayda Quispe, who won with almost half an hour advantage over Jasieli Della Rosa from Brazil and 45’ over Tamara Veliz from Chile.
Sunday’s SKY discipline was run on part of the SKYULTRA course, touching on the same 4,000m altitude, covering 37 km and 2,800m vertical climb. Again, the high altitude played a key role, an advantage for the Peruvian runners, with Fran Muñoz taking another gold medal and securing the COMBINED title, ahead of fellow countryman Octavio Chiri and Alvaro Quemaya from Bolivia.
Among the women, Peruvians Trinidad Ortiz, after her silver medal in Friday’s VERTICAL, took the gold, Yasmil Lopez, silver and Nazareth Stack from Chile secured the bronze.
The COMBINED title based on the sum of the VERTICAL and SKY results, saw Fran Muñoz taking his third gold medal, thanks to his incredible double win, Bolivia’s Alvaro Quemaya, silver and Rodrigo Chandia from Argentina, bronze.
The women’s COMBINED title was a close shave with Trinidad Ortiz and Nazareth Stack getting on both podiums, and finally getting gold and silver respectively with Brazil’s Ewelin Ribeiro with the bronze.
Ricardo Rivadeneira, Marcahuasi Ultra Skyrunning organiser, stated, “We are very happy about the success of this event. We are proud to have shown to so many strong athletes the beauty of Peru and of Marcahuasi Ultra, an event that they will for sure cherish in their memories, like we will for this high-level event.”
Seven teams from across South America took part with host country Peru coming out on top in the country ranking, followed by Chile and Brazil, while Bolivia, Argentina and Colombia also took points. Overall, five countries took home medals.
After three editions of the Skyrunning South American Championships, the high altitude and mountainous terrain, the passion and talent of the runners, demonstrate the growth and potential growth the continent has to offer.
Check out the full medal count on the new ranking page here: SSAC Rankings
ISF Ranking (updating)
SOUTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
VERTICAL
Men
Gold – Fran Muñoz (PER) 45’20”
Silver – Alvaro Quemaya (BOL) 46’22”
Bronze – Cristobal Stack (CHI) 46’36”
Women
Gold – Nazareth Stack (CHI) 54’43”
Silver – Trinidad Ortiz (PER) 55’13”
Bronze – Veronica Galvan (ARG) 58’03”
SKYULTRA
Men
Gold – Emerson Trujillo (PER) 6h27’34”
Silver – Luis Soto (CHI) 6h49’24”
Bronze – Fernando Quiroga (ARG) 7h06’44”
Women
Gold – Sayda Quispe (PER) 8h05’28”
Silver – Jasieli Dalla Rosa (BRA) 8h32’44”
Bronze – Tamara Veliz (CHI) 8h50’13”
SKY
Men
Gold – Fran Muñoz (PER) 3h50’39”
Silver – Octavio Chiri (PER) 3h52’25”
Bronze – Alvaro Quemaya (BOL) 4h01’33”
Women
Gold – Trinidad Ortiz (PER) 4h55’05”
Silver – Yasmil Lopez (PER) 5h02’10”
Bronze – Nazareth Stack (CHI) 5h12’00”
COMBINED TITLES
Men
Gold – Fran Muñoz (PER)
Silver – Alvaro Quemaya (BOL)
Bronze – Rodrigo Chandia (ARG)
Women
Gold – Trinidad Ortiz (PER)
Silver – Nazareth Stack (CHI)
Bronze – Ewelin Ribeiro (BRA)
COUNTRY RANKING
Gold – Peru
Silver – Chile
Bronze – Brazil
