Reina-Skyrunner (ENG) - Inefc Grceib

Reina-Skyrunner

This is a research project applied to women who compete in mountain races. It received funding from the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) of the Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Government of Spain, grant reference: 32/UPB/22, for the whole of 2022. In recent years, competitive participation in mountain races has grown exponentially worldwide. Able to take place in high, medium or low mountains, there are three modalities: in-line, vertical and ultra. Its great popularisation has meant that more and more people take on competitive challenges without the necessary preparation and without adequate means and guidance, with the consequent risk to health.

In the case of women competing in mountain races, this is especially concerning because of their physiology linked to the menstrual cycle. Failing to adequately assimilate training over time, together with low energy availability, could lead to serious effects of disruption, or even loss, of menstruation. Beyond possible fertility problems, amenorrhoea could condition low bone mineralisation which, in the short term, could result in stress fractures and, in the long term, in osteoporosis.

In 2020, two professors at the Institut Nacional d’Educació Física de Catalunya (Dr. Marta Carrasco Marginet and Dr. Silvia Puigarnau Coma), competitors at different levels and both passionate about mountain running, decided to start this joint research line which still today conceals multiple taboos in relation to women and which needs to be made visible through the rigour of scientific evidence. Thus, in recent years, collaboration agreements have been reached with the Spanish Federation of Mountain Sports and Climbing (FEDME), collecting very valuable data (new worldwide) at training camps of the Senior National Team (Boí, 2021) and the U-23 team (CAR of Sierra Nevada, 2021). At present, the aim is to continue advancing and to bring together the contributions of other universities with women researchers who are experts in fields of knowledge that will undoubtedly help to promote a research network applied to women competing in mountain races that becomes a national and international benchmark.

The general objective of the REINA-SKYRUNNER project is therefore to continue investigating, from a multidisciplinary perspective, which variables have an influence and how they interact in the sports performance of women competing in mountain races. Once this performance profile has been characterised, the ultimate aim of the network will be to generate methodological proposals, based on scientific evidence, to be implemented in the different training systems that both athletes and coaches can apply. All of this under the firm commitment to once again make the highest level of sporting performance compatible with an optimal state of physical and mental health.

publications

Piñol-Granadino, N., Carrasco-Marginet, M., Puigarnau, S., Espasa-Labrador, J., Cebrián-Ponce, Á., Gravina-Cognetti, F., Darder-Terradas, M., & Solé-Fortó, J. (2025). Associations between nutritional intake, body composition, menstrual health, and performance in elite female trail runners. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 10(4), 482. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk10040482

Puigarnau, S., Guinovart, N., Urquijo, I. & Alcaraz, S. (2025). Predictors and reasons for dropping out of long-distance mountain races. Apunts Educació Física i Esports, 159, 10-17. https://doi.org/10.5672/apunts.2014-0983.es.(2025/1).159.02

Espasa-Labrador, J., Osborne, J. O., Cebrián-Ponce, Á., Puigarnau, S., Planas, T., Rosales, Q., Irurtia, A., & Carrasco-Marginet, M. (2025). Calcaneal Bone Mineral Assessment in Elite Female Trail Runners. Journal of clinical densitometry : the official journal of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry, 28(1), 101555. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocd.2024.101555.

Silva, A. M., Campa, F., Stagi, S., Gobbo, L. A., Buffa, R., Toselli, S., & Silva, D. A. S., … ,Irurtia, A., Castizo-Olier, J., et al. (2023). The bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) international database: Aims, scope, and call for data. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 77(12), 1143–1150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-023-01310-x

Vallverdú, M., Ruiz-Muñoz, A., Roca, E., Caminal, P., Rodríguez, F. A., Irurtia, A., & Perera, A. (2017). Assessment of heart rate variability during an endurance mountain trail race by multi-scale entropy analysis. Entropy, 19(12), Article 658. https://doi.org/10.3390/e19120658

Carmona, G., Roca, E., Guerrero, M., Cussó, R., Nescolarde, L., Irurtia, A., Brotons, D., Bedini, J. L., & Cadefau, J. A. (2015). Sarcomere disruptions of slow fiber resulting from mountain ultramarathon. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 10(8), 1041-1047. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2014-0267

CONGRESSES

Gravina, F., Guinovart, N., and Carrasco Marignet, M. (2024, November). Hematological and iron metabolism profiles in elite female trail runners: Descriptive analysis and comparison with reference values. Communication on 2nd International Conference on Hiking and Mountain Sports and 3rd International Conference Women and Mountains, at Catholic University of Valencia, San Vicente Mártir, Valencia, Spain

Cebrián-Ponce, Á., Marini, E., Stagi, S., Carrasco-Marginet, M., & Irurtia, A. (2024, 1-2 de febrero). Cambios en los fluidos corporales y musculares en trail-runners. IV Congreso Anual Internacional de Estudiantes de Doctorado, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España.

Guinovart, N., Puigarnau, S., & Piñol, N. (2024). Hormona profile, bone metabolism, and performance in elite female trail runners: A correlational and multivariate study [Comunicación oral]. 2nd International Conference on Hiking and Mountain Sports & 3rd International Conference Women and Mountain, València, España.

Irurtia, A., Espasa-Labrador, J., Noriega, Z., Cebrián-Ponce, Á., Puigarnau, S., & Carrasco-Marginet, M. (2022,14-16 de julio). Metabolismo Óseo y Perfil Hormonal en Corredoras de Montaña [Comunicación oral]. International Journal of Kinanthropometry, 2(S1), 130. https://doi.org/10.34256/ijk22S1. ISAK, Alacant, España.