tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24114872079815819452024-03-22T04:01:32.650+01:00www.andysymonds.fr : les courses, les photos, les dessins...Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-21838706307774486142022-06-04T21:28:00.026+02:002022-06-08T18:57:02.571+02:00HIKE&FLY<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">taking off from the top of the Grand Serre, 2141m</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRo0pBwQvwwXUcMuLjX-jqqJsEh82JwAAdgYiwtoCYHbr2OTMvMRWfG3mqhEJOXuN3jvxgFtvosDwAtkTlMhzEF2PWFESZ45c067qsW5gXYONBvLeuP0uzAgt2G7yL8qVENWvkqhua1njZbZd0fB3jxx_zq1JzeOzfcGckN2y5IwyRxY_cok3Gnio9/s1280/IMG_0964.JPG"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRo0pBwQvwwXUcMuLjX-jqqJsEh82JwAAdgYiwtoCYHbr2OTMvMRWfG3mqhEJOXuN3jvxgFtvosDwAtkTlMhzEF2PWFESZ45c067qsW5gXYONBvLeuP0uzAgt2G7yL8qVENWvkqhua1njZbZd0fB3jxx_zq1JzeOzfcGckN2y5IwyRxY_cok3Gnio9/s320/IMG_0964.JPG" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">THE GRAND SERRE HIKE&FLY PROJECT</span></b></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><b>WHY</b> : Running and paragliding make for a perfect combo! Gliding down saves smashing your legs and it provides you some time and a seat from which you can really savour the views.<br /><br /><b>WHAT</b> : The concept was to see how much vertical gain I could accumulate in a 24-hour period, hiking up and flying down.<br /><br /><b>WHERE</b> : I chose the race route of the Grand Serre vertical kilometer. It's very steep and it has nice take off and landing opportunities. The only downer is the shape of the valley can often make for some strong winds. This was the case on Sunday morning.<br /><br /><b>WHEN</b> : The flying regulations sensibly dictate that to fly through the night you need to be within a couple of days of a full moon. It also made sense to go for a relatively long day, and ideally one which shouldn't be to complicated weather-wise. So I aimed to find a slot close to the full super moon of mid-May 2022.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i>one of the early climbs - this was the flat bit</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOW-WnZ86NQOsgSBnhQgdLRywP6QeAi9cy7Xkh-9_AbTK39X_WblzGydBKvw9omdZ3be9IJZLb-tanIrMTb5loOL3F_Mcg89OeeGWodJ0a1_gWU_PXzITdigBIZ3mdJPrTkgoB0bHk1zVLFoR-ztnSAFtvgsdUbUnAKedenp2IPdRT6UNNF0_fdxZ/s320/7C1EC1ED-9AE9-4097-8BE4-448E2413D32A.jpg" /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Mini résumé:</b></span></div></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">What an experience! As the final days and hours counted down, the idea of running and flying right through the night did become a little daunting, as does embarking on anything physical for a full non-stop 24-hour period. But the excitement of the whole concept totally counterbalanced any tendency for pessimism to creep in! As with a long running race, the beginning was easy - the legs were good, and the fatigue towards the end was also relatively easy to deal with - as the finish line was in sight. It's always the middle bit of these long, silly challenges which are hard, mainly mentally, as the muscular wear and tear starts to creep in, yet you're aware that there's still an awful long way to go. I listened to a bit of music for a couple of lonely climbs in the night, and observed the insect life taking over the forest floor, but mainly just the thrill of knowing where I was going and what I was doing, and the whole uniqueness of it all, made the adventure quite a pleasant one!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I was extremely lucky to have so many factors align for the weekend. I'd got the permit, but it wasn't flexible. The full moon wasn't going to hang around for the following weekend either. The forecast on Sunday was touch and go, so last minute I pulled the start forward by 6 hours, to start midday Saturday. The wind was ever present and it moved in direction, meaning a number of different take-off points were used throughout, but it was always quite a gentle wind, meaning the take-offs were simple (bar one, for which a tail-wind picked up:-). Down at the landing zone there was often quite a bit of wind, but that made for some relatively straightforward near-vertical landings. In the between time I had about ten minutes, to sit, to eat, to enjoy the views,.. I'd usually do a few 360s and sometimes fold the tips of the wings in, to gain a couple of minutes on the downhill, but often it was nice to use this phase to soak in the views and recover.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Packing my glider into the bag after the very first landing I noticed that one of the middle lines had snapped - it turns out I'd caught it on a rock on the very first take-off. I swapped it for a spare I had and fortunately had no further technical incidents!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On Sunday morning, the moon set, the sun rose, and I started working out how many more loops I could get in. Just before 8am I reached the top for the 15th time, and I could feel the wind was strengthening. It was ok though. The flight was fine, I landed and started making my way back up for number 16. I was now confident that 17 loops would be possible. Nearing the top of number 16 though I could feel the breeze really picking up. Matthieu confirmed my fears at the summit, "it's too windy and gusty, it would be dangerous to fly now". A strong southerly had built up, which was interrupted by regular easterly gusts, bubbling off the sun-clad slope of the steep east-facing ridge. I got the glider out nonetheless, waited for a break in the wind. I waited. But it never came. Glider folded, I ran back down, making my 16th descent of the Grand Serre, but my 1st by foot. It was a slightly frustrating way to finish, but all things considered - everything else went perfectly, so no complaints! I guess it just means that the record is beatable, and maybe I'll have to have another go, one day ;-)</div></span></div></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">Matthieu - who spent the entire night on the top of the hill, advising me on take off directions</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2zS3P62t_PX7X-H9LGkXMhf4u2COUDXRu8jeQgmSQADvJiDGjmNYVI2zD_u8Vs-l18lF81BQnLU9l7_Dpv-OVDr7IMmlqnjdnS2xfOTh5NUu4Kj2iSSuEHQgXfmRkO9fKk3GhUTghd6puHeVcPQENdLqmjii1m1_O9crZbkWfarAeJGDiln9TQ-S/s1280/_F3A2448_Nik.JPEG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2zS3P62t_PX7X-H9LGkXMhf4u2COUDXRu8jeQgmSQADvJiDGjmNYVI2zD_u8Vs-l18lF81BQnLU9l7_Dpv-OVDr7IMmlqnjdnS2xfOTh5NUu4Kj2iSSuEHQgXfmRkO9fKk3GhUTghd6puHeVcPQENdLqmjii1m1_O9crZbkWfarAeJGDiln9TQ-S/s320/_F3A2448_Nik.JPEG" /></a></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">and occasionally attempting to hook on for a ride down</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2cf7C1l5S39jJO6_etzMKFlM-TdF30Igz_dZRvHlfBO9RfAhs5_44o-hAVXqIsBV-9HwJDhT4F_C0PojlBt7-wvINzxsEj0AvBralns0Ysu62wwYFetRmBEYEeH9Xu5DyJhtN-uQo6A51n6elKNtyqWnwO10EzYzM1oZlCFEQsTG_I6TPW0jXoEVd/s1792/Andy%20Matt%20Mai%202022.JPEG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2cf7C1l5S39jJO6_etzMKFlM-TdF30Igz_dZRvHlfBO9RfAhs5_44o-hAVXqIsBV-9HwJDhT4F_C0PojlBt7-wvINzxsEj0AvBralns0Ysu62wwYFetRmBEYEeH9Xu5DyJhtN-uQo6A51n6elKNtyqWnwO10EzYzM1oZlCFEQsTG_I6TPW0jXoEVd/s320/Andy%20Matt%20Mai%202022.JPEG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">checking the gear before take-off</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasZQtN4Th_e3h0p39NcVOQ2VrRluiivYY4dshLk7O2u_B5MlsLVEpKuXQdG0c6KFR1KCXGC-eHYB_0QniXoaxmjBWU3pv6D7CPkJn9YrkJ7c0b2hnRlDw65wHVj9mcHBWpWMFTFc9h5TAvZva_soDvt4SkxFAaUadrzLBHhgd-VpehKBcV3kOtG3A/s2880/_F3A2515_Nik.JPEG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasZQtN4Th_e3h0p39NcVOQ2VrRluiivYY4dshLk7O2u_B5MlsLVEpKuXQdG0c6KFR1KCXGC-eHYB_0QniXoaxmjBWU3pv6D7CPkJn9YrkJ7c0b2hnRlDw65wHVj9mcHBWpWMFTFc9h5TAvZva_soDvt4SkxFAaUadrzLBHhgd-VpehKBcV3kOtG3A/s320/_F3A2515_Nik.JPEG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">enjoying the ride</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLsY_00SziWQAevBJwag15KboOJIibi6M_hQOXoXdh_8luQTfMk3OIwQEbYu4HjvOYX3vG0yGZAnV4IP8ump4RwNNDSofEpKZRn8WIu95kbTMv26ZSAokVQREpOmmkbShYoni1Gl3c4OIzpReyw_mmoTjRLfWVWll5M5FcVISFHJoDhK6CUnjl535/s1826/bd52ca49-60e7-4bb3-9d21-e9ef04212238.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLsY_00SziWQAevBJwag15KboOJIibi6M_hQOXoXdh_8luQTfMk3OIwQEbYu4HjvOYX3vG0yGZAnV4IP8ump4RwNNDSofEpKZRn8WIu95kbTMv26ZSAokVQREpOmmkbShYoni1Gl3c4OIzpReyw_mmoTjRLfWVWll5M5FcVISFHJoDhK6CUnjl535/s320/bd52ca49-60e7-4bb3-9d21-e9ef04212238.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">As for the stats :</div></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>HIKE </b>: 38km | 16976m | 16h14</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzyiy9iv11oedNXxEJwO9eoncgqkNX3wdylYBrGi7Da7knUOokl-xXo5CVJCiIu2QEiUBeAFAAeYDkUXcmG-JtcTFmzb5T4onNHpIE9Nxa4tA15GrubVdudTuAyUT72KlxW6fPtVCMMbZvD7RvQBmcpMfJKrtCUtULlUfbih8gXCJ4VZUxEyx1mo0/s1440/F837912F-1D77-4626-B554-8DA19B7DC984.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzyiy9iv11oedNXxEJwO9eoncgqkNX3wdylYBrGi7Da7knUOokl-xXo5CVJCiIu2QEiUBeAFAAeYDkUXcmG-JtcTFmzb5T4onNHpIE9Nxa4tA15GrubVdudTuAyUT72KlxW6fPtVCMMbZvD7RvQBmcpMfJKrtCUtULlUfbih8gXCJ4VZUxEyx1mo0/s320/F837912F-1D77-4626-B554-8DA19B7DC984.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>FLY</b> : 67km | 2h25</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfuVq1l6x5UHfMxmZbPQEnw3lAgJQPgkDeXXdcexCaS63xEyXfMotk6tfrdLyLtT10kZ2eTRuspqToe3PK7gByNWpc2Mp1togLH39qVLU323_vkr6qepGCnblh51NuYmXNt4W4Qa-zx-Uhg9eyK0q-WWNftCG22ag1DpZjD3I6jH7CytT9Xjup8C3/s2537/IMG_0925.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfuVq1l6x5UHfMxmZbPQEnw3lAgJQPgkDeXXdcexCaS63xEyXfMotk6tfrdLyLtT10kZ2eTRuspqToe3PK7gByNWpc2Mp1togLH39qVLU323_vkr6qepGCnblh51NuYmXNt4W4Qa-zx-Uhg9eyK0q-WWNftCG22ag1DpZjD3I6jH7CytT9Xjup8C3/s320/IMG_0925.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>TRANSITIONS</b> : 1h54</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIQlyM7HSQqu3PO2_GNnw9-jY0uFROkatLVjsqxyvcoDBsOODc34QwskLza-MpMxM64unqChWdjAD7dN7CO2s8CJzhMDxe4PfzbLjNwSpYd2XlDKhyHIngfc4LR65OcVbpdFbnVoATeHisCKfGwhzDI-PmlQZvh2dBH_Loo2EoVZOkiBlvOl6ea1d/s1527/IMG_0920.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqIQlyM7HSQqu3PO2_GNnw9-jY0uFROkatLVjsqxyvcoDBsOODc34QwskLza-MpMxM64unqChWdjAD7dN7CO2s8CJzhMDxe4PfzbLjNwSpYd2XlDKhyHIngfc4LR65OcVbpdFbnVoATeHisCKfGwhzDI-PmlQZvh2dBH_Loo2EoVZOkiBlvOl6ea1d/s320/IMG_0920.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">stats summary</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1quSx-vy4GvJoRsno96KYOdHc36CJ9r0w5pb9eXDz2MqnCxpJ-VqphAjnKJpBLABg52m_VRd2_hjKkWfASrvDxn_DCjw6Wr0T1DdCBw3_keDPMt45IUkH2-iIsIkXzJqdFPMNVCbhWF5muvTdXju0jFbqUnm4RLxVtswXqAa-rmZRhS9C_QKUKHW/s2174/HIKE&FLY%20STATS.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1quSx-vy4GvJoRsno96KYOdHc36CJ9r0w5pb9eXDz2MqnCxpJ-VqphAjnKJpBLABg52m_VRd2_hjKkWfASrvDxn_DCjw6Wr0T1DdCBw3_keDPMt45IUkH2-iIsIkXzJqdFPMNVCbhWF5muvTdXju0jFbqUnm4RLxVtswXqAa-rmZRhS9C_QKUKHW/s320/HIKE&FLY%20STATS.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">the path</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVq3Bh08w3kX3jGaW8rS4SYtGdStzSko7-cumuR9HpX3FvzMi1884lsxq9qwfEhUVSniYY7FNxHfNiSXIUAv4zNNmg4Gxo1W3UiQbm4uKYfTxBZfW6p5spqyvGc1WkpIDz6A9-Dmn7MnhQpddzI5SdhMIqYLs5NSGvqjRjYZCEDIHHeRMQTHDHv5W/s1440/5CEE4E8A-75C4-46DE-8026-865B4A453523.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVq3Bh08w3kX3jGaW8rS4SYtGdStzSko7-cumuR9HpX3FvzMi1884lsxq9qwfEhUVSniYY7FNxHfNiSXIUAv4zNNmg4Gxo1W3UiQbm4uKYfTxBZfW6p5spqyvGc1WkpIDz6A9-Dmn7MnhQpddzI5SdhMIqYLs5NSGvqjRjYZCEDIHHeRMQTHDHv5W/s320/5CEE4E8A-75C4-46DE-8026-865B4A453523.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;">hiking and flying makes you smile</div></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8QmsVcfRHB6EQsM5qeLadOVN8ndqAX3A6IQumiUGmFGJqca2ayxAvG_vcWdiSD_8hpzm3n7SBotiIcMYDURR3rpkcwnkgqg9OLxDnOL8WVJ3giv2ckgm9wXlDVrTK_eYiqGcS7Srfgivksa-ooC7kPND_ndtPrtTAdsKGCXf0Q140UF2UPsdUs6p/s2783/IMG_0919.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8QmsVcfRHB6EQsM5qeLadOVN8ndqAX3A6IQumiUGmFGJqca2ayxAvG_vcWdiSD_8hpzm3n7SBotiIcMYDURR3rpkcwnkgqg9OLxDnOL8WVJ3giv2ckgm9wXlDVrTK_eYiqGcS7Srfgivksa-ooC7kPND_ndtPrtTAdsKGCXf0Q140UF2UPsdUs6p/s320/IMG_0919.JPG" /></a></div></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Many thanks:</b></span></div><div><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Scott (kinabaluRC shoes and RC racing T + shorts)</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ozone (XXLite2 16 and F*Lite harness)</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Impossible without good quality, confortable and <u>very light</u> kit!</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>And my friendly crew and helpers :</b></span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Matthieu de Quillacq</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Martí Pérez</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tayla Strauss</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Iris Pessey</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Christophe Clerc</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jérémie Marcuccilli</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bruno Aloïs (some of the beautiful pics above)</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yann Audouin (some of the other action pics, and video coming)</span></p><p style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.847); font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nicolas Rovira</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><br /></div>Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-66353866877489040652020-10-04T16:18:00.003+02:002020-10-04T16:18:53.268+02:00Trail Saint Didier<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Merci aux Mollets Pétillants pour ce trail de Saint Didier ! C'est la 6ème fois que je participe à celui-ci, ça doit me plaire ;-)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Et surtout ces passages dans les jolies combes caillouteuses des Monts de Vaucluse :-)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/#"></a><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWjiPbCMlJBjv35ahORHcCr4uVEwCsCc5E1Z_n7GCSxOOfddVYL8jRJc7ufK5X47ZJlhpNgiS6DrK53W8KxJO2HuXDffgy_OJggaxUDEnkOvOGDm_f1pIoJbD7AdciOifjyUc9SwZ8og/s400/combe+Capellan.jpeg" width="400" /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/4148740800/embed/4dd363aab0d92133b5e4dfa1d20bc267d6810303" width="590"></iframe>Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-6600000515856558822020-09-20T14:53:00.009+02:002020-09-21T19:13:55.648+02:00VVCC<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Le Var Verdon Canyon Challenge</span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a href="https://www.varverdoncanyonchallenge.com" target="_blank">Trail Entre deux rives - 60km</a></i></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sans doute l'un des plus beaux parcours que j'ai eu la chance de parcourir !</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaKL-qyVhsbBDmf62U3_c4gQ6j5gIbUMXBESVFtbxdmRRFLapN0sn6HG0p63DQYvGOoVkLEBP9FJgzk52NjErNvWeX9D-pu5O_Mmq-g6Huezer9nhxONkDNMsGwG5QYO-X924_LTEJ2i0/s2000/VVCC.jpeg"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaKL-qyVhsbBDmf62U3_c4gQ6j5gIbUMXBESVFtbxdmRRFLapN0sn6HG0p63DQYvGOoVkLEBP9FJgzk52NjErNvWeX9D-pu5O_Mmq-g6Huezer9nhxONkDNMsGwG5QYO-X924_LTEJ2i0/s320/VVCC.jpeg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nous sommes retournés se balader sur les premiers kilomètres en famille le lendemain, car les trois premières heures de la course se sont déroulées de nuit ! Ce qui avait donné une certaine ambiance ; - des gros crapauds au milieu du sentier à éviter, un chamois en bord de rivière, des échelles et les tunnels du sentier Martel,.. C'était encore plus <i>excitant</i> quand ma lampe s'est vidée 20 minutes avant le lever du jour. Oups !</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqi6U1vdKoPZYISKHoV32CKTVz8d0iLxGiGnJU9rNNu9ImHjgz2k9w1giLiCh_jslB_8yHXDMTMEtabc_VUghQU5vUSyJs-qO4wkOMrCPqUCZkl5Hv8LvvWmqb20kyzTf8bexLbEKF2dE/s4000/GOPR0501.jpeg"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqi6U1vdKoPZYISKHoV32CKTVz8d0iLxGiGnJU9rNNu9ImHjgz2k9w1giLiCh_jslB_8yHXDMTMEtabc_VUghQU5vUSyJs-qO4wkOMrCPqUCZkl5Hv8LvvWmqb20kyzTf8bexLbEKF2dE/s320/GOPR0501.jpeg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Quelques minutes avant 7h et le soleil commençait à éclairer les murs du canyon. Et c'était vraiment très beau ! J'aime bien courir une partie de nuit en fait, pour assister à <i>l'éclairage du paysage</i> à mi-course. Et très souvent les belles courses comme celle-ci augmentent mon niveau d'énergie et mon enthousiasme pour évoluer sur le sentier en toute vitesse ;-)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJxLgTo75yTZVueMDL_6aMQMNl7WEx8dIMZQhYHEudz_bW1byh67eQxeoCJG7cJAnDY9gWM3cSM969EwoJ970qUxK5_sxJ6XqYBtLm0DdyI3COl0agN7T9nNkbpVVfdjHfEPBABnGj1A/s4000/GPTempDownload+2.jpeg"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJxLgTo75yTZVueMDL_6aMQMNl7WEx8dIMZQhYHEudz_bW1byh67eQxeoCJG7cJAnDY9gWM3cSM969EwoJ970qUxK5_sxJ6XqYBtLm0DdyI3COl0agN7T9nNkbpVVfdjHfEPBABnGj1A/s320/GPTempDownload+2.jpeg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Les six heures et demie sont donc passées très vite. Parfois c'était très roulant et parfois c'était très très lent, caillouteux, raid, technique,.. Une belle dernière grimpette nous attendait au 50ème km, pour sortir des gorges, avant une descente caillouteux jusqu'au village d'Aiguines.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvFApn2sCS_VMfsWT8imVE3uYKtNSx2Eu1nP8JyF42fjGsmWa6v4tFStaQYJVC6_mr3eopebYVxdBYOtlQ4ZIcpVdzOhTeH33FdtieqdiBdhQmDJXO6WJBul18BfJz7JsRwK7b19UyUQ/s800/IMG_9095.jpeg"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvFApn2sCS_VMfsWT8imVE3uYKtNSx2Eu1nP8JyF42fjGsmWa6v4tFStaQYJVC6_mr3eopebYVxdBYOtlQ4ZIcpVdzOhTeH33FdtieqdiBdhQmDJXO6WJBul18BfJz7JsRwK7b19UyUQ/s320/IMG_9095.jpeg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Podium masqué - c'est étrange, mais toujours beaucoup mieux qu'une épreuve annulée.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fU9KeerebmF0okClnr62qevXJbUNbhUqvcjppvZF42k5OjTWUHkwkVYY9RTpSJwUa5H9PGNNFhTv0Q1-KPKxkKLlGfpIx4Ejm4lNITG4meovttWUJ70WqjepsuyRZvPeAp53iWlCjyo/s1440/13B7704B-7CFE-420B-91FB-D01DAAB99F23.jpeg"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fU9KeerebmF0okClnr62qevXJbUNbhUqvcjppvZF42k5OjTWUHkwkVYY9RTpSJwUa5H9PGNNFhTv0Q1-KPKxkKLlGfpIx4Ejm4lNITG4meovttWUJ70WqjepsuyRZvPeAp53iWlCjyo/s320/13B7704B-7CFE-420B-91FB-D01DAAB99F23.jpeg" /></span></a></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Voici le parcours :</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/4047037329/embed/86d83314a67beb82381baf6ea33f9ab5ff49a7b9" width="590"></iframe><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Et le top 10 :</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQ2c1TtHznNQsLtbE9RMI3amrw5s9jao1sJ2Faks0HdsfhKFLugSyBDLyBiZ-qMxhEvboXQq96rUR778DbZN9CxSVQnQYDMQtOqTFnEHhqr4K4585OsCGuaKg58qC6GLLL3ueo7Wvip4/s1686/Capture+d%25E2%2580%2599e%25CC%2581cran+2020-09-20+a%25CC%2580+14.33.40.png"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQ2c1TtHznNQsLtbE9RMI3amrw5s9jao1sJ2Faks0HdsfhKFLugSyBDLyBiZ-qMxhEvboXQq96rUR778DbZN9CxSVQnQYDMQtOqTFnEHhqr4K4585OsCGuaKg58qC6GLLL3ueo7Wvip4/s320/Capture+d%25E2%2580%2599e%25CC%2581cran+2020-09-20+a%25CC%2580+14.33.40.png" /></span></a></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Le départ ayant eu lieu à 4h du matin, j'ai pu profiter l'après-midi pour inspecter la première partie du trail depuis un autre angle ! Bref, un super weekend dans le Verdon :-) Bravo à l'origanisation et merci à tous pour l'accueil sur Aiguines !</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha7SoH1FppOKM1zbMYnzerdQI8cKMdO9fwCIsHa0I19Q3rsReGigcsGAcfDfcm7z5PqjQuzmdQFYT5bBFfMtuT8Epfl4GBVlmyhOrZWF7uCGW88T78KHt3gmxMdEDdTAI4tQNuiqrSfIY/s1920/GPTempDownload.jpeg"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha7SoH1FppOKM1zbMYnzerdQI8cKMdO9fwCIsHa0I19Q3rsReGigcsGAcfDfcm7z5PqjQuzmdQFYT5bBFfMtuT8Epfl4GBVlmyhOrZWF7uCGW88T78KHt3gmxMdEDdTAI4tQNuiqrSfIY/s320/GPTempDownload.jpeg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><br />Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-33709391309755293482020-07-29T18:38:00.008+02:002020-07-30T11:05:31.390+02:00MXTREME<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Il n'y aura pas beaucoup de courses cette année, c'était donc plus important d'en choisir une bonne, une belle et une costaude pour fin juillet ! Autant se faire bien plaisir et autant se faire bien mal !</span></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9HVY2wSjcNpx_STZFy2ntJx-0Vb6T7MNHfE9_A02Acc6r-8O1bMSXiKLDXJUljYvGugMWZtDTB10tz_IvFrfS5zYIsNsH2a_DTOzoidfyKMXvIjZZSuyZXElh2io2OXLF3qCs1iga0o/s2048/IMG_7925.jpeg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9HVY2wSjcNpx_STZFy2ntJx-0Vb6T7MNHfE9_A02Acc6r-8O1bMSXiKLDXJUljYvGugMWZtDTB10tz_IvFrfS5zYIsNsH2a_DTOzoidfyKMXvIjZZSuyZXElh2io2OXLF3qCs1iga0o/s320/IMG_7925.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">Le MXTREME est sans aucune doute l'un des plus beaux des ultra trails auxquels j'aurais eu le plaisir de participer. C'est aussi sans doute l'un des plus durs, physiquement. Dans tous les cas c'est une des courses qui m'a le plus cassé !! Mardi, trois jours plus tard, et les escaliers à la maison ne sont toujours pas évidents à négocier !</font></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">Les organisateurs de trails nous disent souvent, "tu vas voir c'est super beau et super technique"... et très souvent c'est vrai pour une partie du parcours, mais souvent il s'agit d'une portion limitée,.. souvent le descriptif est globalement un peu exagéré... Et de toute façon, on a chacun sa vision de ce qui est technique et ce qui est beau ! Il y en a qui trouvent les urbains-trails beaux, par exemple.. haha.. Par conséquence, avant de s'aligner sur une course qu'on ne connaît pas, on ne sait jamais trop à quoi s'attendre. Et cela fait parti de la beauté du sport, l'effet <i>découverte</i> et l'aspect <i>surprise</i> ! "On-sight" trail running on pourrait l'appeler, en empruntant le terme utilisé en escalade ;-)</font></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFWivA4gAPIR8-9dGOfUsxPDlj0dxugFEnpAYxM-9c3Djzce0OvVaVJwioH9DctaM35gSB4ZQ0jbDKoz-dbHIHC2m4NgJE-v_T9WmsyAyMK4oRS1zXaTZ_I38sIrcEtuPcRI2hrARyL2g/s1400/DSCF9974.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="933" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFWivA4gAPIR8-9dGOfUsxPDlj0dxugFEnpAYxM-9c3Djzce0OvVaVJwioH9DctaM35gSB4ZQ0jbDKoz-dbHIHC2m4NgJE-v_T9WmsyAyMK4oRS1zXaTZ_I38sIrcEtuPcRI2hrARyL2g/s320/DSCF9974.jpg" /></a></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">Il est 4h du matin à Bex, on enlève les masques et c'est parti ! D'abord pour un "échauffement" de 12km avec 2200m de D+ ! Donc environ deux heures de trail-escrime ! On aurait peut-être dû garder les masques en fait, et les lunettes d'ailleurs ! Le principal avantage des bâtons c'est que cela nous force à garder notre distanciation covid...</font></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmHqxCDCPQDLkihlBZ8GUXfB7ndEmTf5ngSuUH2LhMRcLKAKq3VJdOmtnW0ovtPeGYfJasYZB-uT_aMD04AafXALDoXU0P0UobkHY00O9-y55PgJ8oMFUY1FBFeZpJYBDCX3hE_7mweE/s2048/IMG_8016.jpeg" style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1459" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmHqxCDCPQDLkihlBZ8GUXfB7ndEmTf5ngSuUH2LhMRcLKAKq3VJdOmtnW0ovtPeGYfJasYZB-uT_aMD04AafXALDoXU0P0UobkHY00O9-y55PgJ8oMFUY1FBFeZpJYBDCX3hE_7mweE/s320/IMG_8016.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Le moment qui m'a marqué le plus pendant cette course était la découverte de ce paysage grandiose, à environ 6h du matin. Notre bascule à 2500m coïncidait avec cette transformation de noir en rouge, en bleu, en blanc, en toutes les couleurs. Et wow qu'il est beau ce massif qu'on est en train de traverser ! Rien de mieux pour se motiver !!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Après la longue montée depuis Bex, la descente qui suivait était longue et technique. Le groupe de tête d'une vingtaine d'escrime-coureurs se réduisait très vite à plus que 5 ou 6.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11uFwrQpXT-mBzNVlkuWqyks_QdMxZgRYcRrVPfqWz9p9cNf6P9hSWw0qhTWxRiC87321unZYDNtUtwOG_dyN63DCQv9x3PJhiRgGqpalhRNhF5mwb3qwlB7whU-Coixg7FOJaYU6Kn8/s2048/DSCF1289-Andy-%2540krummmy-Thierry-Krummenacher.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11uFwrQpXT-mBzNVlkuWqyks_QdMxZgRYcRrVPfqWz9p9cNf6P9hSWw0qhTWxRiC87321unZYDNtUtwOG_dyN63DCQv9x3PJhiRgGqpalhRNhF5mwb3qwlB7whU-Coixg7FOJaYU6Kn8/s320/DSCF1289-Andy-%2540krummmy-Thierry-Krummenacher.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Dans l'ultra le début est toujours très facile. Tout le monde est <i>sous contrôle</i>, on peut même chatter et tenter de pratiquer son espagnol appris sur duolingo pendant le confinement avec les coureurs castillanos ;-)</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghxERgnPxMuOB_QIIm77TT5OlZNkc64YiSK1B_9yr5Ad56gbQYZO7sePQNXah_qDTB4AkNkhB5IJDc-XHTHCV8IO2BgodgNck-KiVU3jdT2lUl7iBY4DqTZvEwqhrOrMHlK8nbmo4bKQM/s1799/8219efc3-9fb9-4293-8e14-30e429a51ace.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="arial"><img border="0" data-original-height="1799" data-original-width="1487" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghxERgnPxMuOB_QIIm77TT5OlZNkc64YiSK1B_9yr5Ad56gbQYZO7sePQNXah_qDTB4AkNkhB5IJDc-XHTHCV8IO2BgodgNck-KiVU3jdT2lUl7iBY4DqTZvEwqhrOrMHlK8nbmo4bKQM/s320/8219efc3-9fb9-4293-8e14-30e429a51ace.jpeg" /></font></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Mais quand on parle des <i>surprises</i> de l'ultra, on ne parle pas uniquement de la découverte du parcours... Au bout d'un moment t'auras forcément aussi la belle <i>surprise</i> d'une perte soudaine de la maîtrise de ton corps, de ton contrôle dans ce que tu es en train de faire ! Et ça peut aller très vite ! Un moment c'est trop facile, et quelques minutes plus tard tu ne vois pas comment tu vas arriver au bout, et il te reste encore 50km !!</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01HMitGQjZ8KHdX5-lyPHtYspKo87fg-IQRZZ9ShM0qDT8bc5mDWkSXb_SADKWTR4zPzivADSH6kx2-8UeWeLjKrmJ34BLPbsyoe-c_mSoQVTseqqqiQnN-GC3xjpRXTsxHCOkCar4Rw/s1500/DSCF1096.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01HMitGQjZ8KHdX5-lyPHtYspKo87fg-IQRZZ9ShM0qDT8bc5mDWkSXb_SADKWTR4zPzivADSH6kx2-8UeWeLjKrmJ34BLPbsyoe-c_mSoQVTseqqqiQnN-GC3xjpRXTsxHCOkCar4Rw/s320/DSCF1096.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Mais les phases de galère peuvent aussi passer, la fluidité et la facilité peut revenir. Il faut en profiter quand tout va bien et penser à autre chose quand tu as mal. Tu peux chanter des chansons de Freddy Mercury par exemple, après tout c'est le thème de l'événement - Queen a enregistré leur dernier album à Montreux.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwW3LkTIu09UQOxiZN1ntzGvVTHXPiIrIWMl1xyUU5PFbCjD7OGHk2SYGDsTlwr8LAMIGlz4ttq-JENhwGz-pqVVSLJbKlDaQ4me9NFr-Ms2eH72ljXh4FbA9OlHhh2qHO5bBxQDUeto/s1440/E6017620-8D18-4760-A55E-6C928A54FB7E.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwW3LkTIu09UQOxiZN1ntzGvVTHXPiIrIWMl1xyUU5PFbCjD7OGHk2SYGDsTlwr8LAMIGlz4ttq-JENhwGz-pqVVSLJbKlDaQ4me9NFr-Ms2eH72ljXh4FbA9OlHhh2qHO5bBxQDUeto/s320/E6017620-8D18-4760-A55E-6C928A54FB7E.jpeg" width="320" /></a></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Je finis donc 2ème, très loin derrière le local de l'étape, inspiré peut-être de courir à la maison le jour de son 38ème anniversaire. Félicitations et happy birthday à toi, tu as été rapide et costaud !</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSdfgw1zKycMlA1MaKMu9EzKVCLVwFzJBIx6sk2LR2pXR5-eW90q8XWlza9YaqK8vAAkmmvlBRP3NADphyW17HPhrFlQRB1f9slhRNnLx9wQytKNh-LeQqph-Bho2yQ-N4QviwafrsjM/s1798/Capture+d%25E2%2580%2599e%25CC%2581cran+2020-07-29+a%25CC%2580+12.52.01.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><font face="arial"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1798" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSdfgw1zKycMlA1MaKMu9EzKVCLVwFzJBIx6sk2LR2pXR5-eW90q8XWlza9YaqK8vAAkmmvlBRP3NADphyW17HPhrFlQRB1f9slhRNnLx9wQytKNh-LeQqph-Bho2yQ-N4QviwafrsjM/s320/Capture+d%25E2%2580%2599e%25CC%2581cran+2020-07-29+a%25CC%2580+12.52.01.png" width="320" /></font></a></div><font face="arial"><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div>Merci à l'organisation d'avoir réussi à maintenir cette course. Vu le contexte c'était pas du tout évident !</font></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">Montreux Trail Festival will rock you !</font></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><font face="arial">[running photos courtesy of </font></span></i><i><a href="https://www.visualps.ch/" target="_blank">www.visualps.ch</a></i><i><span style="font-size: small;"><font face="arial">]</font></span></i></div></div>Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-65084184841522597252020-03-03T20:38:00.002+01:002020-03-04T09:05:03.063+01:00TCC<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Running is perfect for exploring. It's slow enough that you have time to take in the surroundings (especially if it's an ultra you're doing), yet it's fast enough to progress through multiple environments within a single outing, and hence to see lots of different stuff over the course of a few hours, or half a day,.. or so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So what better way to explore Costa Rica than a six-day stage race down the west coast. Voilà the reasoning behind a February trip to Central America; a race entry to <a href="http://thecoastalchallengecostarica.com/" target="_blank">The Coastal Challenge</a>, combined with a family holiday in a wonderful part of the world that we'd not explored before!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Stage 1:</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was told to watch out, "it would be hot". And these were indeed wise words of wisdom! But honestly, who listens to wise words of wisdom, eh? Feeling confident, I went out at "morning run" pace; 3:50/km should be ok, it's flat. We quickly found ourselves together in a group with Mauricio Méndez (Xterra world champ) and César Lizano (Costa Rican Olympic marathon runner, competing in the short distance event at TCC). Perfect. Perfect until,.. BAM!! heat explosion!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1GYL05XQY5Q3bcj0fbMoeypVPuYN5WRoygH-IPmt3R08WtSJzDmcnT27ADF_DeEu2EHXIy1DpaGB6XhVJTlruHoDjOjir3Q41KX3G1yXrqKFMm5Sl41aa3tNfHBs_QKIhkf7Rkf73IE/s1600/TCC2020_Stage1-00633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1GYL05XQY5Q3bcj0fbMoeypVPuYN5WRoygH-IPmt3R08WtSJzDmcnT27ADF_DeEu2EHXIy1DpaGB6XhVJTlruHoDjOjir3Q41KX3G1yXrqKFMm5Sl41aa3tNfHBs_QKIhkf7Rkf73IE/s320/TCC2020_Stage1-00633.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">10km or so later,... first Mauricio slowed and backed off, in a </span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">(sensibly) </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">controlled manner, then a little later, I heat-bonked in a </span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">(not so sensibly) </span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">uncontrolled manner. The first stage rapidly switched from race-mode to survival-mode!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOda8ojUn7YkIzTD-bvRZ6eCS0_RNgh-J9MBpX8d3_czaJAC0RJdsd4hsqh1AURMacJLAqaHhCL6jDpDB-75zR1vNSRtR2aYaiQ9yaISbybAGNGbav01AztXgdTPMKGw9Ouhl4SB_F4FA/s1600/TCC2020_Stage1-01013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOda8ojUn7YkIzTD-bvRZ6eCS0_RNgh-J9MBpX8d3_czaJAC0RJdsd4hsqh1AURMacJLAqaHhCL6jDpDB-75zR1vNSRtR2aYaiQ9yaISbybAGNGbav01AztXgdTPMKGw9Ouhl4SB_F4FA/s320/TCC2020_Stage1-01013.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After the long fire-roads, the jungle section and the river crossings at the end of the stage were more than welcome!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVidiTXGxAwODHtKzKOYzCozWS3ptFEdkAG3_Cr-uGI6rvjAINPS2i8fwULR1_XiMaL2bDS-9VDoiaNWXZfD-EUmU_YF_vK-wYLLbZNMgRr0_2_l3QUEEcxoXdPLp_DKyk6c4yvQUqS3c/s1600/TCC2020_Stage1-01685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVidiTXGxAwODHtKzKOYzCozWS3ptFEdkAG3_Cr-uGI6rvjAINPS2i8fwULR1_XiMaL2bDS-9VDoiaNWXZfD-EUmU_YF_vK-wYLLbZNMgRr0_2_l3QUEEcxoXdPLp_DKyk6c4yvQUqS3c/s320/TCC2020_Stage1-01685.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig0_yY1ma7-c7TUxZ_CKOVPJ-Hwa2NZ5G9gk4KoMipOLEgQY8_nmZPcjXE4ZaNg2ReyXn6560TXnaNssDaDgqzsZGfUcxqMQEuQMWlXCndksrszG8mj0L8Qy8viSGC5N8jiEn9NgFElxU/s1600/TCC2020_Stage1-01705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig0_yY1ma7-c7TUxZ_CKOVPJ-Hwa2NZ5G9gk4KoMipOLEgQY8_nmZPcjXE4ZaNg2ReyXn6560TXnaNssDaDgqzsZGfUcxqMQEuQMWlXCndksrszG8mj0L8Qy8viSGC5N8jiEn9NgFElxU/s320/TCC2020_Stage1-01705.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Stage 2:</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Today was a chase. 2km into the stage we (leading group of 5) missed a turn. The Costa Rican chap (Eric) a couple of meters behind us didn't miss it, and he subsequently held on throughout the day to most of the 10-minutes he gained at this early junction. Until the last 10km of beach running, where Cody and I reeled a few minutes back. This was to set the pecking order for the majority of the race.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3_IqKnmSwKtVk1vZJbxddcAGujx6qnGy2372px0AjnEYDy_bJMYqoo4H6q9yJIWtDVUsp6HliXKIRAbVkLTMUkCIy2kVtXhSVUUnwRGa6bst92kzYXP3kpD2jKjeyzQu4yoizVFDWog/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-00635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3_IqKnmSwKtVk1vZJbxddcAGujx6qnGy2372px0AjnEYDy_bJMYqoo4H6q9yJIWtDVUsp6HliXKIRAbVkLTMUkCIy2kVtXhSVUUnwRGa6bst92kzYXP3kpD2jKjeyzQu4yoizVFDWog/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-00635.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Over the next few days Cody and I would share most of the days' trail-time.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pnlO6WXJbZ-UpS-Gszk6o9exQXatnAfFyP0K5UvkQii3ae6BzS5CklWWVeCSVZ1E8tfpCSVN8gIPz43pLVm80oIlJwCioMxZuWgzqEpn_d5MbNaV7IVlfuZv2zeqAQ6AFYPAK0M0wok/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-00638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pnlO6WXJbZ-UpS-Gszk6o9exQXatnAfFyP0K5UvkQii3ae6BzS5CklWWVeCSVZ1E8tfpCSVN8gIPz43pLVm80oIlJwCioMxZuWgzqEpn_d5MbNaV7IVlfuZv2zeqAQ6AFYPAK0M0wok/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-00638.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Which included stretches of beach running.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirw7sC0L3VmDX_Z1AY4iC676ZvOnACc5GO-1FTZOBaZx18BQlgL_IstF5-pz34w4joPBiwXE0nl0lz4vj0OqwXEQ9C3FGq5I88EUBNdN5d743-GdKjUcu1Jl2ydhT0AVVlO2lo6UAQ6lA/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-02764.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirw7sC0L3VmDX_Z1AY4iC676ZvOnACc5GO-1FTZOBaZx18BQlgL_IstF5-pz34w4joPBiwXE0nl0lz4vj0OqwXEQ9C3FGq5I88EUBNdN5d743-GdKjUcu1Jl2ydhT0AVVlO2lo6UAQ6lA/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-02764.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And a few communal baths.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-zHLWBWM1NkFfFxBAm1MBZ_lOibkfqRrnEJmdJut7prPPx4c4pls-wFt3NlQ4ike_aJYHn4gH0o8y-BabhiMDM6kt-ZsROP84mkQxXHJxTaqpTjWHOr5Nk4APXerBxU0y_ZSbUUiLpI/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-02804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-zHLWBWM1NkFfFxBAm1MBZ_lOibkfqRrnEJmdJut7prPPx4c4pls-wFt3NlQ4ike_aJYHn4gH0o8y-BabhiMDM6kt-ZsROP84mkQxXHJxTaqpTjWHOr5Nk4APXerBxU0y_ZSbUUiLpI/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-02804.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not forgetting to wash your face.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmxBizEMSkdb1pNGhilImAWTcfPcvMWXj76B6pBxRD_eW44Q2MJI6FVIuStARAVEeM9t6UHWQjnHIHgMJbn2WopTS2ZyIYokm1IO-sJoNVo1oNJo-AZH3ItPHaQyOoGXCdMhtmEoKjas/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-02816.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmxBizEMSkdb1pNGhilImAWTcfPcvMWXj76B6pBxRD_eW44Q2MJI6FVIuStARAVEeM9t6UHWQjnHIHgMJbn2WopTS2ZyIYokm1IO-sJoNVo1oNJo-AZH3ItPHaQyOoGXCdMhtmEoKjas/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-02816.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Is this a run or a walk?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAGt0C0Hb4JOz3gt-dkUQAGwEDXDvfVKkMfJIOVbLj4Bx4FKcwV1oHff3Co44GFGmmDrtTUn8IW2cWMN1kKzENsQsGK65JpFSPfH1RU4ajC7md9P690iygWSS9huM85Ruo3LpslAH6cc/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-02843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAGt0C0Hb4JOz3gt-dkUQAGwEDXDvfVKkMfJIOVbLj4Bx4FKcwV1oHff3Co44GFGmmDrtTUn8IW2cWMN1kKzENsQsGK65JpFSPfH1RU4ajC7md9P690iygWSS9huM85Ruo3LpslAH6cc/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-02843.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Look up!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4d9az4gQ3fKJoaqFcirD4ocgklXjcifSTuo_6uyEE9ogCAf6o4orePACwYmC6wy79nLn7ykAFtomQxVcvS2BvWDeK8qs4sH6niub4a9V6OYoRnWR6G1inu4jWlDskmLyEULUoJF4tqk/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-02868.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4d9az4gQ3fKJoaqFcirD4ocgklXjcifSTuo_6uyEE9ogCAf6o4orePACwYmC6wy79nLn7ykAFtomQxVcvS2BvWDeK8qs4sH6niub4a9V6OYoRnWR6G1inu4jWlDskmLyEULUoJF4tqk/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-02868.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We'd run together before with Cody, but on totally different terrain - in Sky races across Norway and Italy!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCwo0V0y5Wj6cWS-IJ4FmCasIU6rt0iLmrUjX4XXUCdfolck9IyFgfQGg5MIOPxmEkVmEV4UIoU8Kn1AEccHWUt9Kh5f5h2apQ9AjHUgpRAsXBmJS0xYtPnRe3oHnbMyFX8LKKUQcJs4/s1600/TCC2020_Stage2-02879.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCwo0V0y5Wj6cWS-IJ4FmCasIU6rt0iLmrUjX4XXUCdfolck9IyFgfQGg5MIOPxmEkVmEV4UIoU8Kn1AEccHWUt9Kh5f5h2apQ9AjHUgpRAsXBmJS0xYtPnRe3oHnbMyFX8LKKUQcJs4/s320/TCC2020_Stage2-02879.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Stage 3:</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Today had an excellent first hour or so. No farting around on footpaths, we ran straight up the riverbed. Nice!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMuPTVKRkqeBzTNwPitmWXIBrroyCDHU_MWGR_mmIOKFJnFP0UEYQqFxQi38d4rRyJoRD0vBYSc_hqJ5OqEQ6NM-YLy0V3otoRYaJjk7750nC8ltKn8ptJliYEMv3o4imy2pM-UXJsLA/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-04238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMuPTVKRkqeBzTNwPitmWXIBrroyCDHU_MWGR_mmIOKFJnFP0UEYQqFxQi38d4rRyJoRD0vBYSc_hqJ5OqEQ6NM-YLy0V3otoRYaJjk7750nC8ltKn8ptJliYEMv3o4imy2pM-UXJsLA/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-04238.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Finishing with a waterfall crossing: Power shower!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnAbHZ6DM428RW28vzhSxLn-DqALsExgsZODQ-hbMJOhrqPvqQiSyx6_IvUWLlG2JBUtiQ1qhAL6RmggFRrY8hRwXQXtSZu9s0zFxLvBTLSlph-2ykwMoKQnNO5rsj02SJNG07JsQOzks/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-04275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnAbHZ6DM428RW28vzhSxLn-DqALsExgsZODQ-hbMJOhrqPvqQiSyx6_IvUWLlG2JBUtiQ1qhAL6RmggFRrY8hRwXQXtSZu9s0zFxLvBTLSlph-2ykwMoKQnNO5rsj02SJNG07JsQOzks/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-04275.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This was followed by some less-wet and some less-cool sections on hard, earthy trail. Little respite from the scortchio sun on these sections.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcf9GKdsD_W49slknffkT_-POGNci9_XMG9i6CjdDXhTbu2sKnxzwnjcxqFBhPMvxwVcwZUCOCxtg2_C8gfPCHExkgk1yYJ2UkKr8JHRPtw4LRj0P9i7AF70HUdruR-Zo2VdVOwA-ccYI/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcf9GKdsD_W49slknffkT_-POGNci9_XMG9i6CjdDXhTbu2sKnxzwnjcxqFBhPMvxwVcwZUCOCxtg2_C8gfPCHExkgk1yYJ2UkKr8JHRPtw4LRj0P9i7AF70HUdruR-Zo2VdVOwA-ccYI/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05058.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mauricio was unfortunately having problems with a tendon in his foot, and he subsequently dropped out.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBhkGNU2Dan23YW7wD3NRIKbLSBqiBS9vA645yaIEfokPasL0LS-EUCNEIPw99DcgA5cG1QhKOQxhL1GWer2rOIoCnc65RjO8rNbNQruOJJSTzWuQ9SaYHxhXfrnVpZwxQwoARIMn13xA/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBhkGNU2Dan23YW7wD3NRIKbLSBqiBS9vA645yaIEfokPasL0LS-EUCNEIPw99DcgA5cG1QhKOQxhL1GWer2rOIoCnc65RjO8rNbNQruOJJSTzWuQ9SaYHxhXfrnVpZwxQwoARIMn13xA/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05090.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile I look the opportunity to wash my hair.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8OiyfUOfbkFXOilldOAffFp6uhmebdBFpCsPgwuB_jAgUnpj867MA_YpRf81B5nh8i4QQbXJJqEER31MVzLfAdp6_Hf2RPrAjeuGMaHwssJDxtTwZm8i7pUzrlUk_VTCyDX_Ve2zR0Lk/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8OiyfUOfbkFXOilldOAffFp6uhmebdBFpCsPgwuB_jAgUnpj867MA_YpRf81B5nh8i4QQbXJJqEER31MVzLfAdp6_Hf2RPrAjeuGMaHwssJDxtTwZm8i7pUzrlUk_VTCyDX_Ve2zR0Lk/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05103.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And my face.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1QJafFMZxM7P03bRQXYtgaPUNknCrJj8jI5V6gYr6etoQPbBncHM_zu1niH3UZeNFjdhPP3SU7t2ioolLzJUp3093EDNZr0iIKBNxt5epJIC9b5QAq7-k_SYEeR3BW-6M0UnOvvI5Ft8/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1QJafFMZxM7P03bRQXYtgaPUNknCrJj8jI5V6gYr6etoQPbBncHM_zu1niH3UZeNFjdhPP3SU7t2ioolLzJUp3093EDNZr0iIKBNxt5epJIC9b5QAq7-k_SYEeR3BW-6M0UnOvvI5Ft8/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05131.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There was some more beach running at the end. Again, sharing this section with Cody made it a little easier.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2d43J57RKhAK_PK2geVFDedG5SUtTm0Spd0w2mNnNUyFNdnYoO2AUsvdwNM-JF5U6QLKb60Zqf4P9xJO1Es2b6KS3-3eFJLECDupiBAE1la46jWXqn_FprSsj806jc050WoVXttgMYBQ/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05365.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2d43J57RKhAK_PK2geVFDedG5SUtTm0Spd0w2mNnNUyFNdnYoO2AUsvdwNM-JF5U6QLKb60Zqf4P9xJO1Es2b6KS3-3eFJLECDupiBAE1la46jWXqn_FprSsj806jc050WoVXttgMYBQ/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05365.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKE0qxcijvkAAGGXnCFLkNNtModybC9sAF8bCfN9VikDOTd60hQQeA-w6BOfkbWH1onNPXDdHE7pWD6sFGAaJh_lT_OAxUd23u8F2_ZRu7eglKlRscZSNSKatQQyz1jQP1gkfcxzi_hRk/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKE0qxcijvkAAGGXnCFLkNNtModybC9sAF8bCfN9VikDOTd60hQQeA-w6BOfkbWH1onNPXDdHE7pWD6sFGAaJh_lT_OAxUd23u8F2_ZRu7eglKlRscZSNSKatQQyz1jQP1gkfcxzi_hRk/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05401.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmI1_qn-GbbNyj26beIkzO3GQIJOh4ORM4BBoIXIgMWP5n4CfnklRMFyfuKftsjCeJiDE8_kbAG3pmvY_2e_75TJPYseFLtYyTvfpSrtSPMEyiCk4tnRLv5bU6r2hCMF77I7ShqRq-CA/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmI1_qn-GbbNyj26beIkzO3GQIJOh4ORM4BBoIXIgMWP5n4CfnklRMFyfuKftsjCeJiDE8_kbAG3pmvY_2e_75TJPYseFLtYyTvfpSrtSPMEyiCk4tnRLv5bU6r2hCMF77I7ShqRq-CA/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05420.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZP6InpAJahuOle_87KxFiNgDdPqxhK32lrayu9_AKs_SWAeqYue36Mb4c-UqoWadWOeK7zoheCexxoK8SaheO41S2odeRTUsJhAoMCAtRJXdCaVzk4oc2pq9MBXRpOqYehxQHFdYgsXA/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZP6InpAJahuOle_87KxFiNgDdPqxhK32lrayu9_AKs_SWAeqYue36Mb4c-UqoWadWOeK7zoheCexxoK8SaheO41S2odeRTUsJhAoMCAtRJXdCaVzk4oc2pq9MBXRpOqYehxQHFdYgsXA/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05434.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQKIBf2z4IMAz4PEQj21sGouhzbEBk3MtwdKsQ-ljJEHgX2y8RnGFBHQ4QojcsG2rLiIGP3LmRhjBYaL-K02LCcRVC5Go7ObcJe7-BL5kxOGfA6yHxSR_y95p4NUTEHpdZJ-eUxToElc/s1600/TCC2020_Stage3-05441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQKIBf2z4IMAz4PEQj21sGouhzbEBk3MtwdKsQ-ljJEHgX2y8RnGFBHQ4QojcsG2rLiIGP3LmRhjBYaL-K02LCcRVC5Go7ObcJe7-BL5kxOGfA6yHxSR_y95p4NUTEHpdZJ-eUxToElc/s320/TCC2020_Stage3-05441.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Stage 4:</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Quite a lot of fire road today. A big climb, some rolling stuff and then a nice downhill through lush jungle at the end.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYm-T6m46kJCi6sBMOGUTN_i9r7dFwRRcU0PbbJ2Pp-MdrU76_FA1qhXo3RYTE1E9iIrstk_FZTEv2MkBsk41K2YYG8DI9KZcka9JUIV_yPm1Ihy9qQGdBBjpYZ504FY0MY3euOd4WPg/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-06404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYm-T6m46kJCi6sBMOGUTN_i9r7dFwRRcU0PbbJ2Pp-MdrU76_FA1qhXo3RYTE1E9iIrstk_FZTEv2MkBsk41K2YYG8DI9KZcka9JUIV_yPm1Ihy9qQGdBBjpYZ504FY0MY3euOd4WPg/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-06404.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Eric refused to walk, pretty much irrespective of the steepness of the trail!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Y_mfqeJoq0hAGJoZ_8AuI8vkv2hfTvDFHXmmkBVywql7_-c9MXwpp7IQDKBXVA8s47zhw8RHpUbyl5hldGvbkXovY4RmGGVd_76TC5A_qypzsgwFT7yQhoDAYQXB5Xjb429IkYEDR1U/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-06418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Y_mfqeJoq0hAGJoZ_8AuI8vkv2hfTvDFHXmmkBVywql7_-c9MXwpp7IQDKBXVA8s47zhw8RHpUbyl5hldGvbkXovY4RmGGVd_76TC5A_qypzsgwFT7yQhoDAYQXB5Xjb429IkYEDR1U/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-06418.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0M3wAcJyB2TkufFBlsf1okMTOR5YQvWZBxUxB024wprHQ_-IEk0owFA7CPBWi9kOUa7bOO1weCt2yjoSKf2z94G4Fmsuz_-xe-qhyphenhyphenshvUCe6N2RKXfiU6nOY7JFYvbWmumej3LGu5JU/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-06439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0M3wAcJyB2TkufFBlsf1okMTOR5YQvWZBxUxB024wprHQ_-IEk0owFA7CPBWi9kOUa7bOO1weCt2yjoSKf2z94G4Fmsuz_-xe-qhyphenhyphenshvUCe6N2RKXfiU6nOY7JFYvbWmumej3LGu5JU/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-06439.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile Cody was bulking up his biceps with a kilo of fluid in the palm of each hand. Don't arm-wrestle him next week!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwg5GPMy-jW3aqc1JRtO44kz47baG3nO9NZ6eRwQQD3dltXji3A4Ro9wB75AORgWR596Xbc0XXxW372m2Dfai0Ui1mW1qBnQy9sfKJRr__kUYjG5AfuJvmO3BqkuE2mj7iADlE2gX14A/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-06468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwg5GPMy-jW3aqc1JRtO44kz47baG3nO9NZ6eRwQQD3dltXji3A4Ro9wB75AORgWR596Xbc0XXxW372m2Dfai0Ui1mW1qBnQy9sfKJRr__kUYjG5AfuJvmO3BqkuE2mj7iADlE2gX14A/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-06468.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Putting that hand-on-knees fell running technique to good use!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJinELtWp8JQ0mmBZHdEAXkURPeBkKm9SOFNVFzHGGYQ97cUhPDV7A_IYzW5txgIMiGbAHjlEGXZTqc_6Upi8bUl8KDGxB8cTBpb6SCvgzA4MxSV1JTOEy5cS697r3Xx4y04Z7-dkWRM/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-06475.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJinELtWp8JQ0mmBZHdEAXkURPeBkKm9SOFNVFzHGGYQ97cUhPDV7A_IYzW5txgIMiGbAHjlEGXZTqc_6Upi8bUl8KDGxB8cTBpb6SCvgzA4MxSV1JTOEy5cS697r3Xx4y04Z7-dkWRM/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-06475.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was feeling pretty good again today. Much much better today than I had done on day 1, with that ridiculous, self-inflicted, early heat explosion. However my ever-dodgy right quadriceps were not having much of a ball at all. Heavy and unresponsive. Which made the more techy stuff on the final downhill tricky. It was globally a very bad week for my right leg, which unfortunately turned out to be the critical factor limiting speed, along with the climatic conditions.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLBUr-oAU3Wo7FoX5ZphOF-0msmY9l_Lii6GG7xBlH5-BuJEOJGSjUWlGFrNPq7YkpTHGulW538ZSvAQZhwISBmNlalLGSBekGHJLyisr8u6LGLPhNculjgPNNpPMOSMeYikqrkttPEQ/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-06504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLBUr-oAU3Wo7FoX5ZphOF-0msmY9l_Lii6GG7xBlH5-BuJEOJGSjUWlGFrNPq7YkpTHGulW538ZSvAQZhwISBmNlalLGSBekGHJLyisr8u6LGLPhNculjgPNNpPMOSMeYikqrkttPEQ/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-06504.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The monkeys were making a right racket on that final decent!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2XuUpIwjL7-UfuUhBvrwNzvaEnxuYAgDBluD4w7TKfUpX49CigKTC_Eao-GW0s6WS_wlEgQgtyr5FQq54OaMf3eUfwXFwuHxsFF_dbswPEtTqhblVcfhUUyel_asIS7JF80lJehtIujg/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-07631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2XuUpIwjL7-UfuUhBvrwNzvaEnxuYAgDBluD4w7TKfUpX49CigKTC_Eao-GW0s6WS_wlEgQgtyr5FQq54OaMf3eUfwXFwuHxsFF_dbswPEtTqhblVcfhUUyel_asIS7JF80lJehtIujg/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-07631.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Stage 5:</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Today was another long one! And it was to be my off-day. Wiped out and suffering from a dodgy tummy from the start (over-indulging on the delicious pineapple on offer?!), I had to battle alone all day today, whilst Cody made his move on Eric and got the big lead he'd been working up for over the last few days.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2Ms7xxWc9gcyR7p-BhlLEEIQax40iwpx5otr4EfyE5TRnBCHjX2xq1uqXk1FJPzUoNxVdbmIYe0Z1af4L5G21X7npDDXRFlm3VUVmCWxP657W2rjTSlQDdaIXuIG3TjKHS7AsXBprwQ/s1600/TCC2020_Stage4-309877.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2Ms7xxWc9gcyR7p-BhlLEEIQax40iwpx5otr4EfyE5TRnBCHjX2xq1uqXk1FJPzUoNxVdbmIYe0Z1af4L5G21X7npDDXRFlm3VUVmCWxP657W2rjTSlQDdaIXuIG3TjKHS7AsXBprwQ/s320/TCC2020_Stage4-309877.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To get to the start we all jumped on a barge. Powered by a speed boat, attached with some string and propelled by one very small motor. This barge also transports cars, buses,...</span><br />
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<img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgvQrD8edulCIT_xdd59YfyjLgKLCbVIfhdQADygVGxQyKquv6xXnGKEujBjyHJXzOY5fl-KE_hCFl4sRG-JwvAa4k3BWH2LwqQA9paIXuo1kp7ygIPqMmudEcrzAvV_lYu1wI-I9_bc/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-300477.jpg" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); color: #0000ee; text-decoration: underline;" width="320" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hold that head together!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IC_4Tp5M866CyfDKT59HIq_P1KNdfFOvobwuZPPX20Ao1EGC8pq9DPLVJXypRV956OL2eJkLSNdsUeAWPnNgyy-Zd9PykQhNGCaPBYF8md0APgwFhiKjKN2RjQ-3Jz92lRjyUceRwM4/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-08248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IC_4Tp5M866CyfDKT59HIq_P1KNdfFOvobwuZPPX20Ao1EGC8pq9DPLVJXypRV956OL2eJkLSNdsUeAWPnNgyy-Zd9PykQhNGCaPBYF8md0APgwFhiKjKN2RjQ-3Jz92lRjyUceRwM4/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-08248.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzOwhxt-j9E-ZVcbOQCPgJ8x2Zz0evP-GB6nEGV6ABmWeXZs8uzxHnB6jXEK-AWnRiSYI0krFbS3xXXQr2TBn-pinlbtBk25Axn1T6VWA6EhUCi-9KyEpnNNyGrqTY06Y2ptvpGeLu-Y/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-08252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzOwhxt-j9E-ZVcbOQCPgJ8x2Zz0evP-GB6nEGV6ABmWeXZs8uzxHnB6jXEK-AWnRiSYI0krFbS3xXXQr2TBn-pinlbtBk25Axn1T6VWA6EhUCi-9KyEpnNNyGrqTY06Y2ptvpGeLu-Y/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-08252.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Returning from the sea, after the estuary crossing, by rowing boat.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB9r6Y9pDaXjxvpLe0JzM9jDeeSwAqveEz2gBCQasIyzn9Lh-z5jE0YOLrkcfxutIll4PMTttLK8usxp4LZE3DVYiKnVyKm11pZ5I-A82twJ5JB2CbAX-D0huAUzdJUjV6kr-t1VpaE0/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-08888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB9r6Y9pDaXjxvpLe0JzM9jDeeSwAqveEz2gBCQasIyzn9Lh-z5jE0YOLrkcfxutIll4PMTttLK8usxp4LZE3DVYiKnVyKm11pZ5I-A82twJ5JB2CbAX-D0huAUzdJUjV6kr-t1VpaE0/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-08888.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqoXe09IDOz9wnIku7s_Rw4_TjvHyUosTIz_i-arLjLNkKAPaWAhoVljEs7loG1-8g6VRfc2MoF_4KVRxKVcW6aW4e94Z7kzcAWodJRV68_6GtIJN0YFuPprAAHXhV5uEcQI6FqzUTghA/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-08907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqoXe09IDOz9wnIku7s_Rw4_TjvHyUosTIz_i-arLjLNkKAPaWAhoVljEs7loG1-8g6VRfc2MoF_4KVRxKVcW6aW4e94Z7kzcAWodJRV68_6GtIJN0YFuPprAAHXhV5uEcQI6FqzUTghA/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-08907.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The parrots were good company, as we rounded the final headland into Drakes Bay.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-_5aiYn4qIHlqr2VdZG_-BP990S-5ZEtq8Y6JA2uVWE_5x99PW5BL3YbtKMIO_UY0G7O79EolpTd9BE5QnwqSQpNxGscUlr0SjUBHGNRU5k9lJt_JKdkwxzKPSrX59Bf7Ydafz9jMLPo/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-09618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-_5aiYn4qIHlqr2VdZG_-BP990S-5ZEtq8Y6JA2uVWE_5x99PW5BL3YbtKMIO_UY0G7O79EolpTd9BE5QnwqSQpNxGscUlr0SjUBHGNRU5k9lJt_JKdkwxzKPSrX59Bf7Ydafz9jMLPo/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-09618.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MRDQfu1kmG3ly0ScJw5CGJWaZAnduDlP9CeNNV3WbU8exK65sgymQ3jzxGGAip9sDiIRBsZwu3-tgbAFnP2T63D-pXD9jJosa-ou1ZgiGWWkQ_ZQceaJKbUA0zKLqh6pHrO6MpgGTAI/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-09724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MRDQfu1kmG3ly0ScJw5CGJWaZAnduDlP9CeNNV3WbU8exK65sgymQ3jzxGGAip9sDiIRBsZwu3-tgbAFnP2T63D-pXD9jJosa-ou1ZgiGWWkQ_ZQceaJKbUA0zKLqh6pHrO6MpgGTAI/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-09724.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin2_RPTcdLiNzCgY6lpS1ACXTOJUWH9th9DOSY6JO5jdHLrfnZgt2vt7hZiluVm-AxWzkBMMG2Xv5XAndUiOgwmnzWxgTNr5cPc7zaNSLjHYmO9kZ681npYCmFK7moplpNdScR49MLZW0/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-09770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin2_RPTcdLiNzCgY6lpS1ACXTOJUWH9th9DOSY6JO5jdHLrfnZgt2vt7hZiluVm-AxWzkBMMG2Xv5XAndUiOgwmnzWxgTNr5cPc7zaNSLjHYmO9kZ681npYCmFK7moplpNdScR49MLZW0/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-09770.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>Stage 6:</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The last day was nice. A very enjoyable (and short!) loop, with some nice jungle, rivers and beach running (but not too much beach running!).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7ZLjeG_mUOlgynp-5B9_18gdH_hb2F4s0ZtOcuLZh8SojagLHV1OVQ4pub6psgHGHS61UCTVips5JZbP96ug2SCxDH1FvZMFbrCSPA6bRvjHwodPrsH1JtLrfr4f8CZlkkLbqEcOLGI/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-300529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7ZLjeG_mUOlgynp-5B9_18gdH_hb2F4s0ZtOcuLZh8SojagLHV1OVQ4pub6psgHGHS61UCTVips5JZbP96ug2SCxDH1FvZMFbrCSPA6bRvjHwodPrsH1JtLrfr4f8CZlkkLbqEcOLGI/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-300529.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The podium was made. Cody had a comfortable lead, Eric was a safe second and I was in third. The order wasn't likely to change, so today was to be fully enjoyed!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaRYSaSY6CKbmzgggoCzAajlIfsMZthaj4-3kaXSUuvpNbD9wiP_egBMPe3VxxZvaMvNGRebQraoRlnAwz_LCPKtk2fQVG_uwcAyKoPg0JJ2OQDaig1HUP-WhbSdr6CmKLTZ8bQm-jRE/s1600/TCC2020_Stage5-08018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaRYSaSY6CKbmzgggoCzAajlIfsMZthaj4-3kaXSUuvpNbD9wiP_egBMPe3VxxZvaMvNGRebQraoRlnAwz_LCPKtk2fQVG_uwcAyKoPg0JJ2OQDaig1HUP-WhbSdr6CmKLTZ8bQm-jRE/s320/TCC2020_Stage5-08018.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Is this how you do it, Otter?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivqddzlrBWFABhmpdfi4hFAMKXUsZfnGxIZWd5iex4FYQ78Gr78qpXklbEqMNamt6l5WRjmdBuUC1POggnZ17xFKfh8MKxNz9cILapgyNa82mpsRcSrNYmGC72kY0gwPdKpW4iBRlwcV4/s1600/TCC2020_Stage6-09940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1290" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivqddzlrBWFABhmpdfi4hFAMKXUsZfnGxIZWd5iex4FYQ78Gr78qpXklbEqMNamt6l5WRjmdBuUC1POggnZ17xFKfh8MKxNz9cILapgyNa82mpsRcSrNYmGC72kY0gwPdKpW4iBRlwcV4/s320/TCC2020_Stage6-09940.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We spent longer than usual cooling in the streams we found en-route today and finally we finished together with Eric and Cody, on the beach back in Drakes Bay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Photo credit : <a href="https://www.iancorless.net/" target="_blank">Ian Corless</a></span></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-5748919185428199302019-09-07T18:43:00.001+02:002019-09-30T16:57:45.499+02:00UTMB 2019<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>This would be my third run at the utmb, after a dnf in </i><a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2016/08/utmb-cham-to-champex-only.html" style="font-style: italic;">2016</a><i> and a 16th place in </i><a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2017/09/utmb-2017.html" style="font-style: italic;">2017</a><i>. In my mind I wanted to improve on those two previous runs and ideally get a top ten position... But ultra running is a bit of a gambling process, with which runners can associate as much joy as they can deception and frustration... At the utmb, never count your chickens before the eggs have hatched!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here's how this year's <i>great-big-silly-walk</i> went for me, split into six stages:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. The start and the "warm up" run to Contamines</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The start is just nuts. This year I found myself positioned on the start-line right behind two moustache-clad Americans. These guys have a bit of a reputation! I joked to Xavier that this was not ideal positioning, - they were not necessarily the most conservative runners to follow on the rolling trails down to Les Houches,... He reassured me that at least we'd very quickly have plenty of space in front of us. True.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWr8qMnnNAfqp9PVge-7vHvvkqvhwMvw4A0_bG1Y5a7rLSVJ_mdaaaWDO5gROL2o8teG9dWXn5N4IIxDqaXMKWJpNJNEG0wakE6DRd4z6JVkfnwGj_yWfIDGqz5TujxmmTwyR-E-rTX4/s1600/2019+umtb+002.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWr8qMnnNAfqp9PVge-7vHvvkqvhwMvw4A0_bG1Y5a7rLSVJ_mdaaaWDO5gROL2o8teG9dWXn5N4IIxDqaXMKWJpNJNEG0wakE6DRd4z6JVkfnwGj_yWfIDGqz5TujxmmTwyR-E-rTX4/s320/2019+umtb+002.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. A night in Italy</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The weather was perfect this year. Which meant we could go right through the night wearing just a singlet. No faffing around with jackets and gloves! The night section takes you through some remote valleys of Italy, and it's a joy to experience. Legs are still good at this stage, and it's quite unique to run all night long, under the stars. At times it's not easy to differentiate between the headtorches further up the hillside and the stars above. Where is the limit between land and sky? I spotted a shooting star on the way up Col de la Seigne. I presumed that wasn't a flying runner, although it could have been Pau Capell?..</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiztI9ZXkHgnqZxOAW4OavSx_Ki8Ji3Kg8gEpF2TSDsmmDIE7N3dYlUQGX_clT6rdLRLNIhmIJGtdbEWGTgKab7rO1CzVNN3oT5K-NNvTYyyg6T0QsZJkOyIpf1wTBXPbogT6_qFeKI8k/s1600/2019+umtb+001.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiztI9ZXkHgnqZxOAW4OavSx_Ki8Ji3Kg8gEpF2TSDsmmDIE7N3dYlUQGX_clT6rdLRLNIhmIJGtdbEWGTgKab7rO1CzVNN3oT5K-NNvTYyyg6T0QsZJkOyIpf1wTBXPbogT6_qFeKI8k/s320/2019+umtb+001.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. Dawn breaks and we wake to sore legs</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When the sun rises it's spectacular. The first rays of light illuminate the southern flanks of Mont Blanc. However, it's also at this stage, approximately 100km in, that my quadriceps started to communicate that they'd already been going for 12-hours, - would it be much longer? The reply I gave them was "yes"!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBx8YnQ0U_o5f_2ujD5gmw37iTNPtxXy7QSXfXLEII9x0LVS7eum_Mv8E2-CbAWMbXHG8t-C8XkRbPyLW7XdJx5yezmRzLx6rXYhhX0vNLSJ4NO-7hcu7PcodfUITX5ZUy29lX3gm7Td4/s1600/D73A1FD1-0D8E-419D-959D-47D5FD5C1146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1437" data-original-width="1440" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBx8YnQ0U_o5f_2ujD5gmw37iTNPtxXy7QSXfXLEII9x0LVS7eum_Mv8E2-CbAWMbXHG8t-C8XkRbPyLW7XdJx5yezmRzLx6rXYhhX0vNLSJ4NO-7hcu7PcodfUITX5ZUy29lX3gm7Td4/s320/D73A1FD1-0D8E-419D-959D-47D5FD5C1146.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">4. The last 3-peaks marathon</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When you arrive in Champex it feels like you've got the bulk of the course under your belt. It's here that you can entertain thoughts of finishing. That said, it's still a long way to go - about a "normal" trail race distance left, in fact. The difference being that you're starting these last 45km / 3000mD+ with a warm-up jog of approximately 125km / 7000mD+. Which makes for a rather long warm-up. So now a game of psychology commences.. Your legs tell you they hurt. You try to think of something else. Your legs tell you they hurt. You try to persuade yourself that it doesn't matter. Your legs tell you they hurt. And it goes on like this for around six hours. And this is the essence of ultra running!! :-)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDXZDJYHcZ1qW0FlKSwxwt6u0zzE4dLD27eI2uHFELqW6b6Z-y8c2fH4Tb7ZNyO9Zn6IypV2vbm_fmvMNqW-HtNnoO32-uzhksFK9n5if69CPzop5LhOUIYCCQW4wNnuM-ysDuJt5p2RQ/s1600/2019+umtb+003.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1274" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDXZDJYHcZ1qW0FlKSwxwt6u0zzE4dLD27eI2uHFELqW6b6Z-y8c2fH4Tb7ZNyO9Zn6IypV2vbm_fmvMNqW-HtNnoO32-uzhksFK9n5if69CPzop5LhOUIYCCQW4wNnuM-ysDuJt5p2RQ/s320/2019+umtb+003.jpeg" width="301" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>5. The finish</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Oh wow, what a nice feeling! All that agony is well worthwhile after all! 22+ hours of blood, sweat and tears for 5-minutes of high-fiving!! haha! No, seriously... The finish line in Chamonix can be an emotional one. And I can see why. Running (and walking) one hundred miles is one hell of a feat, and it sure feels good to complete that challenge. It's a scary and an ambitious thing to contemplate, running all day long (or for some people - two days long), so to get round is understandably highly satisfying! In any case, I was happy to make more of a success of it on this, my third attempt at the distance. Enjoy the moment (because tomorrow you'll be in pain again)!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UmnNKkL6Q6Be98Y2x7n3ba5nXHsea1foBe1DCju3E8O5hn09JkGKY63679N9kyN7lCCMn3AXSEHiqBgI5WaoUrlV2Gx-CE-VrBMwU-geFDp5hq6NdHjVAkRyJ1VFenha0-wKlDoZW6U/s1600/IMG_2965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UmnNKkL6Q6Be98Y2x7n3ba5nXHsea1foBe1DCju3E8O5hn09JkGKY63679N9kyN7lCCMn3AXSEHiqBgI5WaoUrlV2Gx-CE-VrBMwU-geFDp5hq6NdHjVAkRyJ1VFenha0-wKlDoZW6U/s320/IMG_2965.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>high-fiving into Chamonix, in <a href="https://utmbmontblanc.com/fr/page/349/r%C3%A9sultats.html" target="_blank">5th position</a> / photo: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mountainultrarunning/" target="_blank">jan nyka</a></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">6. The aftermath</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ultra-running is a very faffy version of running. What's particularly appealing about running is its simplicity. Shoes, vests, shorts,... go! Ultra-running is a different kettle of fish. This year I improved my feeding strategy by integrating ham risottos, sweet-potato and roast chicken purées, rice puddings,... and these I conveniently housed in my soft flasks. Which was all very well and nice and practical... until it comes to washing up!!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0iudMUlxx2DezBaX1KapAzy1fkZS9ALHUxOT5UNrz7iREQSHGr2YbLE0Bxjpygvuu2EScEQxkyVIn6mDr-80wn-bBAc6P9YJAc22FHhrHgFfdU06orpzAoJq7doYvnRhz2agKHxfOGD8/s1600/IMG_2974.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1210" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0iudMUlxx2DezBaX1KapAzy1fkZS9ALHUxOT5UNrz7iREQSHGr2YbLE0Bxjpygvuu2EScEQxkyVIn6mDr-80wn-bBAc6P9YJAc22FHhrHgFfdU06orpzAoJq7doYvnRhz2agKHxfOGD8/s320/IMG_2974.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-37541314924799963292019-07-28T16:10:00.001+02:002019-07-28T16:35:14.881+02:00Gran Paradiso<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Royal Ultra Skymarathon Gran Paradiso goes by a rather long name. But that's not the only thing with makes this race stand apart!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Starting on a damn at 2000m of elevation, you go straight up the mountainside, immediately gaining another 1000m. Crampons are compulsory going over the col, which is cool on the up, but a bit messy on the rocks going down the other side!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_tNYnDPXRs8VP4C6tMx6WU6UY_7h_3h0LIhihnScHR70Yakt-gh42jC6c7xik85pupUiiyd53yDgCbgk_WgZgJAJGCBpcQqAk5F6XRQs5upfVRbcHn3jbA7ey5moYA8Q1x8fApw-AL8/s1600/Image00136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_tNYnDPXRs8VP4C6tMx6WU6UY_7h_3h0LIhihnScHR70Yakt-gh42jC6c7xik85pupUiiyd53yDgCbgk_WgZgJAJGCBpcQqAk5F6XRQs5upfVRbcHn3jbA7ey5moYA8Q1x8fApw-AL8/s320/Image00136.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The race course then proceeds to go up and down, along a bit, but mainly up and down, until you've cumulated 4000m of elevation on your watch. At which point you drop down to the lake-side finish in Ceresole Reale.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdc72QzJQnHZzgtAYyxST25y84ENVCNiEA-3DKkDCLb-14dQPpVlrqo8YK4qfrUK8cH2-fjc5ZtuS2hU0IYSSwux_31-bz1pNg0eAk6J-jDqKn-1Wbg9And4CDUlLZgBX4hj459tFV5NA/s1600/Sans+titre+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="1600" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdc72QzJQnHZzgtAYyxST25y84ENVCNiEA-3DKkDCLb-14dQPpVlrqo8YK4qfrUK8cH2-fjc5ZtuS2hU0IYSSwux_31-bz1pNg0eAk6J-jDqKn-1Wbg9And4CDUlLZgBX4hj459tFV5NA/s320/Sans+titre+2.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sky running is about running at altitude. And that's one of its excellent defining attributes! But living at sea-level and racing straight up to 3000m can make your head feel at a little light :-)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPO6NBEgBgCKONdc6BfNmiDgPBZppCIVHYSe29AjWE0E9rA9CwossG9LN6H61-kn8ZqVP6Tl9YFdTA-vyHdLBLm98RKfZW3oOdAQaNRSeORW22NauK1G57rIaGqi15EQWUzjfRXUHWG8/s1600/Sans+titre.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="1600" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPO6NBEgBgCKONdc6BfNmiDgPBZppCIVHYSe29AjWE0E9rA9CwossG9LN6H61-kn8ZqVP6Tl9YFdTA-vyHdLBLm98RKfZW3oOdAQaNRSeORW22NauK1G57rIaGqi15EQWUzjfRXUHWG8/s320/Sans+titre.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I loved this race and I felt quite strong most of the day. Other than some patches of altitude light-headedness, it was only my dodgy right quad which was impinging my progress over the rocks, snow and grassy pastures of Gran Paradiso National Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's been six years now that I've been running with this oddness in my right leg. Most of the time I try to ignore it and don't talk about it, but at Gran Paradiso it was very much present, and more annoying than usual!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My right Vastus Medialis (the inner bit of muscle near the knee) was weak and weird from the start, making foot placement tricky on an already challenging course. On the ups, it feels heavy and almost a bit numb to lift, and on the down I don't have the same confidence I used to have that the muscle will hold out, correctly absorbing my downwards motion. Every step on the left is fine, every step on the right is timid and apprehensive. The weakness in the Vastus Medialis then moves around the adjacent quadricep muscles before pulling hard on the hip flexor, where I often now get tendonitis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But no complaining! Enjoy the scenery!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(sometimes easier said than done)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As the hours passed I pulled through from 12th in the early stages of the race to 5th by the finish. Steady progress, "assisted" perhaps by a slow start due to the odd quad. Some of the other runners bonked quite spectacularly on the last climbs! Not always a joy to observe, but nice to pull back a few places :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I did spend a lot of the day mulling over which sort of running I should now be best doing. I've always taken pleasure in mixing it up - it's one of the reasons I love running: you can do all kinds of circuits, from grassy fells to rocky mountaintops, through muddy trails, long, short, ultra-long, fast, slow, nordic walking !... The sport of off-road running is a mess as federations and brands fight for control (and often money), but it does mean there's a lot of variety out there to choose from!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8JnRln9ECY613WZ6q-un1FfFl_v4jHwwX9hIVDlp01_5Q6y-hEo4V6zNcFcSLgkuwk5w__df8JHR8p9kU9cbIaXzWYAG1jCFnOJhToAY2kllMw1HrX3sYy1rz7eSq9GYlBjPzM0ZE6I/s1600/IMG_8337.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8JnRln9ECY613WZ6q-un1FfFl_v4jHwwX9hIVDlp01_5Q6y-hEo4V6zNcFcSLgkuwk5w__df8JHR8p9kU9cbIaXzWYAG1jCFnOJhToAY2kllMw1HrX3sYy1rz7eSq9GYlBjPzM0ZE6I/s320/IMG_8337.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Since the beginnings of this strange leg thing I've mixed up my ideas and annual race calendars between rolling trails, ultras, techy sky races,.. partly in search of the discipline which might be the less restrictive for my right quad. Ultras were the obvious choice as beyond 10+ hours of forwards motion everyone's bodies are so utterly destroyed that what's a funny right quad to all that! I figured that if you're sufficiently smashed up, a weak quadricep is eventually absorbed by other problems. This is half true. But in any case, sky running is more fun, right!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h0KvZ4I5ggpg3mQRdumyfLthgFgJB0rwT8T0IjASBqBSowoCyWXb3caNTEazKW4iPtpgQTuADaeknpXCd-DRbIJ4NOsQd85_Sm4gbsLI_NH096AZVBQlbUGZ8IX7FEp6DPth87znK2E/s1600/9659c48a-9976-421f-8f07-8b1e9c2ef1a2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h0KvZ4I5ggpg3mQRdumyfLthgFgJB0rwT8T0IjASBqBSowoCyWXb3caNTEazKW4iPtpgQTuADaeknpXCd-DRbIJ4NOsQd85_Sm4gbsLI_NH096AZVBQlbUGZ8IX7FEp6DPth87znK2E/s320/9659c48a-9976-421f-8f07-8b1e9c2ef1a2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Enough complaining. It's still incredibly good fun to spend time in these places, running over these spectacular courses. Good leg or bad leg, nothing beats a morning running through paradise, and being joined by the kids for the last 100m.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">:-)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6LQ5YNufn1ZHFFzzww4LMDbFw0v0KgrpX-d8MFqvHrwtf10OAN5SZo4ObGbLRoYdwZ6YtpGkMni2-6rDODpXT1vvAbXIQ-ffaLNnjJ5MfOyZtbJ45Vs4iQ4fBLI6zveJgsRPVzIDu9k/s1600/IMG_1346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="967" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6LQ5YNufn1ZHFFzzww4LMDbFw0v0KgrpX-d8MFqvHrwtf10OAN5SZo4ObGbLRoYdwZ6YtpGkMni2-6rDODpXT1vvAbXIQ-ffaLNnjJ5MfOyZtbJ45Vs4iQ4fBLI6zveJgsRPVzIDu9k/s320/IMG_1346.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(My son is not sponsored by Nike ;-)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MpuAwfF8u_N5oKK42ZP8DlKuS-Fnj-28H7HMErJ933DxSg-Xcun-teGY-ISHbUrXYANcMVlhGl0Sz3_q7_t9aeZfVnUWF2secgu9CDppOdFKBJmC5OwSDW4rhJPhesaihM9WmLEGkHk/s1600/5e24297c-7715-4ace-8030-6c5693f719e6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MpuAwfF8u_N5oKK42ZP8DlKuS-Fnj-28H7HMErJ933DxSg-Xcun-teGY-ISHbUrXYANcMVlhGl0Sz3_q7_t9aeZfVnUWF2secgu9CDppOdFKBJmC5OwSDW4rhJPhesaihM9WmLEGkHk/s320/5e24297c-7715-4ace-8030-6c5693f719e6.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Recovery is so easy in the mountains. Lakes are good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Snow-melt rivers are even better!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0p1MkxCHkS1GvAhBoe_bGs6Y5hTGxp3ldfOJeQrqV4pUhM6X4b2Z7tTSCeuTCGopjq2ZR93Qtj7zg49XiAhnnjdBZWduuhTz4FDfU1FXRzhKX_MZFmSxGpu7ZX4rotFeXcQZDdJ_224/s1600/IMG_1371.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1210" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0p1MkxCHkS1GvAhBoe_bGs6Y5hTGxp3ldfOJeQrqV4pUhM6X4b2Z7tTSCeuTCGopjq2ZR93Qtj7zg49XiAhnnjdBZWduuhTz4FDfU1FXRzhKX_MZFmSxGpu7ZX4rotFeXcQZDdJ_224/s320/IMG_1371.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Next stop, a nordic walk around Europe's highest mountain :-)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwu4JWLEmbfQdxmf9E4mcN991Y4rC7YPpLHN7C52lpqxyKiD-63ULmm4WuyAKf6frA81pjFnoMq7S74nKCyanBIZlUY6JPqXXicxr5XiqkqnREQf9kLgiPv9s7NqBPMrnRIQCdiUqWtK0/s1600/IMG_1349.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwu4JWLEmbfQdxmf9E4mcN991Y4rC7YPpLHN7C52lpqxyKiD-63ULmm4WuyAKf6frA81pjFnoMq7S74nKCyanBIZlUY6JPqXXicxr5XiqkqnREQf9kLgiPv9s7NqBPMrnRIQCdiUqWtK0/s320/IMG_1349.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-76467666280992601972018-10-29T13:19:00.002+01:002018-10-29T18:13:21.966+01:00Templiers<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">LES TEMPLIERS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>La course en 6 étapes :</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Le départ</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Le ciel est noir mais les frontales de 2500 coureurs,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>la fumé rouge et la musique forte crée une certaine ambiance !</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2. La nuit</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Les 24 premiers kilomètres vont vite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Les frontales zigzaguent le long d'une piste forestière.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On ne croise pas grand monde par là.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82KBN4TtUyn1XETGICGc0jDEOVdwM7dr5d5eAzSy-rpFTB725P2ncNbTifvz-Ca6kQQHdOd5Q6HeULx6AP2DDYk5nv_Z_tT-B96eVIeRAv3ws8z1cSbMag76YTPGGxUJdEOgnSnr30X0/s1600/2018+TEMPLIERS+02+la+nuit.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82KBN4TtUyn1XETGICGc0jDEOVdwM7dr5d5eAzSy-rpFTB725P2ncNbTifvz-Ca6kQQHdOd5Q6HeULx6AP2DDYk5nv_Z_tT-B96eVIeRAv3ws8z1cSbMag76YTPGGxUJdEOgnSnr30X0/s320/2018+TEMPLIERS+02+la+nuit.png" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>3. L'aube</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dans la montée après Peyreleau le ciel noir est percé par des éclats d'orange.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Les falaises, les blocs et les tours de rocher sont dessinés par de la nouvelle lumière,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">non-seulement de la frontale, mais aussi du début du jour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C'est un moment magique.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Quel bonheur d'évoluer sur les sentiers à ce moment là.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Les jambes sont encore bonnes et le paysage est merveilleux.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_g_9ivtcIH9kovPgSUbajxvNCUn2PlL98lTR1IEnxgz7yK5XTrdpujpl2pJXNeOxjJtdxn2tx7wVlqfXy3PIJljjFz_Lxwy3NMyPp0L8MVdVwBPvDpiIRGWStjREn_heSkWml7fOQ3s/s1600/2018+TEMPLIERS+03+lever+de+soleil.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_g_9ivtcIH9kovPgSUbajxvNCUn2PlL98lTR1IEnxgz7yK5XTrdpujpl2pJXNeOxjJtdxn2tx7wVlqfXy3PIJljjFz_Lxwy3NMyPp0L8MVdVwBPvDpiIRGWStjREn_heSkWml7fOQ3s/s320/2018+TEMPLIERS+03+lever+de+soleil.png" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>4. Le dernier tiers</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Au bout d'un certain temps de course le corps s'épuise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Idéalement ça arrive juste avant l'arrivée,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mais plus typiquement c'est quelque part dans la deuxième moitié du parcours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Vers le soixantième kilomètre ma cuisse droite, qui se plaignait toute la matinée,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a fini par bloquer. Le muscle était dur, raide et il ne m'était plus possible d'avancer à la même allure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Il n'y a plus que deux heures à parcourir,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mais on sait que ce sera les deux heures les plus dures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIbE4a4R_-kbvkyQvM-Wws_r9n9zYhlKF6y3ctR1HfyDhesrDz4D9ZRgBtwZY2h0RhnQOKpfXyF3NieL90gL9xSM4gvrNtrixdXUjdE0Tw8B2QftVwzStwI0Mc6tDz3Om4zVbC7B7rNs/s1600/2018+TEMPLIERS+04+l%2527e%25CC%2581puisement.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIbE4a4R_-kbvkyQvM-Wws_r9n9zYhlKF6y3ctR1HfyDhesrDz4D9ZRgBtwZY2h0RhnQOKpfXyF3NieL90gL9xSM4gvrNtrixdXUjdE0Tw8B2QftVwzStwI0Mc6tDz3Om4zVbC7B7rNs/s320/2018+TEMPLIERS+04+l%2527e%25CC%2581puisement.png" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>5. La montée au pylône</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Les trois dernières montées sont les plus raides.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C'est un moment de souffrance pour beaucoup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Les coureurs ralentissent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Je n'avais plus les jambes fraîches comme avant,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mais j'ai constaté que les autres n'étaient pas mieux !</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On continue comme on peut, l'arrivée approche.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbeQ93UVFW9eHoHl360mFa1Ku0aEMXTt84Tlp5bVvw1YKKE6zF9n-BNK4TVakTu0oZYRNollIjKMyL5Fdk2cvhlvTcRvrA6UlzZoBa9QzlqhxaL6QXhJjtxMl646onyeg9-_cW6BlHf5w/s1600/2018+TEMPLIERS+05+last+climb.png"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbeQ93UVFW9eHoHl360mFa1Ku0aEMXTt84Tlp5bVvw1YKKE6zF9n-BNK4TVakTu0oZYRNollIjKMyL5Fdk2cvhlvTcRvrA6UlzZoBa9QzlqhxaL6QXhJjtxMl646onyeg9-_cW6BlHf5w/s320/2018+TEMPLIERS+05+last+climb.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>6. L'arrivée</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">La dernière descente n'est pas du goût de tout le monde.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Elle est raide, boueuse, jamais facile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Je l'aime bien !</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On sent presque l'aligot et les saucisses cuire dans la tente d'arrivée.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Cette arche en bois marque la fin d'une belle matinée de "trail".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Je termine 4ème, doublant plusieurs concurrents dans les 7 derniers kilomètres.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Le passage entre 60 et 70km avait été dur. J'étais </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">un peu déçu</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> et irrité d'avoir eu la cuisse coincée, plus que d'habitude, </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mais ce </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">moment de déception</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> est finalement compensé par une bonne fin de course, passant de 9ème à 4ème en peu de temps. Il faut jamais rien lâcher à la fin ! Mais c'est plus facile à dire qu'à faire parfois !</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsL9gC43R-ZYDTzq54HToQ8cOABxANnr5cMYFVdg9s78Xl7hA8REbzgXlCGyE0vgtC3-vsoxwnm65TdZI96OG4DCoy1xMQljcZ1ZZwYkr3dLW3Jd9Oxs0gYmFKqf617I-ZSqu7-E3QWg/s1600/2018+TEMPLIERS+06+finish.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsL9gC43R-ZYDTzq54HToQ8cOABxANnr5cMYFVdg9s78Xl7hA8REbzgXlCGyE0vgtC3-vsoxwnm65TdZI96OG4DCoy1xMQljcZ1ZZwYkr3dLW3Jd9Oxs0gYmFKqf617I-ZSqu7-E3QWg/s320/2018+TEMPLIERS+06+finish.png" /></a></span></div>
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/1918805975/embed/8ba4f6acaddd2bbf0e611618a8a063808a2abfd0" width="590"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Résultats : <a href="https://www.festivaldestempliers.com/resultats-2018/" target="_blank">www.festivaldestempliers.com</a></span></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-88513618437282074622018-10-08T15:20:00.000+02:002018-10-10T08:34:24.856+02:00Trail de Saint Didier 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Le </span><a href="http://www.mollets-petillants.fr/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trail de Saint Didier</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> s'est inscrit dans mon calendrier comme <i>le rendez-vous</i> habituel qui marque le début d’automne ! Avec quatre participations maintenant, c'est la course à laquelle j'ai le plus participé en france (</span><a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2014/10/quelques-jolies-courses-locales.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2014</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2016/10/trail-de-saint-didier.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2016</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2017/10/trail-de-saint-didier.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2017</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2018/10/trail-de-saint-didier-2018.html" target="_blank">2018</a>). Quatre participations, mais jamais le même parcours ! Et bien que la course se déroule à deux pas de la maison, tous les ans les organisateurs arrivent à nous sortir un bout de chemin que je n'avais jamais vu auparavant ! Et cette année ils ont été encore plus loin, en créant de nouveaux passages (ou en ouvrant des vieux trucs quasi-fermés) sous les falaises sous Venasque par exemple, et en rajoutant en bonus quelques belles descentes très raides, sur la roche de la Croix de St Gens ou dans la boue de Camp Long. Bref, le parcours était un vrai régal !</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>La croix de St Gens</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-HvXYR6K_GcAeZ9JDRNsrl_JARU1Vk3Zu-M8rYex2al-Rg1zu1tAN2iCSZOK2NaF0H6XneHHYamp0SNzLd8sAbTHram7CFL7Fs1L9GtW2B4RWru6wbE4o-gSn_KIreo1NOp5VeeWdu4/s1600/Saint+Didier.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-HvXYR6K_GcAeZ9JDRNsrl_JARU1Vk3Zu-M8rYex2al-Rg1zu1tAN2iCSZOK2NaF0H6XneHHYamp0SNzLd8sAbTHram7CFL7Fs1L9GtW2B4RWru6wbE4o-gSn_KIreo1NOp5VeeWdu4/s320/Saint+Didier.jpeg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mon idée été de me servir de ce trail comme une dernière sortie moyenne-longue et moyenne-rapide avant mon prochain objectif (les Templiers), et aussi de profiter d'une belle matinée avec ma famille et des amis traileurs locaux sur des sentiers trop beaux à une poignée de kilomètres de la maison.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Confirmation comme quoi il y avait de la boue !</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2n20RXC1dvbMZAdBCJEgor-F1dH61lUvpR-TNQAblgxF0WSXZqvjfyZqMzLwZwCEKCVub_AK8XARaHvVZtotp9wI-RKbFLyGflMTIxSr7EcpCc5WpEEUodENumBfgs5p5bz8CbCnyV8/s1600/P1260104.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2n20RXC1dvbMZAdBCJEgor-F1dH61lUvpR-TNQAblgxF0WSXZqvjfyZqMzLwZwCEKCVub_AK8XARaHvVZtotp9wI-RKbFLyGflMTIxSr7EcpCc5WpEEUodENumBfgs5p5bz8CbCnyV8/s320/P1260104.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>Pierre-Hugo a la malchance de devoir se mesurer à Elliot en sprint !</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUQ76q-hNMUa8t5ZTpsQPa0OniXKIuDLwn1w5Dh3kso0sgNyvUyTxm3XTqy-q1CWjnzz02YDevFt7iyUD3nIOd93T26TsYKhH3NE93mgqkEFcaFBGhbsMGolyiPAjFg-YzTl1iIi0WHo/s1600/IMG_0787.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUQ76q-hNMUa8t5ZTpsQPa0OniXKIuDLwn1w5Dh3kso0sgNyvUyTxm3XTqy-q1CWjnzz02YDevFt7iyUD3nIOd93T26TsYKhH3NE93mgqkEFcaFBGhbsMGolyiPAjFg-YzTl1iIi0WHo/s320/IMG_0787.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>L'un des passages les plus secs et roulants !</i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvaxG6Gm4UNKCmLc9cFZmY9G35X6EhjoEpHHv8P19bXyPbIT2WsXEM9JpejLDiylHpLwoR1wAXVN83zxcHPRlr7vMFrj0SPCc1R2m7xYdYxo4-w1h0zXajoNWrCSK2klUPFw03zjz1BQ/s1600/P1260094.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvaxG6Gm4UNKCmLc9cFZmY9G35X6EhjoEpHHv8P19bXyPbIT2WsXEM9JpejLDiylHpLwoR1wAXVN83zxcHPRlr7vMFrj0SPCc1R2m7xYdYxo4-w1h0zXajoNWrCSK2klUPFw03zjz1BQ/s320/P1260094.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<i>Courir dans la boue - ça donne le sourire !</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAwGtqQeoI17InO5iPnHt69Zy-Z3o2GNw1EuikmlI_cUAPmx1OCA9jCKZ_eeXek0Z7hofsBQF2UEox5zNLNDcGp-GIw4_7MGmP69Ju4pV6y6aEKk37UyCHmI5l-vKsaJpeObFJksR6Xk/s1600/P1260100.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAwGtqQeoI17InO5iPnHt69Zy-Z3o2GNw1EuikmlI_cUAPmx1OCA9jCKZ_eeXek0Z7hofsBQF2UEox5zNLNDcGp-GIw4_7MGmP69Ju4pV6y6aEKk37UyCHmI5l-vKsaJpeObFJksR6Xk/s320/P1260100.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i><a href="http://www.mollets-petillants.fr/trail-2018/resultat-29-km-2018.pdf">results 2018</a></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIG4YJEd6mgdYv9tYkPvq03LIAZJj2Ufb4ROt6PDGzIxASD2FH0NPKxj3v80o1lJIkw_SecM_omdlkOWlL_dOFPVKEiVJ3dBIAQQSsu9_lmn1I-q6Vwg19zmDqs09YPA2OZo589fFFXJQ/s1600/Trail+Saint+Didier+2018+results.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIG4YJEd6mgdYv9tYkPvq03LIAZJj2Ufb4ROt6PDGzIxASD2FH0NPKxj3v80o1lJIkw_SecM_omdlkOWlL_dOFPVKEiVJ3dBIAQQSsu9_lmn1I-q6Vwg19zmDqs09YPA2OZo589fFFXJQ/s320/Trail+Saint+Didier+2018+results.jpeg" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;">Le parcours</span></div>
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/1889403937/embed/463937e9db0d6e595e3ba09da154df340c3b861d" width="590"></iframe>
Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-89903726739712949132018-09-17T19:19:00.002+02:002018-09-18T17:22:58.151+02:00Glencoe Skyline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Yndl8Eru2CcrWFKRGnoiU_fwQOCSbCDOp3cuGAw1F-mlAgOaAQLRJI7zpmFhGaRIaEc52Sv4H5NDodQJYw1IVQfsq83Sy9zRUjZ6wg4-vMCnF-GheIbLTEOUTctdOW3c3Xzs7-OdBm8/s1600/IMG_4318.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Yndl8Eru2CcrWFKRGnoiU_fwQOCSbCDOp3cuGAw1F-mlAgOaAQLRJI7zpmFhGaRIaEc52Sv4H5NDodQJYw1IVQfsq83Sy9zRUjZ6wg4-vMCnF-GheIbLTEOUTctdOW3c3Xzs7-OdBm8/s320/IMG_4318.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>credit photo : <a href="https://www.skyrunnerworldseries.com/" target="_blank">Skyrunner World Series</a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Seven and a half years it’s been now, since we left the lush-green Scottish central belt for the piercing-blue skies of Provence. And over those seven years I’ve only been back a handful of times and usually to see family, not to run over fells. So it really was great to round out my mini Skyrunning season with a weekend trip up to Glencoe. Shane and all the race organising team have managed to pull together a perfect Skyrunning event in the uk, with a level of technicality that’s spot-on. Hard, steep and rough, but not too silly either! The Glencoe Skyline has joined Tromsø and Kima as the unofficial triple combo of ultimate skyraces. These are the real ones - the ones that get you high, over summits, along ridges, off paths. And all three of which I’ve had the fortune to attend over the last six weeks. Not a bad schedule to “get back into it” after some months off following injury! </span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">credit photo : <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tom.owens.716/" target="_blank">Tom Owens</a></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately for the first time in the event’s history the weather conditions were not suitable for releasing two-hundred runners onto the Aonach Eagach - a sensible decision given the wetness and windiness up on the Munro summits - so the B course was enacted on the Saturday afternoon before the race. That said the B course is still a good one, it still incorporates some proper hills and some gnarly climbs. But it didn’t half feel like a sprint racing over three hours and forty-five minutes compared to the more habitual six or seven hours!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvriikQYJde2dPh6VRHLwx190s3q6m_35YZOtCYGITyBxaKpsBIWXvyNcPqq07lOSkqfAbKQiqXMyItRrud3P0Nm9vjbbf0uTMeO_E5JP1sFEc4cjlOOpc4rKW8hK3rJstxuzLID_JzY/s1600/IMG_4331.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvriikQYJde2dPh6VRHLwx190s3q6m_35YZOtCYGITyBxaKpsBIWXvyNcPqq07lOSkqfAbKQiqXMyItRrud3P0Nm9vjbbf0uTMeO_E5JP1sFEc4cjlOOpc4rKW8hK3rJstxuzLID_JzY/s320/IMG_4331.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">credit photo : <a href="https://www.iancorless.net/" target="_blank">Ian Corless</a></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Fully aware that race would not be an “ultra jog”, but rather an intense confrontation between the Spaniards, Scandinavians, Americans, Brits,... attending, I went straight into a relatively high gear and tried to go with the flow at the front end of the field.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">credit photo : <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tom.owens.716/" target="_blank">Tom Owens</a></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />It went pretty well all in all, just one tame descent in the middle cost me a few minutes and resulted in me loosing touch with the top three, definitively. I was no doubt more at ease throwing myself down steep slippery slopes when I was based in Scotland and practising such antics on a more regular basis. But hey! - you can’t have it both ways - the sunshine overhead and slippery wetness underfoot! Back to France now and time to get in shape for something more undulating, relatively flat even, some might say...</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">credit photo : <a href="https://www.skyrunnerworldseries.com/" target="_blank">Skyrunner World Series</a></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Full results here : <a href="http://www.skylinescotland.com/glen-coe-skyline/results/2018-results/" target="_blank">www.skylinescotland.com</a></span></i></span></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-39025130867456655202018-09-09T12:48:00.001+02:002018-09-09T17:34:40.440+02:00Kima 2018<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Back to Kima after a 6-year break. Too long!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This race really is one of the best! The course is just amazing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The start has a big climb and the end a big descent. The in-between middle section involves traversing seven short but steep passes, nearly all of which are equipped with ropes or chains, and often you're better off holding onto them! Between theses passes you navigate your way through a 20km boulder field! The skill is not in being a speedy runner, but more in having the capacity to continue moving forward at a semi decent rate whilst constantly searching out the next red flag and choosing which of the rocks in front might be best to put your next foot on.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVbfP__kIs0j1PXla0wNK7vKZl5uoI-dTJwxk7Pqw_dQbGCNxJ8zE90z02fy1SAd_PpVx25ld38zED7-XEUJyXnbUJSe0KAtptQtbpWbVNiHFJPnA6cHwBzUO_dCV_Il5VoAxTAHMoLg/s1600/IMG_3942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="850" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVbfP__kIs0j1PXla0wNK7vKZl5uoI-dTJwxk7Pqw_dQbGCNxJ8zE90z02fy1SAd_PpVx25ld38zED7-XEUJyXnbUJSe0KAtptQtbpWbVNiHFJPnA6cHwBzUO_dCV_Il5VoAxTAHMoLg/s320/IMG_3942.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The start was a bit of a shambles and very unprofessional from the athletes' point of view: we were called to the start at 6am, at which point an announcement was made confirming the full race route and the scheduled start time of 630. Great. So we all checked in, got our gps equipment and warmed up. At 625 everyone was lined up and raring to go. At 655 we were still there. In our T-shirts, getting cold, with no announcement having been made. At 7am over the tannoy we were told that the race route would still be the original one, but that the start had been delayed until 8am. So having spent more than half an hour standing in the cold, back to bed everyone went!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It turned out that there had been some uncertainty about the maintaining of the full route, and delaying the start until 8am would hopefully allow most of the ice on the sketchy bits to melt. So that was all a good thing. It was just a shame it was so badly organised and the athletes were treated so poorly. This sport still isn't that professional it would seem...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anyhow, the whistle was blown at 810am (!) and 200 runners finally left the village of Val Masino, starting with a climb of around 2000m. The first 7km are on tarmac and concrete, so that goes quite quickly, but that's only the warm up, right?! The fun starts shortly after.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMtedU6HUqM80mcXDJ5nvAJ_9OBy2Fu8qovMp5sfCGxXhhhMlRzCuOXgVDjiTW0ay-10scPeeKb_r7y4YvluBHqZH7M4x6sQAfXuTb_8uv0NkN4A7PYRibI1H9JNQkrCtBY03SOzTmL8/s1600/IMG_3965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1181" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMtedU6HUqM80mcXDJ5nvAJ_9OBy2Fu8qovMp5sfCGxXhhhMlRzCuOXgVDjiTW0ay-10scPeeKb_r7y4YvluBHqZH7M4x6sQAfXuTb_8uv0NkN4A7PYRibI1H9JNQkrCtBY03SOzTmL8/s320/IMG_3965.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2014/07/whats-happening.html" target="_blank">right</a> <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2015/03/petite-conversation-par-rapport-la.html" target="_blank">quad</a> has unfortunately been having a bit of a rough time of it recently, feeling more dead-legged and responding less well than it can do at better times. So I wasn't able to get into a good rhythm on the climb, nor on the rocky section that followed higher up, simply because I can't control my right leg like I can my left. This was a bit frustrating as I was feeling pretty fit, but nonetheless I tried to enjoy the scenery, cos you don't get to run or race in such cool places every day of the week!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnC602UStAlx9_0iyMXB4jSsKhdU3OQj2BB0IYkmivZDCNKTppRouMzXy44oDprDVmABk_YLeVygljytwfj1m6Zf939uACZGitP14Fn9JOMgCWTrvkDEq0nIDgAERgqNGx6PMQSr5lf8/s1600/IMG_3945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1136" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnC602UStAlx9_0iyMXB4jSsKhdU3OQj2BB0IYkmivZDCNKTppRouMzXy44oDprDVmABk_YLeVygljytwfj1m6Zf939uACZGitP14Fn9JOMgCWTrvkDEq0nIDgAERgqNGx6PMQSr5lf8/s320/IMG_3945.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My 7th place is satisfactory, and it was good to run a couple of minutes faster than I had done back in <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2012/08/kima-soft-undulating-trail-run-not.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, but it was a bit annoying to still feel like I had a fair bit of energy in the tank at the end of the 50km loop. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to put that to use on some other mountain or footpath later in the year...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJMjIAeavtj3aCTasf-ljyxZNcgUCpC678DY5aAN6Jc2_0XJfdTCtnTaCFIVStFYX21lm0i-hzIA6HZ1zXa23wu9DEqeQTNE-G30wt4J56dSlbnTikk8x9_j3pFgTmQgOTHD49cxacFw/s1600/IMG_3944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1136" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJMjIAeavtj3aCTasf-ljyxZNcgUCpC678DY5aAN6Jc2_0XJfdTCtnTaCFIVStFYX21lm0i-hzIA6HZ1zXa23wu9DEqeQTNE-G30wt4J56dSlbnTikk8x9_j3pFgTmQgOTHD49cxacFw/s320/IMG_3944.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jt7sjUuTAvQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jt7sjUuTAvQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Top 9 (full results <a href="https://www.trofeokima.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/CLASSIFICA-UFFICIALE-KIMA-2018.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>)</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhscpJvfJedgk0rlG3wecHerhfvjpKKRgV-RyPalPnlW_WeX9pCiIKtO63Asf1n_HlYOobh6SOgjvezzL78R6wocvd55BNQCiGmtNUc2SAUsTZvr-8bFZN-H83VF_8RRSyuz1nH3WnYnhM/s1600/Sans+titre.jpeg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhscpJvfJedgk0rlG3wecHerhfvjpKKRgV-RyPalPnlW_WeX9pCiIKtO63Asf1n_HlYOobh6SOgjvezzL78R6wocvd55BNQCiGmtNUc2SAUsTZvr-8bFZN-H83VF_8RRSyuz1nH3WnYnhM/s320/Sans+titre.jpeg.jpeg" width="253" /></span></a></div>
<br />Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-48476535724232957682018-08-08T15:42:00.000+02:002018-08-09T06:51:51.796+02:00Tromsø Skyrace<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">The chilled-out fjord and mountainscape around Tr</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">oms</span></span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ø</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's been a few years since I've done one, but in many respects it was like being back at a village fell race in the north of England! An all-round no nonsense, no faff, no frills, low-key event! Down by the waterfront at the Edge hotel you pick up a number, four safety pins and a box of tea, and that's it - you're ready to go! At the prize giving late on Saturday afternoon the top three men and women climb onto the wooden podium, and Kilian hands out beer mats with drawings of moose on them. And then off you go for a pizza and a few beers. The job's a good one! There's nothing complicated going on at the Tromsø Skyrace, - you're here to run over some quite spectacular mountains, and the focus is 100% on the enjoyment of that experience. You choose your own gear, you drink out of streams, and you look after yourself as you would on any other long day in the hills. Out on the course the terrain reminds me of some of the wilder spots in Scotland. Ruggedly beautiful. And made doubly atmospheric by the fact that you are only afforded a limited number of glimpses at the surroundings, at what lays ahead, what’s above or below. It was claggy! And as we ran through the low cloud you'd spot the odd grouse, a mouse, some rocks, some water and some more rocks.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Striding down the easy early grassy slopes</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwW9fAJkzTA1NUUo35B9ZVXhguD7SfEeL1qZLRcrzrJwItyfjWGIRmUOSeEYDtXteNBAYIHkQMWEdRVaqzZUlif2TxE-cjRvVEQYEOWisDw1sW8Gja3CnMqMt-AuDO474Ci-B7BTt94Pg/s1600/yourepics+-+down+and+focused.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwW9fAJkzTA1NUUo35B9ZVXhguD7SfEeL1qZLRcrzrJwItyfjWGIRmUOSeEYDtXteNBAYIHkQMWEdRVaqzZUlif2TxE-cjRvVEQYEOWisDw1sW8Gja3CnMqMt-AuDO474Ci-B7BTt94Pg/s320/yourepics+-+down+and+focused.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I ran with Jon Albon up to the top of the first summit, Tromsdalstinden. It was actually pretty easy running all the way up there (for real!), but the descent off its back side was less so! Closer to vertical than flat. Again, much more akin to fell running than the world of French trail running that I frequent these days. The approximate direction we were to take (straight) down the mountainside was outlined by a few small red and yellow flags. The exact line you take is each runner's call to make - there's certainly nothing resembling a path down there. Perfect - no annoying switchbacks!</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The surprisingly steep first downhill</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0J_LDE-45vPrIBOlxlOlaSVW178J_TV1xUhP6qnvX4WCf-mkZXw2xRNL0U45-Rx8KqGjdRYx-yJresoTICbpkkZi8tDnODRwvUTPO8qutrXBVWQCTX5TLYPyO2JxfylEa-36kN457dc/s1600/easy+up+steep+down.jpeg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0J_LDE-45vPrIBOlxlOlaSVW178J_TV1xUhP6qnvX4WCf-mkZXw2xRNL0U45-Rx8KqGjdRYx-yJresoTICbpkkZi8tDnODRwvUTPO8qutrXBVWQCTX5TLYPyO2JxfylEa-36kN457dc/s320/easy+up+steep+down.jpeg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was feeling pretty good running and chatting with Jon up to this first summit, but it turned out that I wasn't in the perfect descending mindset. There are days and times when I'm more willing to throw myself down a hillside than others. My eyes clouded up with water, blurring my vision, and my head wasn't properly focused on the task ahead, and as such Jon quickly left me behind and a couple of other runners also caught me as we ran, slid and skidded down the slippery south-eastern slope of Tromsdalstinden.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In comes the clagg, out comes the jacket</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtzdx2Ctog22kE0R4JBMS71E46YSHU_7TjhlwcAAeKwmFpAPQOPUaWP2qoTV_NwJgR3M_L13be2VrgTlqiWGdEDjq80bRHf0gcRGI64SAx3w0JsxNzsl_vTRGw7913oLxXLJiUB5Ln58A/s1600/yourepics+-+clagg.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtzdx2Ctog22kE0R4JBMS71E46YSHU_7TjhlwcAAeKwmFpAPQOPUaWP2qoTV_NwJgR3M_L13be2VrgTlqiWGdEDjq80bRHf0gcRGI64SAx3w0JsxNzsl_vTRGw7913oLxXLJiUB5Ln58A/s320/yourepics+-+clagg.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1200 vertical meters later and we were at the bottom of the other side of the first big hill, through an aid station and ready to run (walk) up the next one. Cody's dad, Paul, handed me a couple of gels, some energy drink and a snickers bar, and off we headed, up the other side of the valley. It's easy to measure the time gaps to the runners ahead when you're going up, using landmarks like large boulders, or.. large boulders, of which there was no shortage! And I was happy to see that despite my seemingly disastrous first descent, I wasn't actually too far off the pace. I was running in fourth position, about five minutes behind Jon and two minutes behind Pere and Dimitry. I thought I climbed pretty fast up to the ridge, but according to my "precise" boulder-stone timing, I didn't manage to gain any ground on the guys in front on that stretch. And by the time we got up onto the infamous ridge the clagg was down again, to the extent that you could only see a few hundred yards ahead. Shame really - the views we missed are quite sublime, - from what I've seen in photos from previous years! Instead we'd have to make the most of the cloud-shrouded ambiance! It's not every day that I run through these kinds of landscapes and I have to say that I really do enjoy it, which is of course the reason for partaking in this sport in the first place. If you're not enjoying your chosen activity, it's generally a good idea to go do something else. Right! And I'm also convinced that the more you enjoy running across rocks and ridges the faster you can do it. So, smiling is a key ingredient to speed, ok!</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Smile, it makes you go faster</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqB-qItUftXjjWT_FzDNhVwKrp-JNBxeUajfPT8BYkRfRUCkA-OzEEEUEGfQrRxxWBReiadSKRE2vLJt-0Hkgkz85h0U8cf4RxszUyqy-7SW-rHELrw2iBchR85WVmdU25E6ZvzqVtJqA/s1600/going+up.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqB-qItUftXjjWT_FzDNhVwKrp-JNBxeUajfPT8BYkRfRUCkA-OzEEEUEGfQrRxxWBReiadSKRE2vLJt-0Hkgkz85h0U8cf4RxszUyqy-7SW-rHELrw2iBchR85WVmdU25E6ZvzqVtJqA/s320/going+up.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After last year's accident on this slim stretch of ridge, the organisers had installed a few sections of rope, including for the last scramble up to Hamperokken summit (1404m). Here I encountered the front runners on their way down, and again counted that Jon now had ten minutes on me and the other two were just a couple of minutes in front.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Hamperokken ridge</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90LkcCRLj62QFymTv0nmRifvfD6xoY7xVFa5tv9cy_6_YJcrU4NCcnuL-W5e6rPTAezRz_7cHtyGnAkIbus3K97Zx1Wegw9cxoTwnWk1fJZijFi_y_cjUh2Kz2T3C8UidJW2w05TmcyI/s1600/runnable+section.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90LkcCRLj62QFymTv0nmRifvfD6xoY7xVFa5tv9cy_6_YJcrU4NCcnuL-W5e6rPTAezRz_7cHtyGnAkIbus3K97Zx1Wegw9cxoTwnWk1fJZijFi_y_cjUh2Kz2T3C8UidJW2w05TmcyI/s320/runnable+section.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now, normally the next bit of the course is basically a big snow-slide down the gully to the ice-blue lake at the bottom, which would have been pretty cool and advantageous for me given the context (I still wasn't in a "downhill day"). Instead, where the snow normally lies we were confronted with the underlying hard stuff, of a much more jaggedy nature. It's a bit like being offered a nice big vanilla ice-cream with an overly generous Chantilly topping, only to be told, "sorry, it's all melted", and the porcelain plate it was to be served on was all shattered and broken into spikey bits; "you can lick that if you like?" So, lick the boulder field we did! It wasn't fast going, and it probably wasn't too pretty to watch. There's a species of penguins I've seen in South America called rockhopper penguins - they'd have made a much better job of this bit of the race than I was doing! So anyhow, I did another below-par downhill, and again got caught by some more runners. By the time we were back down at the valley floor and returning through the same aid station I was back in sixth position and wondering whether that wasn't going to be where I'd stay, unless I could get my act together! But I'd been feeling good on the climbs all morning, so I was still confident of having something left in the tank and hoping to dish that out on the last 1200m uphill assault. I'm sure my in-form climbing was down to the monstrously hilly workouts put in recently at Monte Rosa and subsequently Pierra Menta, - that and the fact that unlike most of the other runners out there I didn't have poles in my hands to slow me down!! No poles, no problem!</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Like a fell race!</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLiY2d1pvHRpjwom7WGmaixqmeYxjDmqX63THPAfI2bzz2cmEVWboqHHVOgbUM5jKQpmpX3BkwohOEbr8e5ZqF4aajJgUBEZKvCC0N9NlGtLHp1DYQg2v77pqvy5wwAzxtDk7cSCuS_NE/s320/yourepics+-+going+up.jpg" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was in sixth at the bottom of what is best described as "a beast of a climb". My American teammate Cody was just ahead and running really well, looking good. Just ahead of him was the Spaniard Eric Moya. He had poles and was looking less good. A little further up the hill was Dimitry (the powerful Russian runner). Ahead of him the front two runners were totally out of sight, so presumably had a comfortable enough lead? All in all I thought that if I could nail this climb, I could potentially crawl (literally) my way back up into third spot. So the goal was set: "nail this climb", right! Dimitry had a three-minute lead on me at the bottom and I thought I was going pretty quickly up there, but I didn't catch him until 50 metres <i>after</i> the summit! He was obviously not giving in easily and was apparently as determined to step on the podium as I'd now persuaded myself to be. On the way up, I was telling myself that when I caught him there would be no more fluffy down-hilling skills! I made up my mind that I was not going to be hanging around on this last descent. And hence the 15km battle for third position commenced! And it was full-on until we were back in Tromsø harbour and under that finish arch! On the lower, grassy slopes of Tromsdalstinden I finally got ahead of Dimitry and felt I was building up a bit of a lead, but then there were a few kilometres of gentle incline, gaining a total of about 300m. This is the kind of slope that runners absolutely despise at the end of a long race. The sort of slope where you know you should be running, but you're wasted, your legs are screaming, and you just want to walk it in, please! I couldn't allow myself that option though, - whenever I dared glance behind me, the muscly man and his orange vest was ever present, just a couple of hundred meters behind! To cut it short, I grit my teeth and legged it as hard as I felt I could for those remaining miles, including a short and steep 400m downhill and then two miles of road over the sea bridge and back past the boats and the cruise ship to the more-than-welcome finish-line.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Happy to be back in town</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6DhyphenhyphenRcPYhoV0HWEax6IJ-sxmjiDp8ucJMzinRkDE-ys4tl-AjtFFe2OqweGbitK8aE7Ybx5Ey5A2t1gtHrHbrBN3-5urKnFosNsX657sntFP0uAazXPMiM3cN1DyIysgYmhkTf7MQtY/s1600/At+the+finish.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6DhyphenhyphenRcPYhoV0HWEax6IJ-sxmjiDp8ucJMzinRkDE-ys4tl-AjtFFe2OqweGbitK8aE7Ybx5Ey5A2t1gtHrHbrBN3-5urKnFosNsX657sntFP0uAazXPMiM3cN1DyIysgYmhkTf7MQtY/s320/At+the+finish.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm chuffed with the result, - the looong trip to the Arctic Circle had been worth it! This race represents my first return to international competition after my operation in February and a lengthy period off running before and after that. I've been training for about seven weeks now, and niggle free for much less than that. So hopefully with a bit more running in my legs and some regained descending confidence the rest of the season can go from here. It’s great to be back running Sky races too, after a venture into the world of ultra over the last couple of years. I have to say that races like this really do sum up why I run - to spend time exploring wild and wonderful scenery, on foot, at speed.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tromsø harbour</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Thanks to Kilian and Emilie for pulling this race together. There aren't many as good as this. Good job! ;-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Next stop Kima!</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Finish-line podium photo</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialQxVU-4-OikI47sqyHn4kmAq_HIxdBvo5X4NGZAvJylUNjIvZ45FSSQg0sJFNZ0Gag8ae5LVKpKevnzlw6vgoFX5XpE09WtvHOx3BS7_3IRRvWwm3D4yZntwqUCVq8cM3wzIJZXw0BA/s1600/TOP+3.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialQxVU-4-OikI47sqyHn4kmAq_HIxdBvo5X4NGZAvJylUNjIvZ45FSSQg0sJFNZ0Gag8ae5LVKpKevnzlw6vgoFX5XpE09WtvHOx3BS7_3IRRvWwm3D4yZntwqUCVq8cM3wzIJZXw0BA/s320/TOP+3.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Top 10 - all results <a href="https://tromsoskyrace.com/results/" target="_blank">here</a></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNFWrSWFsi8R42yXeXX5nIjLKICLCNAgLMeOwnlYWdn354yPyoGxnJo79lWb5TGlieENuJOQ97DPjQJfpt5S9uGihh1UQVnrZR7rSIIg4S6BVbmxwEDXbHu0zeZbinrQdh3b1ZiLLiUE/s1600/top10.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNFWrSWFsi8R42yXeXX5nIjLKICLCNAgLMeOwnlYWdn354yPyoGxnJo79lWb5TGlieENuJOQ97DPjQJfpt5S9uGihh1UQVnrZR7rSIIg4S6BVbmxwEDXbHu0zeZbinrQdh3b1ZiLLiUE/s320/top10.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kilian handing out the winners' beer mats</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- just need a beer to put on it now!</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmy6bIJAgNspZbZpJy4k_P9PRw0JHlxunpnblNVEjEV3wXgPEXRtFt_rnnqj20HsqXiupDuQwfatOOzsRmwEFuJ1TGmPZIS44709sHt9NWtb5EJ7w-xELMUaZULFFVoJ1D0S3T20uzlc/s1600/Tromso+trophies.jpg"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmy6bIJAgNspZbZpJy4k_P9PRw0JHlxunpnblNVEjEV3wXgPEXRtFt_rnnqj20HsqXiupDuQwfatOOzsRmwEFuJ1TGmPZIS44709sHt9NWtb5EJ7w-xELMUaZULFFVoJ1D0S3T20uzlc/s320/Tromso+trophies.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>The race video</i></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DiB6QyJkmYE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DiB6QyJkmYE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">PHOTO CREDITS : <a href="https://www.yourepics.com/" target="_blank">yourepics</a> / <a href="http://www.skyrunnerworldseries.com/" target="_blank">skyrunner world series</a></span><br />
<br />Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-81229237613678530142018-07-28T17:51:00.001+02:002018-08-01T10:20:11.775+02:00Mélèzes du Mercantour<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trois objectifs pour le <a href="http://www.traildesmelezes.fr/" target="_blank">Trail des Mélèzes du Mercantour</a> : 1. Passez un bon week-end en famille à la montagne, 2. Casser la serie de 4èmes (<a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2018/06/monte-rosa-sky-marathon_26.html">Monte Rosa</a>, <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2018/07/pierra-menta-ete-2018.html">Pierra Menta</a>, World Cup.. !), 3. Faire une bonne sortie longue en prépa pour la Tromso Skyrace dans 2 semaines.<br /><br />On a démarré par une petite course d'orientation dans la ville fortifiée de Colmars les Alpes. Parfait pour découvrir ce joli lieu, OU parfait pour que les enfants le découvrent, pendant que nous on buvait des cafés sur une petite place en centre ville !!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Après les balades autour de Colmars et une petite baignade dans la rivière sous la cascade de la Lance, c'est parti pour les competitions ! - à commencer par les trails enfants ! Quelle ambiance !! Largement de quoi m'inspirer pour demain !! - Je n'aurais plus qu'à garder le même style, légèreté, vitesse et sourire pendant ma course aussi !</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Zooooooooooom....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Et le lendemain, c'est mon tour : Reveille à 5h15 pour un bol d'avoine, et puis direction Beauvezer pour un départ à 7h depuis le pont de Villars-Heyssier.<br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On est dans les alpes, à la montagne, et il y a quand même 3000m de dénivelé au long des 50km du parcours de ce trail au milieu du Mercantour, mais j'ai tout de même l'impression que c'est rooouuuulant. Mais peut-être que tout parait rooouuuulant après Monte Rosa et la Pierra Menta ?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> 5 heures et 9 minutes plus tard, un petit saut (jambes trop fatiguées pour en faire un grand - sorry !), et puis à nouveau direction la rivière glacée, afin de bien démarrer la récup :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Podium garni de bois (les trophées, pas les jambes), avec Sebastien Camus et Yohan Viani :</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Résultats en ligne <a href="http://www.sportips.fr/resultats/2018MELEZ50KM.pdf" target="_blank">ici</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Next stop, Tromso, un poil plus long, beaucoup plus raide...</span></div>
Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-48136844312031476382018-07-08T11:39:00.001+02:002018-07-08T12:31:51.730+02:00Pierra Menta ÉTÉ 2018<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wow ! Quel parcours cette Pierra Menta d’Été !</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Après le <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2018/06/monte-rosa-sky-marathon_26.html">Monte Rosa</a> il y a deux semaines, il semble que c'est bien parti pour enchaîner des jolies courses cet été !</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">La verticalité de la chose était évidente sur le papier, et cela a vraiment été confirmé au race briefing la veille de chaque étape. 30km, ca va vraiment nous prendre 4 heures ?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Et oui, c'est possible. Avec des pentes comme ça ! :</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Et qui continuent comme ça : </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">La Pierra Menta se court en équipes de deux. Ce qui rend le concept encore plus convivial. C'est toujours sympa d'avoir quelqu'un avec qui on peut partager la vue depuis le haut d'une grosse crête bien pointue ! Pour ma part, ces belles vues sur les trois jours de up & down ont été partagées avec Martin Gaffuri.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Je me remets tout juste à la course à pied, après quelques mois galères de blessures (opération pour une pubalgie en février), donc l'idée était de vraiment profiter de ce "petit séjour" en montagne, et de faire un bon gros bloc "d'entrainement en pente". Marcher sur des pentes aussi raides, j'en ai rarement l'occasion. Martin, qui vise aussi les sky races de cet été, était en bonne forme, et en serrant les dents sur la fin, on termine 4ème au classement général. C'est vraiment pas mal, car le niveau est assez élevé.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Après les crêtes et les cordes, c'était souvent plus roulant. Mais tout est relatif, n'est-ce pas ?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Check out the view. Awesome !!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">J'ai vraiment bien aimé cette course, l'organisation et le parcours. Et passer trois jours à Arèches-Beaufort avec 300 personnes qui apprécient aussi la vraie bonne montagne, c'est quand même sympa :-) J'ai déjà envie de revenir la refaire celle là !</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Voici les top 5 de chaque catégorie :</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4v8YqQc9DuEY8r7lgtqKt84rSEG_6XQqd9wKpIRQ7cl5XCOxTv0Ti3DEgTEozIOC6bLnq3JRKe2aL8j0KQJ5oz_HNlVYjgsvUewbVVKDa4GpmQCipmsZzsn_drbXRfJQgj6tE5xGHVHY/s1600/PM+2018+r%25C3%25A9sults.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="740" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4v8YqQc9DuEY8r7lgtqKt84rSEG_6XQqd9wKpIRQ7cl5XCOxTv0Ti3DEgTEozIOC6bLnq3JRKe2aL8j0KQJ5oz_HNlVYjgsvUewbVVKDa4GpmQCipmsZzsn_drbXRfJQgj6tE5xGHVHY/s320/PM+2018+r%25C3%25A9sults.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Photos : F Oddoux / Test4outside</span>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-21178195245154884032018-06-26T20:35:00.004+02:002018-06-27T07:18:29.323+02:00Monte Rosa Sky Marathon<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>The high point of the race, 4554m:<br />Margherita hut, Punta Gnifetti </i><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLc3t3cI29h0nFDsI57n2vBikpSxCx1Vdg2FqNAHY4heTVnstzTbZzYdBsSjLh_GyZH0ciXUpo0QbNce0V8lk8D9jtiggYYpUeeU8GksK9okqExXqH3LfM9TGt_gek5wekKaf0bAt4ZwI/s1600/AMA-slider2.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLc3t3cI29h0nFDsI57n2vBikpSxCx1Vdg2FqNAHY4heTVnstzTbZzYdBsSjLh_GyZH0ciXUpo0QbNce0V8lk8D9jtiggYYpUeeU8GksK9okqExXqH3LfM9TGt_gek5wekKaf0bAt4ZwI/s320/AMA-slider2.jpg" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLc3t3cI29h0nFDsI57n2vBikpSxCx1Vdg2FqNAHY4heTVnstzTbZzYdBsSjLh_GyZH0ciXUpo0QbNce0V8lk8D9jtiggYYpUeeU8GksK9okqExXqH3LfM9TGt_gek5wekKaf0bAt4ZwI/s1600/AMA-slider2.jpg"> </a><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a struggle to hobble much more than a few miles on the flat when I confirmed to Tom that we would be “all good” for the Monte Rosa Sky Marathon. That was ten days before the event, I was half injured, rather unfit and with next to no running, let alone climbing in the quad</span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;">s. But this race was just too good an opportunity to miss!! I’d have to have broken a leg not to make the start line of this! That said, one runner in the field still shows a fracture line in his fibia and he was on the start line too. But that’s a different story, and he's an entirely different animal ;-)</span></span></div>
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<i>Welcome to the fancy dress party</i></div>
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<i>I mean the start-line</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlbty93PxtKwwPmmu7MuBQy_gWdoInRUEcFTlZyXXi-YlTxLHT92yk0bmGxOrfRi2W3UO7AgzbElSv6qHWrSVRCccnu1NXpTKJE9x3sZ5CEQRcwbOvF9uH9JEa47xPAeVSyjXOKQsOHo/s1600/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-02731.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlbty93PxtKwwPmmu7MuBQy_gWdoInRUEcFTlZyXXi-YlTxLHT92yk0bmGxOrfRi2W3UO7AgzbElSv6qHWrSVRCccnu1NXpTKJE9x3sZ5CEQRcwbOvF9uH9JEa47xPAeVSyjXOKQsOHo/s320/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-02731.jpg" /></a></div>
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So just before 6am on Saturday morning, Tom and I made our way to the church square of Alagna Valsesi to join the colourful crowd of people, all excited and ready to run up, up, up, and into the sky! In case we didn’t know it already, upon reaching the start zone it was immediately obvious that <i>this</i> was something a bit out of the ordinary, a touch different from your average trail race! People were walking about the village with skis on their shoulders, the runners were dressed in a mix of skimo gear and ninja suits. There was a silent but blatantly obvious competition for the most extravagant or fluorescent lycra pants! We almost felt a little out of place with “just” our normal running gear, topped up with the obligatory bits of climbing kit and “the dreaded” poles!</div>
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<i>Run while you can!</i></div>
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<i>Soon you'll be on your knees!!</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-7zrxsgZJrGlyPBBAFFrJYW0IIKmXimlGaMvSdbczwHaieXc7_mOsQnc6-x0tmryRLqyeRPeRHFPDk685_D5XvTzDki0Pn5VOPyIYPoAGyFnA9-weYAfuaFVhcqNntnCoQuVMY66v9Q/s1600/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-02890.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-7zrxsgZJrGlyPBBAFFrJYW0IIKmXimlGaMvSdbczwHaieXc7_mOsQnc6-x0tmryRLqyeRPeRHFPDk685_D5XvTzDki0Pn5VOPyIYPoAGyFnA9-weYAfuaFVhcqNntnCoQuVMY66v9Q/s320/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-02890.jpg" /></a></div>
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So the race was launched and up the hill we ran! For quite a long time! Well I say ran, - to tell you the truth it was more of a walk, a scramble, a slosh and a slide!</div>
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<i>Views from the slopes of Monte Rosa</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEituTRiQDgkYCj0ihktlq0iw24cDpZdSmW2Y91lUZI3AufTs2_4_f8dXDldh5b2FbMezUMeuvKjt0i_GH1MHiLH7eLXH9h38rcO4GkCIpye5hOOEXACrAFir6vrlEoBJtZoVGWhEmJ4pQk/s1600/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-03105.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEituTRiQDgkYCj0ihktlq0iw24cDpZdSmW2Y91lUZI3AufTs2_4_f8dXDldh5b2FbMezUMeuvKjt0i_GH1MHiLH7eLXH9h38rcO4GkCIpye5hOOEXACrAFir6vrlEoBJtZoVGWhEmJ4pQk/s320/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-03105.jpg" /></a></div>
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Quickly out of the forest and above the tree line, the views became increasingly awesome! My legs were weak and my lungs were small (no training, no surprises!) so after twenty minutes we (I) had to let the leading pair of runners go ahead alone. It was always going to be a long shot to pull out the sort of competitive performance like Tom and I would have liked. But it didn’t matter, not a bit. We were here for the pure enjoyment, to soak up the thrill of participating in something rare - a race straight up and down one of Europe’s highest peaks. And it was just stunning. And all that stunningness well overshadowed any leg pain or frustration of not being in great physical shape. What also eased the problems associated with a distinct lack of training was the short piece of elastic cord clipped onto the front of my harness and to the rear of Tom’s - yep, he pulled me half the way up the hill!</div>
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<i>One of the race's more runnable sections</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERwP7ElaqbPwM55i_byobcYgygGUs8i2oKBx8zntUv2_cmYI2LJFK10nVa93GpZJnnKPgCCmwerydzanZFPtNEAybl1GL9KzNuootkI-JwNx-VwnS8gbVC6p49VniBBoCyppBCcJwV_Y/s1600/84a6c7bd-1d44-4f38-ba20-95f1048ef0ea.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERwP7ElaqbPwM55i_byobcYgygGUs8i2oKBx8zntUv2_cmYI2LJFK10nVa93GpZJnnKPgCCmwerydzanZFPtNEAybl1GL9KzNuootkI-JwNx-VwnS8gbVC6p49VniBBoCyppBCcJwV_Y/s320/84a6c7bd-1d44-4f38-ba20-95f1048ef0ea.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>One of the race's less runnable sections</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHZz8OmhYwL6RdR1QsqxIeWNnh8mt7vV-9omIFmBEkmJfSjw2HzRgUpN-agNwvVaabgsZHKHGm3Mg-hIBxnrf8mXi2QBrM0TC8K9LDxREGcJlI9JAwm-NB4uFODweahPcqrC2VSZhFvA/s1600/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-06634.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSHZz8OmhYwL6RdR1QsqxIeWNnh8mt7vV-9omIFmBEkmJfSjw2HzRgUpN-agNwvVaabgsZHKHGm3Mg-hIBxnrf8mXi2QBrM0TC8K9LDxREGcJlI9JAwm-NB4uFODweahPcqrC2VSZhFvA/s320/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-06634.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i>As viewed from the chopper</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNKtB7ffplr276AChSzhJNq87RhgXHL8dg2SdWb8eephXmB2Uo1PX6KiwwCjc1kc030oAKD4w9eFA7CBDtjo5xdgWZwBaa2lkp6oIXkNEEbrxKrOsufCrm9cpl3wlSViclaxCdTRmT0g/s1600/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-03102.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNKtB7ffplr276AChSzhJNq87RhgXHL8dg2SdWb8eephXmB2Uo1PX6KiwwCjc1kc030oAKD4w9eFA7CBDtjo5xdgWZwBaa2lkp6oIXkNEEbrxKrOsufCrm9cpl3wlSViclaxCdTRmT0g/s320/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-03102.jpg" /></a> </div>
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The race tops out at the Margherita hut, perched on the Italian-Swiss border on the summit of Punta Gnifetti, a sub-peak of Monte Rosa. It’s the highest refuge in Europe, not that we had much time to check it out! A quick cup of warm tea and a rhubarb and custard gel and it was time to run back down! - well that was going to make a change from the walking and crawling we’d been doing so far at least!</div>
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<i>The last climb, where the air is thin,</i></div>
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<i>and the running style somewhat lacking!</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizfRdLzW3eMl4vc0-0yE6WCKciQ5TKD1wXQaXqpd3470VW-R38FNtlTkAmD7Mlag4HFIe1r8OG-v8T-qc1VEe5pI3-fLAfxXXSzYEdx7hQ9uFsjTgo4DeT27nKRflPjZHpCxUa9Tt-NeY/s1600/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-03243.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizfRdLzW3eMl4vc0-0yE6WCKciQ5TKD1wXQaXqpd3470VW-R38FNtlTkAmD7Mlag4HFIe1r8OG-v8T-qc1VEe5pI3-fLAfxXXSzYEdx7hQ9uFsjTgo4DeT27nKRflPjZHpCxUa9Tt-NeY/s320/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-03243.JPG" /></a></div>
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Poles safely stashed away and downwards we hurled ourselves! Oh how joyous to run with hands free from the grips of the sticks!! And we’d need free hands too, to clip in and out of the various bits of safety rope and to slow ourselves down on the sections where it was safe and efficient to ssssssliiiiide.</div>
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<i>A quick peak at the view,</i></div>
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<i>before crashing back down the slopes!</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ_fO4VmtGyWDOVMm9j6wUvj1VpDFcPkgRTFhjg1MllefvYItFWMNejscTa3Pm89TlHefzgL5cFycnzCLu55iP8kPz4dL97gSJGwb7lNythXkKjiwBuCzJyQWl5qpo9MJWZvpbzyn-GQ/s1600/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-06842.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ_fO4VmtGyWDOVMm9j6wUvj1VpDFcPkgRTFhjg1MllefvYItFWMNejscTa3Pm89TlHefzgL5cFycnzCLu55iP8kPz4dL97gSJGwb7lNythXkKjiwBuCzJyQWl5qpo9MJWZvpbzyn-GQ/s320/c2a9iancorless-com_monterosa2018-06842.jpg" /></a></div>
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It had been a long way up, and now it was a long way down too, but it passed by relatively quickly. And before too long we found ourselves back in the beautiful village of Valagne Valsesia, on the patio of a bar enjoying the obligatory pizza and beer recovery menu =) Italy not only has great mountains!</div>
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<i>D+1m for the Calzone</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGMwiAP16X3KgMsHhn4bludUcRcBoR5zfqgL8tnr7nHwdFD18XUXFWAQTeUXMZynE4W7GkijJTQbEQSYfm_B9LQHuoqm2hJOx3kgq2IKhnaR88MiqzhoclGxTlr5RPR0EQuW-egOWaDU/s1600/IMG_1872.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGMwiAP16X3KgMsHhn4bludUcRcBoR5zfqgL8tnr7nHwdFD18XUXFWAQTeUXMZynE4W7GkijJTQbEQSYfm_B9LQHuoqm2hJOx3kgq2IKhnaR88MiqzhoclGxTlr5RPR0EQuW-egOWaDU/s320/IMG_1872.jpg" /></a></div>
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So no regrets to kicking start my 2018 sky running season with this one. There’s no doubt it’s one of the best races I’ve ever taken part in. Hard to think which races compare really (els2900 would be one of them). It was obviously a bit of a shame to hold Tom back with my poor form, but you never know, maybe we’ll get a chance to come back here one day, and with the additional experience running in snow, we could try really smashing it up there!</div>
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<i>Back in town, on the finish line with Tom</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh37mQvKEBB-kftAK_zhKZa2kwousL2fJmYfkdkPPKTct-6SE7Zq_gkynhrJOvGyy_GLKPX9-T03q7S4PLkHM0HUSYRYLU2h9T7weKBgW1-o-JbICVhVg_wnW08yHZL5QhltKIbX3XW1pg/s1600/IMG_1949.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh37mQvKEBB-kftAK_zhKZa2kwousL2fJmYfkdkPPKTct-6SE7Zq_gkynhrJOvGyy_GLKPX9-T03q7S4PLkHM0HUSYRYLU2h9T7weKBgW1-o-JbICVhVg_wnW08yHZL5QhltKIbX3XW1pg/s320/IMG_1949.JPG" /></a></div>
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Thanks to Marino Giacometti, Lauri and all the organisers of this event. Thanks for bringing it back on the scene so many years after the original event, and for proposing what can only be described as a PROPER MOUNTAIN RACE!!!</div>
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<i>Otro, a beautiful little village higher up the valley,</i></div>
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<i>that we jogged through the following day</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheomN31A_vgm6PktKrcSNpiw8F4r-47A0iy4aoiI8TzINB_XQ1K8ih-BG1XvEBO3XiQx6zUtorqJwx0pYfkBc2Og5rTcNJEGq9Gj7VhHNbL8OBix_LDmZf4auiWAC1tQDWE1DOV4ZId_4/s1600/IMG_1948.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheomN31A_vgm6PktKrcSNpiw8F4r-47A0iy4aoiI8TzINB_XQ1K8ih-BG1XvEBO3XiQx6zUtorqJwx0pYfkBc2Og5rTcNJEGq9Gj7VhHNbL8OBix_LDmZf4auiWAC1tQDWE1DOV4ZId_4/s320/IMG_1948.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>Results (Top 5 men / mixed) </b></div>
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Franco Collé (ITA) William Boffelli (ITA) – 4h39’59” </div>
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Alberto Comazzi (ITA) Cristian Minoggio (ITA) – 5h03’26” </div>
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Kilian Jornet (ESP) Emelie Forsberg (SWE) – 5h03’56” </div>
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Tom Owens (GBR) Andy Symonds (GBR) – 05h18’57” </div>
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Vitaly Shkel (RUS) Shyngys Beikashev (KAZ) – 5h26’45” </div>
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Website post event articile: <a href="http://www.monterosaskymarathon.com/kilian-jornet-monte-rosa-skymarathon-one-of-the-best-races-in-the-world/?lang=en">HERE</a></div>
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Photos: <a href="https://iancorless.org/2018/06/23/monte-rosa-skymarathon-2018-summary-and-images/" target="_blank">Ian Corless</a></div>
</span>Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-26643832083213087522018-04-30T21:37:00.001+02:002018-05-01T07:40:44.759+02:00Old Stones<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Reprise en compétition sur le Trail des Vieilles Pierres, à Oppède.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgjufzux1P2TzLW8nZo68AVHPidKll4XxCLSE8ttutdj4TOKZTDPGCPkkJW2mB8wdcXM-knOkMuXNBQMXGnstDrBuEX5Vb-mD1LuLRHW4SyEVuhFiPKLW6EWeA6cGa9BaIBZbOxq0R5c/s1600/Vieilles+Pierres+-+au+de%25CC%2581part.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1543" data-original-width="1600" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgjufzux1P2TzLW8nZo68AVHPidKll4XxCLSE8ttutdj4TOKZTDPGCPkkJW2mB8wdcXM-knOkMuXNBQMXGnstDrBuEX5Vb-mD1LuLRHW4SyEVuhFiPKLW6EWeA6cGa9BaIBZbOxq0R5c/s320/Vieilles+Pierres+-+au+de%25CC%2581part.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Une sortie matinale idéale pour fêter mon n+1,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">et surtout avec les quelques jolies surprises retrouvées sur le parcours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- Comme cette belle banderole (thanx Mike ;-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- Et le "passage insolite" dans la carrière souterraine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rafraîchissant et mystérieux avec sa lumière et musique d'ambiance !!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">C'est une course bien sauvage et plutôt costaude.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Avec ses 1400m de D+, tes cuisses aussi se transforment en pierre pour la dernière descente sur Oppède.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2_vlxNwxqDpmFnSSDPS3vRI-RMcshhGTBIZjAPXByezqAiJcRPaWI4xk24OIGRcqkydeDxS33cSOzS-52oYBrj-OPNCcYU0Zw6QFMUlkwvNUk074NzJ3zIKMHeaNHBg4K_MlrmCGlI0/s1600/Vieilles+Pierres+-+descente.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2_vlxNwxqDpmFnSSDPS3vRI-RMcshhGTBIZjAPXByezqAiJcRPaWI4xk24OIGRcqkydeDxS33cSOzS-52oYBrj-OPNCcYU0Zw6QFMUlkwvNUk074NzJ3zIKMHeaNHBg4K_MlrmCGlI0/s320/Vieilles+Pierres+-+descente.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Après quelques mois de coupure, j'étais plus que content de gagner un bon morceau de rock. Mon fils en profite pour s'incruster sur le podium, et a l'air un peu trop heureux avec une bouteille de rosé dans les mains ?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">La saison 2018 démarre :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Next up, sky running...</span></div>
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<br />Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-17579214076789124802018-01-11T13:59:00.002+01:002018-01-15T09:46:43.117+01:00BALADES SANS BALLES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Ci-dessous je partage un interview que j'ai fait la semaine dernière pour <a href="https://www2.u-trail.com/andy-symonds-linterview-dun-champion-engage/">u-trail</a>.</i><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>La chasse a un fort impact sur le plaisir de courir en Vaucluse en hiver. Avec l'association <a href="http://www.trailvaucluse.com/" target="_blank">Trail Vaucluse</a>, j'essaie de porter la voix de ceux qui souhaiteraient se balader en nature sans compromis de sécurité.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Le plaisir d'aller dehors devrait être une possibilité pour tous.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><b>Bonjour Andy !</b><br /><br /><b>Tout d’abord bonne année 2018 Andy et merci de nous accorder cette interview. Avant de parler du sujet qui nous préoccupe, à savoir la cohabitation entre chasseurs et traileurs, alors que trop de non chasseurs paient le prix fort, nous voudrions revenir sur toi et ton parcours récent.</b><br /><br /><b>D’abord, côté santé, comment tu gères ta cuisse droite, est-ce tu te dis « get along with it » (fait avec) ? Beaucoup qui nous lisent courent avec une vieille blessure, une gêne, que leur dis-tu pour les soutenir moralement ?</b><br /><br /><i>Oui, c’est exactement ça, je fais avec. J’essaie de l’oublier, même si finalement c’est impossible d’ignorer sa présence. À chaque appui ma cuisse droite répond bizarrement. Il me manque un peu de puissance et de la stabilité sur cette jambe. Mais il n’y a aucun doute que je préfère courir avec une jambe bizarre que de ne plus du tout mettre mes baskets de running. Je souffrirais bien plus à ne plus courir, c’est sûr ! Parlant de blessures, aujourd’hui je suis beaucoup plus embêté par deux problèmes plus communs pour les coureurs à pied – une pubalgie et une aponévrose. Oui, c’est terrible à vivre les blessures pour un coureur, très frustrant parfois. Quoi dire ? – il faut se dire qu’un jour ça finira par partir et que ça ira mieux quand même. Se frustrer et déprimer ça ne va pas aider c’est certain ! Il faut trouver d’autres choses à faire pour s’occuper et pour s’aérer la tête !</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Tu es un compétiteur mais tu cours avant tout pour le plaisir, est-ce que par rapport à un athlétisme affilié au système et faible face au dopage, le trail ce n’est pas finalement un sport plus authentique et un des derniers espaces de liberté qui nous reste ? c’est quoi pour toi la définition de « l’esprit trail » ?</b><br /><br /><i>Le trail est effectivement plus proche de la nature que beaucoup d’autres sports. Finalement il faut peu d’équipement et de gadgets – on chausse des jolies chaussures et puis on file dans la nature. On peut le faire seul ou avec du monde. On respire et on profite des environs. C’est ça l’esprit trail finalement, c’est passer du temps en nature, que ce soit sur des sentiers, aux abords des champs, en haut des montagnes, mais dans tous les cas c’est loin des routes et des lieux urbanisés, loin du monde ! Après, bien sûr que j’ai un côté compétitif, j’aime bien les courses et j’aime donner mon maximum pour essayer de bien me classer en compétition. Mais personnellement, je fais le trail plus pour le fun que pour la bagarre !</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Sur l’édition 2017 de l’UTMB, la plus incroyable avec un plateau historique, tu termines 16e, en 22h36, avec un démarrage à 15km/h pendant les premiers kilomètres, et du point de vue de nous autres traileurs moyens, c’est déjà incroyable, vous, les élites, malgré les blessures, malgré la douleur, vous êtes des extra-terrestres, alors c’est quoi pour toi LE secret pour se dépasser soi-même ?</b><br /><br /><i>Ah, si seulement il y avait juste UN secret ! Pour moi boucler une course aussi longue et aussi dure que l’utmb c’est un cumul de plusieurs choses : D’abords il faut avoir réellement envie de la faire, envie d’en profiter et surtout il faut vraiment vouloir la finir ! Si on n’y croit pas complètement, il y a peu de chance qu’on arrive au bout à mon avis ! Ça s’est vu chez l’elite cette année – ils voulaient tous finir ! Après il faut bien sûr être en bonne forme physique et surtout être bien reposé avant le départ. Cette année j’étais parti comme si je partais pour une longue balade, que je voulais terminer et dont je voulais profiter. La tactique m’a mieux réussie que l’an dernier, où j’étais en meilleure forme physique, mais j’étais dans un esprit plus compétitif et moins frais au départ.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Venons-en au sujet pour lequel tu es en train devenir le porte-drapeau, tu es anglais et tu vis en France, en Angleterre, pourtant pays de tradition, la chasse est interdite le dimanche depuis 1831, ça n’est pas le fait de la commission européenne pour une fois, et quelque chose te révolte, nous sommes bien d’accord, c’est la sécurité des gens sur les sentiers en forêt, peux-tu nous expliquer ce que tu ressens lorsque tu cours en forêt alors qu’il y a des chasseurs dans le coin ?</b><br /><br /><i>Je ne me suis jamais préoccupé de la réglementation concernant la chasse en Angleterre ou en Ecosse, ni dans aucun autre pays où j’ai vécu ou voyagé dans ma vie, jusqu’à ce que j’arrive en France. Jamais en Angleterre je n’ai croisé des personnes armées lors de mes footings. La chasse existe certes, mais c’est plus encadré et moins omniprésent. En uk c’est connu comme un sport de riches qui passent une semaine à tirer sur des faisans dans des gros domaines en écosse, et ça se passe dans des zones très isolées et définies, donc peu de chance que du monde y passe en balade. Honnêtement ça m’a beaucoup choqué quand je suis arrivé ici et j’ai réalisé que l’on peut se balader où on veut, le fusil sur l’épaule. Et ici où j’habite, dans un petit village qui s’appelle Lagnes, en Vaucluse, en hiver dès qu’on sort de la maison on croise beaucoup de chasseurs. Quel que soit le jour de la semaine, on les croise le long des canaux, dans les forêts et partout sur le grand réseau de petits sentiers et des gros chemins qui traversent les collines vauclusiennes. La santé et la sécurité sont de plus en plus des sujets de société primordiaux aujourd’hui. Je travaille dans les énergies renouvelables et c’est un secteur où on se préoccupe beaucoup de la sécurité, même parfois un peu trop à mon avis. J’ai été dans des bureaux où on est obligé de tenir la rambarde de l’escalier, par exemple (et les weekends je fais du sky running !). Certes ça va un peu loin, mais c’est pour montrer à quel point on réfléchit de plus en plus à cette problématique de manière générale. Et à côté de ça, on partage les espaces naturels avec des personnes armées avec des fusils capables de tuer à plusieurs kilomètres. C’est quand même fou. Fréquemment on tire à côté de moi quand je cours. Et c’est souvent un chasseur stationné à 20-30m de moi, qui ne m’avait pas vu avant de tirer. Ils tirent souvent depuis les sentiers GR et à travers les chemins car ils attendent des sangliers qu’ils dirigent vers les pistes avec leurs chiens et les 4×4. J’ai été tenu en joue par un chasseur, ma mère aussi, au-dessus du village à 1km de ma maison. Tout ça je ne le trouve pas normal, pas sécurisant du tout et contre nature. Aller courir, faire du vtt ou se balader en famille en nature ne devrait pas être dangereux, à mon avis.</i></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Tu fais plusieurs propositions, la première c’est de demander au préfet un jour sans chasse, la deuxième c’est de construire une plateforme de communication entre traileurs et chasseurs, l’une est contraignante, l’autre est co-constructive, comment penses-tu attirer les chasseurs sur cette plateforme, heureusement qu’il y a des chasseurs qui sont traileurs et vice-versa ?</b><br />
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<i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Je ne dirais pas qu’une journée sans chasse soit contraignante. C’est tout le contraire. 7 jours de chasse par semaine en Vaucluse représentent une contrainte importante pour toute personne non chasseur. Car aujourd’hui il n’y a aucun jour où les autres usagers puissent profiter pleinement de la nature. Et l’idée de la plateforme de partage d’informations sort simplement du constat qu’aujourd’hui les dispositifs qui sont censés être mis en place ne fonctionnent pas. En tout cas, pas où j’habite, et j’entends que on n’est pas les seuls à être concernés par le problématique ici en Vaucluse. La réalité aujourd’hui est qu’avant d’aller « en nature » il n’y aucune façon facile ni sûre de savoir si on va croiser des chasseurs ou pas, c’est impossible de se renseigner où et quand ont lieu les chasses. Les panneaux indiquant « chasse en cours » sur les sentiers ne marchent pas. La moitié y reste toute l’année et avec les panneaux temporaires ils n’arrivent jamais à couvrir tous les accès possibles de toute la zone en danger – c’est un trop gros travail. Donc ma proposition serait une plateforme où ces informations puissent être visibles par tout le public, sur internet, comme on fait d’ailleurs en été pour cartographier les zones interdites d’accès par risque d’incendie. La date, l’heure et le lieu de toute chasse prévue. Ce serait bénéfique pour tout le monde. Les coureurs et les randonneurs pourraient choisir et adapter leurs parcours en fonction de ces informations, et les chasseurs retrouveraient moins de monde au milieu de leurs battues. Il y aurait moins de risques, moins d’accidents, moins de tension et l’espace serait beaucoup mieux partagé.</i><br />
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<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Si tu ne trouves aucun écho positif de la part de la fédération de chasse du Vaucluse sur l’idée d’une plateforme par exemple, penses-tu durcir le mouvement et rejoindre les positions des anti-chasses les plus radicaux (interdire la chasse tout court, actions militantes etc…) ?</b><br />
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<i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Je ne suis pas en mode « confrontation ». Premièrement parce que c’est souvent contre-productif, et deuxièmement parce que ceux en face sont armés ! Je sais très bien aussi que c’est une question également très « politique » et pour avoir une chance d’aboutir à un compromis il ne vaut mieux pas attaquer le débat tête baissée avec des idées fermées ! La réglementation encadrant la chasse évoluera en France c’est sûr, ça fait partie de l’évolution (la population de chasseurs a baissé mécaniquement de 2,5 millions en 1975 à moins de 1 million aujourd’hui, NDLR) et du développement d’un pays qui essaie de faire au mieux pour la majorité de sa population. La pratique de cette activité telle qu’elle se déroule aujourd’hui n’est plus de notre temps. Et on ne l’a pas adaptée pour la mauvaise raison que cela fait partie de notre « culture ». L’esclavage ça faisait aussi partie de notre culture à une époque – on a fini par évoluer et l’éradiquer. Si je peux en parler publiquement, proposer des solutions et éventuellement assister pour avancer les choses un peu plus vite, tant mieux. Je n’ai qu’une envie personnellement – que mes enfants puissent avoir envie d’aller sur les sentiers sans avoir peur, ce qui n’est pas le cas actuellement.</i></div>
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<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Merci Andy pour tes réponses, on te souhaite à toi, à ton frère, à ta famille une excellente année 2018 dans la belle nature Vauclusienne et on croise les doigts pour que tout le monde arrive à s’entendre et que ton projet de plateforme trouve un écho favorable.</b><br />
<b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />Andy a écrit au préfet lire <a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1yEwJUTe8Fhd4I0juNmY8qqU72Qkkf3h9">ICI</a>, et vous invite à participer au sondage sur la chasse <a href="http://www.trailvaucluse.com/p/chasse.html">ICI</a>.</b><br />
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<br />Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-65569704092705340842017-10-08T16:05:00.002+02:002017-10-09T08:48:01.949+02:00Traillades 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(</span>les anglophones auront toujours un peu de mal avec le mot <i>trail</i> !...)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">infos sur la course ici : <a href="http://www.lestraillades.fr/" target="_blank">www.lestraillades.fr</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">résultats 2017 ici : <a href="http://www.nikrome.com/pdf/traillades17.pdf" target="_blank">www.nikrome.com/pdf/traillades17.pdf</a></span><br />
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-26549787788535480282017-10-04T21:55:00.000+02:002017-10-05T13:41:21.995+02:00Trail de Saint Didier<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Le Trail de Saint Didier, 29km 900m D+</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">De retour pour ma troisième<span style="font-size: x-small;">*</span> participation à cette belle course Vauclusienne ! Oui, je l'aime - <a href="http://www.mollets-petillants.fr/" target="_blank">le Trail de Saint Didier</a> ! Pour son parcours, pour son organisation et parce que c'est un des trails les plus proches de chez moi. Sans parler des quelques bouteilles de rouge et de miel que l'on peut gagner si ça se passe bien :-)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">*après </span><a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2014/10/quelques-jolies-courses-locales.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2014</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> et </span><a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2016/10/trail-de-saint-didier.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2016</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Le départ du village</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Peu après avoir quitté Saint Didier le parcours monte sur le village du Beaucet, où on profite pour faire un tour de son château. J'accorde une attention particulière car c'est ici que <a href="http://www.trailvaucluse.com/" target="_blank">Trail Vaucluse</a> organisera sa prochaine course - <i>L'Enduro Holy Calades du Beaucet</i> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">le 18 février prochain</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> (n'hésitez pas si vous avez des suggestions pour le nom du trail d'ailleurs !).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Le Beaucet - en vrai c'est plus beau que mon croquis !</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On quitte le château sur son pont-levis, on traverse quelques calades pour ensuite poursuivre sur les sentiers du Massif Vauclusien. Single-track time ! C'est roulant mais en même temps il n'y a jamais beaucoup de repos. C'est un enchaînement de petites montées sèches, de virages et de relances. Les jambes vont bien (4 semaines de repos ont évidement fait un grand bien) et je profite de ma fraîcheur pour avancer à une bonne allure. C'est un tel plaisir d'avancer vite quand on se sent bien, léger, puissant : quand les jambes tournent sans que ça fasse mal, quand on peut appuyer sur l’accélérateur et voir dérouler le paysage comme si on était un peu détaché du sol. C'est un état physique qui n'est pas présent tous les jours, parfois son arrivée peut sembler aléatoire ou inattendue pour le coureur (y a des "bon jours" et des "moins bons"), mais plus que souvent c'est le résultat d'un bon entrainement, et d'un bon repos ! Donc j'étais dans ma<i> zone de trail-tranquillité </i>quand tout d'un coup mon pied gauche atterrit à quelques millimètres de la tête d'une petite vipère. BAH ! WOU ! Mais comme quand on tombe par terre en course (pas très souvent non plus !), je trouve que ça fait du bien un petit coup de <i>surprise</i> mi-course ! Ça réveille et ça relance le moteur avec une petite injection d'adrénaline !</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Attention au serpent !</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Je ne sais pas si cela vous arrive aussi, mais quand je croise un serpent sur le sentier, ensuite les yeux ont tendance à deviner des serpents partout ! Les branches par terre, les racines, les cartouches de chasseurs, ils se transforment tous en serpent ! Non, ça ne vous arrive pas ? C'est juste moi alors !</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Et maintenant, des serpents partout !</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">C'est drôle les jeux que le cerveau nous fait parfois. Je n'ai jamais halluciné en course, comme racontent certains ultra-traileurs, mais imaginer et inventer des formes dans les bois ou sur les roches, pourquoi pas ? C'est ça qui est bien aussi dans le trail, la libération totale de l'esprit ! On profite du calme, de la paix, d'un monde plus sauvage et libéré des contraintes, des menaces et des dangers du quotidien... Jusqu'à ce qu'on tombe sur un chasseur et puis c'est goodbye la tranquillité et hello la menace ! Quand même, comment est-il possible qu'on laisse n'importe-qui acheter une arme pour se balader n'importe où pendant la moitié de l'année ? Ne sommes-nous pas un pays avec des principes et des valeurs ? Ne construisons-nous pas notre démocratie autour de la raison et du rationnel ? Un jour on regardera l'histoire et on se demandera comment c'était possible que l'on vende des fusils pour que l'on puisse tirer des petites balles de métal partout en Vaucluse. Aujourd'hui nous ne comprenons pas comment l'esclavage était légal à une époque, et plus tard le vote des femmes, le mariage pour tous, etc. C'est pareil ; l'humanité avance, mais parfois cela semble lent quand même ! Heureusement que nous évoluons et que généralement la logique s'impose. Les lois de notre société sont là pour contrôler et pour interdire les gênes et les menaces, dans le but d'améliorer la qualité de vie pour la majorité. Il est temps que nous changions de politique vis-à-vis des armes, et de la chasse. Que ce soit aux US ou en France. Mais ne soyons pas trop lents sur ce coup-ci, il y en a qui ont hâte de profiter pleinement de notre nature, à pied, à vélo, seul, en famille, les weekends ! Partageons, profitons et protégeons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Bon trail !</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>#baladessansballes</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Résultats - top 20</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Le parcours sur relive</i><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzMJ-5H5Md4qt-danz-5qqFIQNE3c5fQCaokdc4o5BkXtaDN45T45eFGS0gNrC1urHlM4mGn-eINWdEDmUoqw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-79711226000854598392017-09-09T17:22:00.001+02:002017-09-13T07:23:24.494+02:00UTMB 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s quite a long way around quite a big mountain…</i></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b>IN IT TO FINISH</b><br /><br />The 2017 utmb: time to give the hundred-mile distance another crack then! But this year – just make damn sure that you make it all the way around and back to that finish line in Chamonix!<br /><br />I've had an unexceptional racing season in 2017 and my running form's been mediocre right through the summer. That top racing gear's been missing. With that in mind, the hilly hundred miles of the utmb would be no place to do anything silly! Well, doing the utmb is obviously totally <i>silly</i>, but what I mean is that I was not in sufficiently good shape to leg it off and play cat and mouse at the front of the field. The game plan was caution, caution, caution: get to Champex, carry on running, and just keep moving until that finish line comes into view! Oh, and enjoy it along the way...</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In 2016 it all ended in Champex.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Preferably not to be repeated this year...</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69ThpmUQUzSiK2tLdDu093ZVcdhAGfYBh0Dy4xSphzzxPxjd35N1huLt3QzATzzgPVKAA7E7ZlIIyvgOCV217qyDlROyZxPNyw7V13LlIMfXVF43nqJMJkF9Wtsp_5EQ1ItMgNokV9xs/s1600/last+year+end+Champex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1152" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69ThpmUQUzSiK2tLdDu093ZVcdhAGfYBh0Dy4xSphzzxPxjd35N1huLt3QzATzzgPVKAA7E7ZlIIyvgOCV217qyDlROyZxPNyw7V13LlIMfXVF43nqJMJkF9Wtsp_5EQ1ItMgNokV9xs/s320/last+year+end+Champex.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>UTMB HYPE</b><br /><br />So, the start line was a pretty calm, low-key affair. NOT! As Ludo Collet made the Kiwi haka look like a primary school nursery rhyme I soaked up and enjoyed the atmosphere. I’d been ambushed and pulled forward to carry a gps spot-tracker, and hence found myself on the front line of runners, which was good. François stood calm and collected by my side, whilst on my right Kilian was playing computer games on his iphone, and Walmsey could be spotted further over to the left, warming up for his 100 x 1-mile reps session. I could have been imagining it, but I thought I also spotted a mouse chewing up Laney’s cap and vest.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the utmb startline ambiance!!!</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm0wIxzkQTAWXTJYeEOP_j-Xocr_rJTzZU6iaHY4JM2St4I-OxduoRyr8yrihn9dGwiX0ZkSxwUGKFbG0h-WolOFNoipnzq01WIR_ErqVE6Wz3LrKoeauffRxO6PotRU9CLfGCFLBCAc8/s1600/2017+UTMB+START+LINE.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1521" data-original-width="1600" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm0wIxzkQTAWXTJYeEOP_j-Xocr_rJTzZU6iaHY4JM2St4I-OxduoRyr8yrihn9dGwiX0ZkSxwUGKFbG0h-WolOFNoipnzq01WIR_ErqVE6Wz3LrKoeauffRxO6PotRU9CLfGCFLBCAc8/s320/2017+UTMB+START+LINE.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>STEADY START</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So off we went. I’d made it clear beforehand that I’d be cruising down the road and there would be no silly 6-minute mile-ing shenanigans. Oops, that didn’t happen. It’s just incredible how easy 15kph feels when you’re caught up in a mass of hundreds of runners and the side of the path is lined with an infinite succession of small and large pink hands sticking out, eager for high-fives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;">cruise, cruise, cruise...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhocEIjWprYFeFHCZfYTvEorxDXwqPBInuUkI3H2s-6vysvUHm8OD5N4KRLiW7PTrP0_KMsmWQ7ZaJH9VGGHKyo8z4Ou0j5KDQXku8j6D0MyZZ8y36t4GRh2UsVqE2vN85kPvziBYWKDxA/s1600/2017+UTMB+first+few+km.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhocEIjWprYFeFHCZfYTvEorxDXwqPBInuUkI3H2s-6vysvUHm8OD5N4KRLiW7PTrP0_KMsmWQ7ZaJH9VGGHKyo8z4Ou0j5KDQXku8j6D0MyZZ8y36t4GRh2UsVqE2vN85kPvziBYWKDxA/s320/2017+UTMB+first+few+km.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>INTO THE NIGHT</b><br /><br />Chamonix, Saint Gervais, Contamines, .. then things start to finally quieten down. The trail becomes a more peaceful place. Up the hill we went, last year into a starry cloudless night, this year into a sleety visionless gloom!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;">glad we're not orienteering...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1eoK8Qy7keghcsphOQk6AMOfxWOXIdea37eE58TRRi_TSZaEqD46yRrQaN5hDtqWDxea2V-uttLs29wOU1_BkKVkUrFsA2sACOQqbDTN64gX46gYgUgnspRML-FbH6Z3AEhAjnhYt-c/s1600/fog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="1074" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1eoK8Qy7keghcsphOQk6AMOfxWOXIdea37eE58TRRi_TSZaEqD46yRrQaN5hDtqWDxea2V-uttLs29wOU1_BkKVkUrFsA2sACOQqbDTN64gX46gYgUgnspRML-FbH6Z3AEhAjnhYt-c/s320/fog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I changed my jacket, put on a fresh T-shirt and prepared myself for an atmospheric night on the mountain. It couldn’t be any worse than a mountain marathon in NW Scotland – at least I wouldn’t have to pitch a tent at the end of the day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;">headcase race</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIS-PiXtbtOQ96akkKWFKvCnjG0mavPrZCmy4u9E1p3TqFL5JG6AjArZyyK2Jf3vwGo69puq5-SkNXO1Z_IIJDkb5g6QyE_tl6_AyUE2ZJXiNIshKPE3g8A_s7WooJ7-VoaQz16dhLyg4/s1600/into+the+dark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1374" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIS-PiXtbtOQ96akkKWFKvCnjG0mavPrZCmy4u9E1p3TqFL5JG6AjArZyyK2Jf3vwGo69puq5-SkNXO1Z_IIJDkb5g6QyE_tl6_AyUE2ZJXiNIshKPE3g8A_s7WooJ7-VoaQz16dhLyg4/s320/into+the+dark.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>MIDNIGHT FEASTS</b><br /><br />The night running doesn’t feel too long in the end. It passes quickly, so long as you’re kept occupied! I spent most of the night running and often talking with fellow Brit Damian Hall. He went on to have a storming run (finishing 12th). As well as keeping occupied, there’s no better way to get through the night than to stop for a 3am risotto in Courmayeur. Try it sometime! Thanks crew – it’s certainly nuts to run right through a Friday night, but perhaps even crazier, at least more selfless, to assist someone in doing so. Merci Carole, Chris et Steph!!! And while I’m on that subject, thanks also to those who supported me out there, right through the day and the night: the “Allez Lagnes”, “Go GB”, “Jump Vaucluse”,.. etc. were all highly appreciated and contributed significantly to spurring me all the way to that finish line.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;">3am risotto</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKA9N2N-SQ-IgY87UX_rmT7W88wWOlBjbaPafjx8TAd5ccpNyUkSSEtGhV0nJkTriCWr9BiTU43lWb1biHQI5wA1HnR38UG1zRThDnb69M5bQvVbAghB12BGzZSDAUPwCuQyg0ZeWZ9M/s1600/2017+UTMB+Courmayeur+risotto.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1526" data-original-width="1600" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKA9N2N-SQ-IgY87UX_rmT7W88wWOlBjbaPafjx8TAd5ccpNyUkSSEtGhV0nJkTriCWr9BiTU43lWb1biHQI5wA1HnR38UG1zRThDnb69M5bQvVbAghB12BGzZSDAUPwCuQyg0ZeWZ9M/s320/2017+UTMB+Courmayeur+risotto.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;">bon app' !</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNv6A8jhwd46ZBJcuDzXnoasMWYMsocV4X8M4UtoAe8_5FYWJccySqp9oAaz04oQPW6HW4WG_ojSKzyHlFTnkgnzPJr36eb5n2BN1UKqCwsfHu8uT606aa-cMPUb6Rkx9SNYE8Oum2zY/s1600/risotto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="1389" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNv6A8jhwd46ZBJcuDzXnoasMWYMsocV4X8M4UtoAe8_5FYWJccySqp9oAaz04oQPW6HW4WG_ojSKzyHlFTnkgnzPJr36eb5n2BN1UKqCwsfHu8uT606aa-cMPUb6Rkx9SNYE8Oum2zY/s320/risotto.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>OUCH</b><br /><br />There’s quite a lot of time to reflect while you’re out running ultras. And I worked it out! - Yes, I finally determined THE SECRET to succeeding at ultra running. It came to me in the latter 40km or so. So here it is: What you must do is learn to run, well at least learn to keep moving forward in some form or other, whilst your legs are in <i>excruciating pain</i>. Yep, that’s it. Simple! Now you know this secret, it’s easy, right? Try it! The only slight problem and the caveat I’d attach is the following: the pain can be quite intense!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>pain is relative, and usually temporary</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9MMh0cqMY5rRWxH5q8lhv-lj07VSU2vFywr2j2OLZxyQ8n1gAHgD8aVQwDBDXnZjeIsWXduaZHUPqRhqpiWo0GeugIsUR-waWFCgSH1VPcU3Nnv9IWgIsSqAoZCz5Cjjgn_rt1HiW7w/s1600/2017+UTMB+quad+pain.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9MMh0cqMY5rRWxH5q8lhv-lj07VSU2vFywr2j2OLZxyQ8n1gAHgD8aVQwDBDXnZjeIsWXduaZHUPqRhqpiWo0GeugIsUR-waWFCgSH1VPcU3Nnv9IWgIsSqAoZCz5Cjjgn_rt1HiW7w/s320/2017+UTMB+quad+pain.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So yes, my legs hurt towards the end. Those last three <i>medium-sized</i> (800m) hills were no molehills. But at the end of the day they’re only three <i>medium-sized</i> hills aren't they? It’s just a question of keeping moving and you’ll get over them, in the end. Mind over matter. Or “mind over cooked legs”.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>BACK TO TOWN</b><br /><br />Whooppee, I’d got round!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>no high-jump PR today</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My finishing position (16th) wasn’t the sporting achievement of my lifetime, but that wasn’t of too much importance. I’d been in it to get around this year. It had been hard and it had taken two attempts, but I’d finally made it. Now that box is ticked, next time I come back I can try legging it off with the American track athletes, or not!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That said, “next time” won’t be any time too soon. I definitely enjoyed the whole experience, it was painful at times but generally fun, but right now I’m kind of thinking I’ll stick to some shorter stuff for the next year or two…</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-style: italic;">cheers!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>no beer has ever gone to my head as fast as this one...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; font-style: italic;">my utmb story in video:</span><br /><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ABV8o0CtxlA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ABV8o0CtxlA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-57777165401971043792017-08-07T12:23:00.001+02:002017-08-08T16:42:05.180+02:00Val d'Allos : Enduro + Trail<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">C'est parti pour un weekend à Allos : à la montagne, à la fraîche ! Ça tombe bien car il a fait un peu trop chaud en bas ces dernières semaines ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Une fois au village d'Allos, je poursuis les traces #blackandyellow pour m’emmener à la vieille ferme où loge le team Scott France. Facile à repérer, même la vache est en supertracRC ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Les courses démarrent le samedi après-midi, avec l'Enduro Allos. Nous organisons aussi un Enduro à Lagnes, donc évidemment je suis fan de ce format de trail :-) mais j'avais envie de tester le truc en tant que participant. Aïe - ça fait mal aux poumons !</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Postulat confirmé : j'apprécie beaucoup le format de course ! Des balades à l'allure cool entre les tronçons, des vraies poses aux ravitaillements, des échanges avec les autres coureurs, profiter vraiment et plus longuement des paysages. Par contre, sur les cinq segments (long de 700m à 1,8km) je soufflais fort à essayer de poursuivre Arnaud et Adrien ! Les guêpes volaient !</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Dimanche matin J2, et c'est parti pour un trail "normal", pas de segments cette fois-ci, donc une allure plus détendue, mais sur distance beaucoup plus longue par contre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Le sentier monte, le soleil se lève. On court ensemble dans un groupe de 5 ou 6 coureurs pendant une vingtaine de kilomètres. Je ne me sens pas bien du tout : fatigué, vide, jambes lourdes. <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2015/03/interview-avant-ventoux.html" target="_blank">Ma cuisse droite</a> me gène beaucoup. Mais je poursuis quand même, parfois ça passe ..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">La deuxième montée est assez longue et plutôt raide, elle nous sort de la Foux d'Allos pour nous emmener tout en haut sur la partie la plus sauvage du parcours. C'est bien sympa. Rémi sort ses bâtons pour nous montrer comment faire. Il ne faut jamais être derrière quelqu'un avec des bâtons. C'est la règle no.1 du coureur sans bâtons. La règle no.1 du coureur avec bâtons c'est d'être toujours </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">devant les coureurs sans bâtons. Les marmottes s'en moquent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Au cours de cette ascension mes jambes commencent à se réveiller. Une fois en haut j’accélère légèrement sur la partie la plus technique (et sympa) du parcours. Je distance les autres et je fais la deuxième moitié du parcours seul. Comme sur l'Enduro la veille, on refait un podium 100% #blackandyellow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.trailvaucluse.com/p/t-shirts.html" target="_blank">Flat is relative.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Voilà le top 20 du trail 44km.</span><br />
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<br />Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-2645807861258986812017-08-03T22:02:00.001+02:002017-08-10T14:04:43.400+02:00RunLagnes<div class="Corps" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.runlagnes.com/" target="_blank">RunLagnes</a> : pourquoi organiser une
course ?!</span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pourquoi pas !<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Avec notre petite famille, nous
avons déménagé à Lagnes au printemps 2012. Je me souviens du jour du
déménagement, car c’était la veille de <i>la
Sainte Victoire</i> et j’avais
trouvé que ce n’était pas une super bonne idée de transporter des meubles et
des cartons la veille d’une course de 59km ! Bref, Lagnes, on l’avait choisi car
le village était à mi-chemin entre Apt et Avignon (nos travails respectifs à
Carole et moi à l’époque), le village avait l’air d’être plutôt sympa, et en
étudiant l’IGN 25k j’avais eu l’impression que le coin était très prometteur en
termes de sentiers !<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Très vite je me suis rendu compte
que l’IGN ne mentait pas, Lagnes était simplement un paradis pour le trail ! Un
véritable labyrinthe de chemins et de sentiers, avec du plat, de la pente, des
paysages magnifiques et une météo presque toujours parfaite pour lacer ses
chaussures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Depuis l’âge de 12 ans, j’en ai fait
des courses ! En commençant par des bains de boue de <i>cross-country</i> dans
le nord d’Angleterre, je suis passé par un peu de <i>piste</i>, un peu de <i>montagne</i>,
du <i>fell</i>, un peu de <i>route</i>, du <i>sky</i>, et depuis mon arrivée en
France en 2011 ; du <i>trail</i>, et plus récemment encore, un peu d’<i>ultra</i>…
Mais quelque soit le format de course, finalement qu’est-ce qu’on cherche en
participant à ces événements de course à pied ? Je pense que je réponds pour la
majorité de coureurs quand je dis que je fais ça simplement pour le plaisir. Donc quand je cours je cherche
à m’amuser au maximum ! Pour se faire plaisir dans un événement de trail, en ce
qui me concerne, il faut i) un bon <i>parcours</i>, ii) une belle <i>compétition</i>, iii) une bonne <i>ambiance</i> et iv) un bon « <i>après trail »</i> ! Et c’est
exactement ce que nous visons aujourd’hui pour RunLagnes !<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Les deux parcours que l'on propose se déroulent sur
mes sentiers préférés, sur les collines au-dessus du village. Certes ça peut
faire mal aux jambes, un peu, mais pour les yeux c’est que du bonheur ! - on
va dire que c’est du « tourisme actif » !<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Une fois la ligne d’arrivée franchie,
en arrivant dans le théâtre du Pieï, on retrouve ce dont je rêve après chacun
de mes efforts : une pizza, une bière et une glace !<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Le trail long fait 31km, une
distance d’une sortie de dimanche on va dire :-) Par contre le 13km se déroule
en format Enduro, un concept moins connu en trail. Faire du fractionné n’est
pas toujours très motivant comme séance d’entrainement ; des allers-retours ou
des boucles de pistes ne m’ont jamais trop inspirés, - mais il faut reconnaitre
que c’est quand même très bénéfique de courir vite quelques fois par semaine ! D’où le
fartlek (<i>jeu de vitesse</i>), une sortie de course-à-pied ou on intègre du
rapide dans une séance qui est majoritairement relax pour le reste. C’est une
méthode que j’ai pratiqué sur les collines avec mon père et mon frère dans ma
jeunesse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">L’EnduroLagnes fait donc 13km, mais
seulement 5km sont chronométrés, sur quatre portions entre 500m et 1800m de
long. Les segments Enduro sont à faire “aussi vite que possible”, mais entre
les segments c’est plutôt repos, ravitaillement, échanges, découverte du
paysage.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT8TVkcWNerGxpqUCKZAGOpYfmOZ1QCnzI5CBbGwQ7raOGj5cCdw9lo_dYG3r88UKlqwjV0illJNErk6-QcKkm-VluiSf48a5J4ifdnZLGRkOuwtDZOn1-m01hIGULP7OELjALbpT3UE/s1600/RL+race+organisation.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1552" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT8TVkcWNerGxpqUCKZAGOpYfmOZ1QCnzI5CBbGwQ7raOGj5cCdw9lo_dYG3r88UKlqwjV0illJNErk6-QcKkm-VluiSf48a5J4ifdnZLGRkOuwtDZOn1-m01hIGULP7OELjALbpT3UE/s320/RL+race+organisation.jpeg" width="310" /></a></div>
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<div class="Corps" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">C’est de l’investissement
d’organiser un trail ! C’est bien fatiguant mais ça vaut le coup ! Merci à mes
amis organisateurs et à Carole avec l’aide desquels RunLagnes ne serait
simplement pas possible. À Elliot et Léonie qui m’ont vu un peu moins souvent
les quelques semaines avant la course… ;-) !! Un grand merci à tous les
bénévoles qui ont donné beaucoup de leur temps, au soutien de la Mairie de
Lagnes et à tous les sponsors. What a team !<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_TjfH81Tbx5m3gR2ppRCGkP0FiQoTvSowczs1tzE7jry468Hm14VX5IKj2THyKTJ-4szwlcwQk3V2q6YzBjJ7eiBQ1_LzR5ZPzFXaQmX-5DZsLGT8yq9hKFzMGYm2kDCP9ShSHiewEk/s1600/RL+race+team.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1302" data-original-width="1594" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_TjfH81Tbx5m3gR2ppRCGkP0FiQoTvSowczs1tzE7jry468Hm14VX5IKj2THyKTJ-4szwlcwQk3V2q6YzBjJ7eiBQ1_LzR5ZPzFXaQmX-5DZsLGT8yq9hKFzMGYm2kDCP9ShSHiewEk/s320/RL+race+team.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(têtes, et surtout cheveux, pas toujours très représentatifs, sorry !)</span></i></div>
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<div class="Corps" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Et merci aussi à ma famille qui est
venue en nombre pour vivre l’expérience RunLagnes !<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvGaY1FrdKUSqg3morU2zgx_gmM7ldRhvqmrcvo2O9WBR3DNphbcTNy5VVZIE-jlBpmGXftsp8KAanre1OaF_7qZhO-J4ePhVSsJO8xg9gaNdwRNuFQjYXv_dGsrZp61Q8CC1JXo_i814/s1600/RunLagnes+en+famille.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="1378" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvGaY1FrdKUSqg3morU2zgx_gmM7ldRhvqmrcvo2O9WBR3DNphbcTNy5VVZIE-jlBpmGXftsp8KAanre1OaF_7qZhO-J4ePhVSsJO8xg9gaNdwRNuFQjYXv_dGsrZp61Q8CC1JXo_i814/s320/RunLagnes+en+famille.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rdv en 2018 pour la troisième
édition !<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.runlagnes.com/">www.runlagnes.com</a></span></span><br />
<span lang="FR"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-12774261567115784832017-07-15T16:28:00.001+02:002017-07-27T17:13:52.924+02:00A Bob Graham Round<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Spot the difference!</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3M789pwmKnTfarEFhJtDo4zHIZkoZI3MsuBR9HZnguN5FsRQLOaC4UorsnV1K_hwwKAJDZqGL6T-6U0Wp1WgBcyMC6uSsbLvHGXj_81ZAfyN3X98iTImKkrpz1R0c22gwcMDjCeiPuVo/s1600/BGR+MdS+spot+the+difference.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="1600" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3M789pwmKnTfarEFhJtDo4zHIZkoZI3MsuBR9HZnguN5FsRQLOaC4UorsnV1K_hwwKAJDZqGL6T-6U0Wp1WgBcyMC6uSsbLvHGXj_81ZAfyN3X98iTImKkrpz1R0c22gwcMDjCeiPuVo/s400/BGR+MdS+spot+the+difference.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Moot Hall, Sunday 28th May 2017, 5am. This ain't no desert!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2017/04/le-marathon-des-sables-running-about-in.html">MdS</a> in April, there was no doubt that it
was time for something different! The challenge and the experience of a week in
the Moroccan sands was interesting, but I quite quickly concluded that it wasn’t
really my sort of thing!</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Having spent the following month mainly eating (ref : <a href="http://www.andysymonds.fr/2017/04/le-marathon-des-sables-running-about-in.html">MdS</a>),
we headed up to the UK to visit family – the perfect opportunity therefore to shoe-up
for a run round the <a href="http://www.bobgrahamclub.org.uk/" target="_blank">Bob Graham Round</a>. Not far from where I spent my first 18 years
on this planet, and where my parents are still based today (when they’re not
living out of their <a href="http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/HughandPauline" target="_blank">panniers</a>), the BGR is a 66 mile circuit of 42 hills in the
Lake District, founded by an energetic chap whose name the loop goes by. The
challenge is to get round and over the 27000 feet of climbing in under 24 hours
– over two thousand people have now done so and thus been granted membership of the <a href="http://www.bobgrahamclub.org.uk/" target="_blank">Bob Graham Club</a>. The speed records belong to Billy
Bland: 13 hours 53 minutes, set when I was one year old (1982) and more
recently (2016) Jasmin Paris: 15 hour 24 minutes. These times are both quite
incredible! I expect Jasmin’s women’s record will probably stand for some time,
and Billy’s has already stood for 35 years. That said, I don't believe Billy’s time to be completely
unbeatable, it will just require a very very fit runner, with very very good route knowledge
(or perfect guides) and very very good weather conditions. It was never on the cards
for my May 2017 attempt. I'm nowhere near fit enough and have virtually no route
knowledge, those being the first two obvious stumbling blocks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As we already know, fell runners are a very
friendly and helpful lot, and any excuse for a day on the hill is usually a
good one. As such I found myself with a solid support crew for my day in the Lakes. Kim (Collinson) ran leg one with me, - on the basis that he’d be back home before breakfast and have time for a shower before work, Phil (Winskill) led me
over the following twelve fells to Dunmail, Andy (Berry) guided me through the
longest leg covering the fifteen summits into Wasdale, Bill (Williamson) aka
<i>the ultimate leg 4 guide</i> made sure I didn’t loose an inch of indirect footing between Wasdale and Honister, where I met Steve (Birkinshaw) to sprint
out the final three fells and the flat section into Keswick. Once again - a massive thanks to all five of you!</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At each of the
checkpoints I had the joy of being met by the ever lively and most motivating family support crew any BGRer can hope for!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The start of my Sunday round was wet and pretty horrible. Luckily Kim knew where he was going, so the map could stay tucked away and I just had to follow him up Skiddaw and through the heather to Blencathra. About mid-way through leg 3 the sky cleared up and the day turned into a good
one. Energy-wise I was not mega fresh from the start, so rather than race it, I was mainly out to enjoy the Cumbrian scenery
and the atmosphere of a BGR attempt. When Steve and I realised that no one had ever run a
16-hour BGR (either under 16 or over 17 hour completions only, apparently) we put the burners on, so as to not be the first to enter the 16-hour BGR club! Paced back into Keswick by my mum, son and then daughter for the final kilometers, I touched the
wall of Moot hall 15 hours 58 minutes 49 seconds after leaving that same building at 5am in the morning. It had been a good day out!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But now Fish and Chips were on my mind, as was a pint.
Now you don’t get that at the end of a stage race in the desert do you!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've since ditched the idea, but immediately after my BGR run I had been throwing the idea around of having another run round, later in the summer, and trying to go a lot faster. There’s definitely a fair
margin for improvement there, at least 45 minutes of navigational optimisation
and probably an hour of better fitness. Hence I don’t think the record’s totally
unbeatable. If Kilian gets the route right and is lucky with the conditions he’ll
probably surprise a few people with his time. But then there are the
questions of “trail technology”. A few people say that if a "European" (and this column isn't for Brexshit chit chat) rocks up
and runs round with poles then that’s not on and it's just not fair – Billy wouldn’t have
had poles! I’m no grand fan of running with walking sticks (check this out if you don’t
believe me : <a href="https://youtu.be/IJpextj-YTU" target="_blank">top tips for running with poles</a>), but as a sport running is evolving and there’s little doubt that poles
make you go faster up steep hills and over long distances. I don’t think it’s
cheating, it's just annoying for anyone around you! And on that note the BGR is different to a race - you're not surrounded by loads of other runners whose eyes are subject to a poking if they're too close on the heels of a pole-ish runner. When it comes to fell running, in my mind there’s even more of a debate over watch technology. It’s
now very easy to upload a gps line and follow that on your watch and/or phone.
And </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">if you don’t know where you’re going in the first place, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">having an arrow to follow will certainly make you go faster. Supporting a digital directional pointer on your wrist is not really in the ethics
of fell running, where map and compass have historically been key fell tools, along
with shorts and studs. Or a shed load of recces, if you really don't like the map. But what can you do about
watch technology and satellites? You can’t make gps watches illegal on a fastest-known-time route can you? Well you can’t uphold such a rule in any case. Personally I didn’t use either poles or a gps line on my run, but I was out
for a laugh and not a record. I have to say that if I was going out-and-out for
the fastest time I’m capable of, I’d consider using both. Along with some springs
in my shoes and a van driving 3 feet in front of me to take the wind off my
face ;-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Maybe next year for another run round then?</span></div>
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/1010529207/embed/a1ded5e1c2a6eec0ee3016fa78e57f4064cc9592" width="590"></iframe>
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<br />Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-35711519973537084402017-04-19T22:16:00.003+02:002017-04-20T16:46:25.137+02:00Le Marathon des Sables - Running about in the sand for a week<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>INTRO:</b><br /><br /><i>
This article is split into the following four parts: </i><br />
1. Why MdS / <span style="color: blue;"><i>Pour quoi faire ?</i></span><br />
2. The race concept / <i><span style="color: blue;">Le déroulé de la course </span></i><br />
3. My race / <span style="color: blue;"><i>Ma course </i></span><br />
4. Kit / <i><span style="color: blue;">Matos </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Désolé, les lecteurs français vont devoir se contenter de mes mini-synthèses à la fin de chaque section. Malheureusement je n'ai pas pris le temps de tout traduire - préférant passer mon temps dehors, ou à manger du chocolat.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Why MdS / Pourquoi faire ?
</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
“And now for something completely different” ― Monty Python</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I generally consider that routines exist to be broken. The comfortable timetable of daily life, what we might consider normality; eat, sleep, work, play,… are all very well - but every now and again there's nothing better than giving it all a good shake up! Not much will give you a better perspective on your everyday choices, your priorities, your pleasures, your reasoning,.. than doing something totally and utterly different. I expect that my rationality for wanting to experience the marathon of the sands aligns itself with that of the majority of the entrants to this increasingly popular event. Break away from the every day lifestyle, disconnect the brain and run through a different world for a week. (And also I wanted to see if I could keep up with the Moroccans!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By definition running is the self-propelled forward motion of the body, with repeated phases of temporary zero ground contact. That's a pretty broad definition, and as a runner myself I personally endeavour to keep the defined boundaries of this hobby of mine pretty damn large. For the record, I don’t consider myself specifically to be a “trail runner”, a “road runner”, a “track athlete”, a “sky runner”, an “ultra runner”, a “fell runner”, an “ultra sky runner”, a “desert runner” or any other sort of runner one might like to categorise (certainly not a "runner bean" either). No, I’m just a person who likes running around and about, on different surfaces, in different places, when it takes my fancy! So I’m a “runner”, and no more. And I’m a runner who likes to mix it up and try some different stuff. So I entered MdS this year to experience something completely different, a different form of running, a different routine for a week, a different environment, climate and lifestyle. And only having lived that experience can I now make choices and personal judgement on whether spending seven days running semi self-sufficiently through the desert is an enjoyable and/or useful thing to do! Don't tell me don't like cabbage if you ain't tried it! Don’t tell me you don't like desert running if you ain’t tried it! Time to try some sand running then, right!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: blue;"><i>Résumé : Ce qui est bien avec la course à pied c’est qu’il y a plein de pratiques différentes de ce sport. J'adhère à certaines d’entre elles plus qu'à d’autres (sky, trail, fell,.. par exemple), mais avant de juger il faut toujours tester, comme les choux ou d’autres légumes, n’est-ce pas ?! Donc il était temps de tester les pieds dans le sable, de vivre l’expérience MdS, et de voir ce que ça vaut vraiment !</i></span><br /><br /><br /><b>2. The race concept / Le déroulé de la course </b><br /><br /><i>"If you come to think of it, you never see deer, dogs and rabbits worrying about their menus and yet they run much faster than humans." </i></span><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">―</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Emil Zatopek</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What a vast mix of people it is that makes its way to the start line of the Marathon des Sables! Day 1 bivouac; I found myself sharing a stretch of Moroccan rug with Claire, Sylvain, Fred, Mélanie, and Luca. Six very different people with very different previous backgrounds and experiences, and each with their own personal reasons for coming here and their own individual objectives for the “race” ahead. It was going to be fun!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />And so it is, 1200 people find themselves under 200 side-less tents, pitched in a large three-deep circle. Over the course of a week this desert-circus-camp migrates its way across the sand. The daily ritual is the same for everyone; at 5:30am the sky starts lightening, sleeping bags rustle, water is poured onto mixes of oats and muesli housed in transparent ziploc bags or cut-in-half water bottles, and left to soak, expanding into something vaguely resembling food - a routine which become less and less appetising as the week goes by! Sometime between 6am and 6:30am the feet of three or four Moroccan tent technicians will appear in the the part of the tent where a wall might have been and very shortly afterwards your roof will be swept away to reveal a clean and fresh sky and a circle other denuded tents. And so, one by one the roofs are swept away, magically revealing their inner contents - half a dozen not-so-clean and not-so-fresh sand bagging runners. Food rehydrated and gobbled up, bags packed, gaiters on,.. and by 8 o'clock its time to leave for three, four, five, six, seven, eight,… hours of desert running. Late morning, the desert circus pitched up in a new spot, runners start to trickle into back into camp, and they continue to do so throughout the afternoon and into the evening, usually stopping by the medical tent to have a few blisters popped, and not forgetting to collect four and a half litres of bottled water to see you through the evening. Want another bottle? No problem, but you can take 60 minute penalty for it! Yes, water is rationed and the earlier you arrive, i.e. the case for the faster runners, means that it's quite a close call to get through until the next day without getting thirsty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Arriving in the relocated camp relatively early, normally around lunchtime, I’d have a recovery drink and a protein bar, before pouring some of the rationed water into a Ziploc bag, this time containing a dehydrated couscous based meal. Afternoons are passed how you like, but let’s face it you haven't got a million choices, you certainly ain’t going to the cinema! Most people simply lie in their tents, discussing their day, the magic of the scenery, how little they have left to eat, how great that beer will taste next week. Much more than just a race, the Marathon des Sables is is a massive de-connect. I can't recommend highly enough turning your iPhone off for a week! My personal choice, to pass the time, was to have two small iPods via which I’d take my mind to India through the audio version of the highly absorbing novel Shantaram. I haven't yet reached the end of this 42 hour narration, but from the hours passed listening so far I can highly recommend it. Many of the wise philosophical Indian statements contained within seemed quite appropriate to the world I was experiencing in the Moroccan desert, particularly on day four when I was somewhat struggling in my personal battle against sun and sand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By sunset, at around 7pm, everyone’s into camp and another dehydrated meal is savoured out of your favourite crockery. By 8pm decibels decrease, earplugs mute any remaining stray sounds, the wind, generators, snoring or the internationally acclaimed Italian chitter chatter, and the desert runners fall into a deep sleep, or at least they try to. How successful you are at this will depend on your appreciation of hard rocky floors, flapping wall-less shelters and notably how many grams you'd accepted to bear on your back in favour of a more or less comfortable mattress.</span><br />
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<i style="color: blue; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Résumé : </i>Le Marathon des Sables est évidemment beaucoup plus qu’une simple course à étapes. C’est une nouvelle façon de vivre, pour toute une semaine ! Pour donner les très grandes lignes de ma simple routine quotidienne : 6h tente démontée, 6h30 un sachet d’avoine savouré dans un sac ziploc, 8h30-12h course sur sable sous soleil intense, 12-13h réparation pieds (!), 13h semoule + compote, 14h-18h échanges avec les coureurs qui arrivent + livre audio sur mon iPod, 19h pâtes + dessert lyophilisé, 20h good night. La vie aura rarement été aussi simple !</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. My race / Ma course</b></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“Suffering, let me see. I think that suffering is a matter of choice. I think that </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">we do not have to suffer anything in this life, if we are strong enough to deny it. The strong man can master his feelings so completely that it is almost impossible to make him suffer. When we do suffer things, like pain and so, it means that we have lost control. So I will say that suffering is a human weakness.” ― Madjid, Shantaram</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Yes, I was at MdS to “live the experience”, but I was also there to compete. I had hoped to at least try to give the Moroccans a run for their money and as such I had invested quite a lot of time end energy into choosing and sorting my kit out. What a gigantic faff that part turned out to be! Into the race, the first couple of stages went okay, but I was already loosing precious minutes to the leaders. Judging how hard I should go, particularly given the unfamiliar conditions, was no easy task and to put it frankly - I was simply finding the pace at bit too fast. The sand dune traverses were extremely energy sapping and the final kilometres under the burning 45°C sun were a bit too much to handle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Interpreting what limited information I could from the road book, day three, at least on paper, appeared to suit my strengths. I was a bit disappointed with having already lost 10 to 15 minutes and wondered if I'd not been pushing myself hard enough on days 1 and 2? Retrospectively this was a major tactical error, but at least I’d have no regrets for not having tried to give it my all. I took on and attacked stage three from the gun, leading or sitting in the front group for the large part of the stage. I put myself into the red-zone, and was enjoying myself,.. and then,.. once again,.. I blew up in the last few miles of long, straight, flat, hot running! I’d overcooked the engine and had lost another 10 minutes. The plan had failed, but at least I knew that I’d given it a good go. So when we had 86km to run on the following day I wouldn't say I was exactly fresh on the start line. I went out steady, but by 25km the sand and sun were already starting to give me a long, hard lesson that overdoing it in the desert is a very unwise strategy and one that can cost dearly. Oh how I found that day hard! Questions along the lines of “what the heck did I do this for?” sounded loud in my mind and even adopting the wise, philosophical assertions I’d heard in Shantaram didn’t do much to release me from my struggle. I was simply totally cooked. And I had a long way to go! It was just going to be one of those days!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By the end of the forth stage I’d lost a further two hours and slipped from fifth to ninth position in the overall race ranking. I couldn't help but wonder whether if I’d been three or four minutes slower on the former stages whether I’d have gained two hours of bonking on the long day? Quite possibly, but it was too late now! The other element that had started to figure increasingly prominently in the equation was food. I don’t know about you, but I don’t normally prepare for ultras with a three day restricted diet of 3000 kcal of rehydrated oats, couscous and pasta. It's not a justifiable excuse, everybody is in the same boat of course, but it was certainly paying its toll on me. I was getting seriously hungry! The friendly donation of jelly beans and some cashew nuts by a fellow Brit I caught up with boosted my strength and made it possible to run out the last 20km of the ultra stage, but the relief was short lived. That evening I was hungry and on the menu was another ziploc meal, the concept of which I was getting less and less enthusiastic about!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After the ultra stage we had a “rest day”, before the final counting stage - a fairly flat and not too sandy marathon, 42km. All I could do was cruise it out, I was running on empty, and over the last 20km I started to feel an acute pain in my abdomen such was my level of hunger. My stomach was simply imploding! I quite enjoyed the marathon stage though, as I was off race mode and took the opportunity to practice some Spanish running alongside my Majorcan friend Miguel. The 42km are followed by another afternoon and evening of starvation and then day seven, a 7km charity sand dune traverse. And then find some food, quick!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All stages complete I finished ninth in around 22 hours.<br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><i>Résumé : </i><i>J’ai voulu suivre Rachid et les autres spécialistes de la discipline à la tête de la course. Sur les premières étapes je n’étais pas trop loin, mais au fur et à mesure que la semaine avançait j’ai été de plus en plus af</i></span></span><i style="color: blue; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">faibli </i><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">; épuisé par le sable, le soleil et mon incapacité à me ressourcer en repas lyophilisés.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>4. Kit / Matos </b><br /><br /><i>“There are of course many problems connected with life, of which some of the most popular are Why are people born? Why do they die? Why do they want to spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Since I put quite a lot of time and thought into this, I thought that share it in case it can be of benefit for others in the future. So here's what I took with me for seven days in the Moroccan desert:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>TOTAL pack at weigh-in pre stage 1: <span style="color: #cc0000;">7,15 kg</span></b><br />(including food, excluding run kit)<br /><br /><b>Matériel obligatoire : <span style="color: #cc0000;">1163 g</span></b><br />- Ultimate Direction 25l Fastpack <b>575 g</b><br />- PHD Desert One sleeping bag <b>310 g</b><br />- Petzl e-lite + 2x 2032 batteries <b>30 g</b><br />- 10 safety pins<br />- Silva compass<br />- Small Bic lighter<br />- Whistle (in the e-lite headtorch strap)<br />- Valmalenco SkyRace Swiss Army knife (useful to have scissors)<br />- Small bottle antiseptic<br />- Venin pump (a friend did run into a Cobra on day 4)<br />- Distress signal mirror<br />- Survival blanket<br />- Small tube suncream (I didn't burn at all - it worked a treat!)<br />- 200 euros<br />- Her Majesty's Great Brexit Passport<br />- MdS medical certificat<br />- Electrocardiogram<br />TOTAL other small bits of compulary kit = <b>248 g</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Kit course / orga : approx <span style="color: #cc0000;">200 g</span></b><br />Provided by the organisation :<br />- Road-book (I ripped the pages out day by day)<br />- Salt caps<br />- GPS & timing tag<br />- Pooh bags<br /><br /><b>Other general kit : <span style="color: #cc0000;">764 g</span></b><br />- PHD Wafer down jacket <b>210 g</b><br />- Neoair X-lite small Thermarest <b>205 g</b><br />- Exped inflatable pillow <b>45 g</b><br />- Ear plugs<br />- Half roll hypafix tape<br />- 3g tube superglue<br />- Spoon<br />- Loo roll (3x packs Kleenex)<br />- 1,5m elastic (useful for fixing stuff to bag etc)<br />- 1x drawing pen + 2x small pencils<br />- iPod nano 5th gen<br />- iPod nano 6th gen<br />- Apple earphones<br />TOTAL other small stuff <b>190 g</b><br />- Scott supersandalsRC (home made!) <b>50 g</b><br />- 2x 500ml Scott softflasks <b>64 g</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Running kit : <span style="color: #cc0000;">1110 g</span></b><br />- Scott RC shorts 86 g<br />- Scott proto T-shirt 44 g (I subsequently cut the sleeves off and made it into a vest)<br />- Scott socks 32 g<br />- Scott SupertracRC trainers 550 g<br />- Myracekit gaiters 200 g<br />- Oakley sunglasses 22 g<br />- Scott sun cap + neck protector 62 g<br />- RunLagnes buff with eyes cut out 30 g<br />- Ambit Peak 3 (watch) 86 g</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Food : approx <span style="color: #cc0000;">5 kg</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Click on the image to see how I fueled for the week. Essentially: Breakfast = oat mixes, Running = energy + protein bars, Recovery = drinks + bars, Lunch = couscous + compotes, Dinner = Pasta + various desserts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Here's a few things that I’d change: </b><br />- Gaiters: probably better cutting them down and sewing or glueing them directly to the shoe, just above the sole or where the shoe becomes aerated. In this case you’d need zipped or velcro opening gaiters, to be able to get at the laces. <br />- I took normal sized shoes, and my feet swelled. One size up would have saved a few toenails and some foot pain towards the end of the race. <br />- Food: I needed more, but more food equals more weight equals slower running. Maybe one can adjust the body to surviving on and racing on a low-calorie diet, but that strikes me as dangerous and not a very fun thing to do! Part of the problem here is that I am naturally greedy and probably generally eat too much. I suspect that a week of couscous and oats is less of an issue for most of the Moroccan runners. I also suspect that my body was working harder than usual and generally under more stress dealing with the uncustomary intense heat. Perhaps some acclimatisation would help here. <br />- Head torch: I should have taken an ActikCore as the e-lite was a bit limited for desert night running. It was fine for the tent but not strong enough to run confidently with after sunset. That said, I had chosen the e-lite as I had initially hoped to do less night running! (two additional hours due to my spectacular bonk on the long stage!) <br />- Rucksack: the Ultimate Direction 25l FastPack was great; comfortable and ergonomic, but perhaps I could have got away with something a little smaller and lighter. <br />- Mattress: I got a small hole in my mattress early on in the race, which was too small to find and repair (I did try pouring water all over it) and so I had to reinflate it every couple of hours. It wasn't the end of the world, but a bit annoying all the same. <br /><br />It's a totally personal choice, but if I was going back to MdS (highly unlikely!) I would definitely take an inflatable mattress again, as well as the pillow and another audiobook! So I wouldn’t change that much on the above list really.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><i>Résumé : Je partage cette liste car je l’ai quand même </i></span></span><i style="color: blue; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">bossé </i><i style="color: blue; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">(!) et peut-être que cela peut servir à quelqu'un dans le futur. Si je retournais (et non je ne pense pas) je ne changerais pas grand chose sauf : la façon d’attacher les guêtres, +1 pointure en chaussures, et une frontale avec au moins 200-300 lumens (ou courir plus vite pour éviter la nuit :-).</i><br />
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411487207981581945.post-1415913481034342892017-02-26T15:34:00.001+01:002017-02-27T14:19:52.853+01:00TGC 2017<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What a hard hard race this is! So much climbing and so little "easy running"! What makes it even harder for most of us (living in the northern hemisphere) is that it's very early in the season, - by February there's little time to shape up the legs ready for a mountain quad massacre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Qu'est-ce qu'elle est dure cette course ! Tellement de D+ et si peu de "passages faciles" ou roulants. Et situé en février c'est pas évident de bien se préparer à temps. Je pensais être prêt, j'avais fait plus de volume, de sentier et de dénivelé que l'an dernier et j'espérais pouvoir bien améliorer ma cinquième place de 2016. Finalement ça ne s'est pas fait !</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(gracias por la foto Alberto Cardona)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I thought I was ready for it, had done more than last year, but probably still lacked the leg strength to really do it justice. My main problem however came from elsewhere. Before the start, I found myself hanging around for ninety minutes in the cooling evening air, and without really realising it I was getting quite cold. To the extent that when I got up and moved to the start line I was properly shivering. Not very professional that wasn't! And the knock on effect was messed up guts. I've never had anything like it before and I don't think the tummy issues were linked to food, hence the cold hypothesis, but basically nothing was staying in and as a consequence my energy levels were rapidly dwindling from the gun. I plugged on, trying to run a very conservative race with the hope of sorting myself out and pulling through at the end. But that didn't really happen, more the opposite. Oh what a mission those last 40-50km were! This is a hard race to start with and I had made it even harder for myself!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Malheureusement je me suis retrouvé à attendre une heure et demie dehors avant le départ. J'étais pas assez habillé et je commençais à avoir froid. Au point qu'une fois sur la ligne de départ je tremblais de froid. Ca va vite passer je m'étais dis. Et c'est vrai qu'une fois la première montée sèche de 1000m bien entamée j'avais vite assez chaud, mais je crois que ce petit coup de froid n'a pas trop plu à mon estomac ! En vrac pendant les 14h de course, je n'arrivais à rien digérer. Mes énergies n'étaient donc pas au top, et surtout vers la fin. Qu'est-ce qu'ils étaient durs ces 40-50 derniers km ! Un vrai défi mental ou j'essayais de couper les bornes restantes en morceaux de 5-10km, pour que j'arrive à accepter, à avaler et à poursuivre ! Cette course est déjà hyper costaude, mais il semble que je l'ai rendue encore pire !</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now some recovery time before thinking a little about my next adventure, which couldn't be more different - a stage race though Marrocco, le Maraton des Sables. Shouldn't get cold at that one!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Maintenant place à la récup avant de me pencher sur ma prochaine aventure - une course à étapes au Maroc, le Maraton des Sables. Je ne devrais pas attraper froid là-bas!</i></span></div>
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Andy Symondshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573956273392242756noreply@blogger.com1