Knavesmire’s Numbers Triple @Transvulcania 2015

Marathon Report by Tom Ratcliffe

Out in the Atlantic Ocean exists a place known as the ‘green’ and the ‘beautiful’ island; Isle de la Palma. It is a rugged and remote volcanic landscape with jagged rocks and long sharp ridges which from the ocean weave their way up to and beyond 2000 metres. This challenging environment is the venue for Skyrunning and hosts the race which is known as Transvulcania.
I first found out about Transvulcania last year when Giles Hawking ( report from last year here) came back having completed the Ultramarathon and said ‘you must, must do this race; it is just crazy’. It took me ages to enter, having not really done too much fell running this time last year let alone deciding to run up a volcano! Eventually after much persuasion from Giles and others I entered the marathon, still quite unsure what I was letting myself in for, and I found myself on the start line standing nervously beside Chris Roberts on a Saturday morning in May.

Isle de la Palma

Isle de la Palma

The Transvulcania marathon began from Refugio del Pilar, a wooded area which sits at 1400 metres. After watching the elite of the Ultramarathon world breeze past us (the winner of the ultra (43 miles, 4400m ascent/4000m descent  ) would go on to run a ridiculous 6 hours and 52 mins) with the sun slowly rising, Chris and I set off without a clue how long this run / adventure would take. We started off at a comfortable pace making the most of the flattish trails and the cool air provided by the trees in the knowledge that it would not be long before we would have to contend with ascent after ascent. We passed the first aid station and the volcano started to grow and grow and the paths became narrower. As we started to rise above the cloud lines you could make out Tenerife and other surrounding islands in the distance. The protection provided by the alpine trees soon disappeared and we became more and more exposed to the strong midday sun. We were in desperate need of a refuel and started to pick up the pace as we saw the second aid station on the horizon. I was starting to wonder if my brother had finished his half marathon and hoping Giles wasn’t suffering too much in this unforgiving heat.

The never ending ascent

The never ending ascent

What we arrived to at the second aid station could be described as a mixture of a medieval banquet and Cosmos in York. There was food and drink everywhere; from powerade to coke to pastries to sandwiches to even pasta – it was endless. Local race volunteers come up to you and check how you’re doing, fill up your drinks bottles and shower you with freezing cold water which is the most refreshing thing ever. After dragging ourselves from the aid stop on Pico de la Cruz (where I was pretty happy to stay for the rest of the trip) we faced more and more vertical climbs and the pace started to steadily decline.

Transvulcania Aid Station

Transvulcania Aid Station

As you slow down on these dusty paths you start to find yourselves engaged in conversation with people from all over the world talking about running (obviously!) but also astronomy, bananas and wine (the island is famous for its space observatories and its banana plantations – there is an awesome little banana museum on the island!). After just under 5 hours, we arrived at the highest point on the island, Roque de Los Muchachos which sits at 2423 metres and prepared ourselves for the final ten mile descent down to sea level with the constant motivating factor being that the race ended on a beach.

We decided to attack this massive descent, using all of our fell knowledge acquired from the dales and the moors and trying to adapt our running style to this new environment. We followed the lines of a guy from Sweden who was doing the Ultramarathon for a while, as we picked up the pace eventually we overtook him and a fair few other runners. At times on this windy descent I thought Chris was going to pull away and there was talk of a sprint finish at one point but Chris (for once!) was nearly as tired as I was.

Following an eternity of some of the most enjoyable descending I have ever encountered, you started to hear the pumping music down at the beach side getting louder and louder as the fiesta was kicking into full swing. Spectators were starting to appear from everywhere shouting ‘Vamos’ and giving high 5’s with the odd English spectator yelling ‘Go on York’. There was a final descent down the rocky cliff and a short dart along the beach front and before we knew it Chris and I had crossed the finish line in a time of 6 hours and 57 minutes.

Tom Ratcliffe and Chris Roberts finish Transvulcania Marathon

Tom Ratcliffe and Chris Roberts finish Transvulcania Marathon

After staggering around haphazardly for what felt like a good half an hour, it was a stumble on to the beach and straight into the ocean. It was the perfect end to a race which now must be a requirement for the end of all summer league races (please!).

It is a tough and crazy race but the things which keep you going are this most surreal landscape and the gracious spectators and volunteers all the way around the course making more noise than an erupting volcano.

Vertical K and Half Marathon
Also joining us on the holiday was Tom’s brother, Sam Ratcliffe. He bravely decided to double up and attempt the Vertical Kilometre on the Thursday Evening and then the Half Marathon on Saturday. The Vertical K is a time trial where runners are set off at two minute intervals and ascend from sea level to 1000m over roughly 4 miles. Spurred on by the crowds lining the climb, reminicent of a Tour de France stage, Sam set off at a quick pace and was in 35th place at the checkpoint half way up. He tired slightly in the second half but passing us shortly after he was given a boost, as shown in the below video.

Sam managed to cross the line in a great time of 1 hour 14 minutes and 40th position.

In the Half Marathon, Sam had the unenviable task of setting off to get the bus to the start at around 2:30am. Once he arrived he had to shelter in the cold whilst watching the Ultra runners start an hour before him. Once he began he had a long Climb up from sea level to Las Deseadas at just short of 2000m. He reached the top in 2 hours 50 minutes and 71st place. Next was the fast descent to El Pilar and the finish line where Sam showed some natural decending ability to fly down the descent to finish in 58th place with a time of 3 hours 40 minutes.

In the Ultramaraton Giles managed to run a little quicker than last year with a time of 14 hours 4 minutes and 7 seconds for the 43 miles and culmulative 8400 metres of ascent/descent. Giles suffered with the heat on the long climb after half way . He was reduced to little more than a dizzy  forward  shuffle for quite a long period and was somewhat demoralised as over 300 runners overtook him on the climb. Thoughts were given to quiting, but it was as far to go back as forward, so he ploughed on. Once over the summit at Roque de los Muchacos he got his body temp back under control and his spirits were revived by regaining 250 places on the long descent,   before the cruel 300m climb to the Ultra’s finish amongst the crowds in Los Llanos.

Lots more photos are available on the York Knavesmire Harriers Flickr page here