Weekend 16/17 July

Busy weekend, lots of adventures.

–Dolomites Skyrace.

report by Tom Ratcliffe

Our Skyrunning adventures this year took us to the Dolomites in Northern Italy to test ourselves against some of the best mountain runners in the world. With ragged, tower-like peaks rising up to 3000 metres from grassy, wooded areas – the Dolomites distinctness is a thing of great beauty. This beauty is only confounded by the daunting thought of actually attempting to run on this terrain.

 

The first race on the Friday was the Vertical Kilometre, a 2.5km climb up a 1000 metre ascent. Any hope of it being ‘not very steep’ and ‘maybe a few downhills’ was quickly eradicated by a quick glance up the sheer mountain face. The race was run in heats with Scout and Sarah heading off first. Watching Scout skip up the first part of the precipitous course she made uphill running look easy. Chris knew to get anywhere near Scout he would have to run / walk at his hardest. He attacked the first climb and got away from me quickly in our heat. Anwen had also set off at this point, meandering her way up the mountain. Giles was last off in the heats chasing down the rest of us. As the mountain got steeper and steeper, hands, knees and every part of the body were required to get to the top of the peak.

You gasped for air more and more, as the oxygen started to thin. Eventually after what seemed an eternity of climbing, you heard the pumping music at the top and the finish line came into view (after unsurprisingly a final really sharp climb!).

Over the finish line, Giles looked at his watch and told us we had been averaging 37 minutes per mile for the race which must have been some type of Knavesmire record!

It was now on to the main Skyrace race on the Sunday, a 22km race which started in a small, alpine town called Canazei. We stood nervously at the bottom of the valley waiting for the race to begin with a helicopter’s blades whizzing above our head. We all knew that with a 1700 metre climb ahead to the top of the mountain, it would have been great if the race organisers had given you an option on the entry form to take the helicopter or the nearby ski lift to the top.

We set off to the crowd shouting ‘Dai dai dai’ which concerned us slightly- Anwen, Sam (my brother) and I towards the back and Giles making his attacks on Chris who had got a lead early on. The steady climb began, the Italians had their poles out in full force and I got chatting to another English guy from Manchester on the way up – with him warning that the mountain only got steeper (to my great disappointment).

After an hour of ascent which took us over the Pordoi Pass, Anwen decided to make her moves on the field – on the what seemed endless switchbacks she climbed steadily past my brother and I and you could see her pink t shirt weaving its way up the mountain slowly catching up on Giles. It was then through the ‘ice tunnel’ and the mountain just opened out into this vast moon-like plain. I was hoping that it would be like when Wallace and Gromit land on the moon in a Grand Day Out and the whole place is made of cheese – this warm thought was quickly shattered by the icy cold Italian wind.

Giles, with his excellent start, has been begging to do some Via ferrata (a type of climbing) all holiday and all of sudden his wishes came true as we made our way up the final climb across the patches of snow towards the mountain top. Trying to hold on to a freezing steel cable and pulling yourself up from boulder to boulder whilst fighting against altitude, tired legs and so on it felt a million miles away from the comforts of Lordstones and the North York Moors.

And then came the top of the mountain, an aid station and the hot sweet Italian tea which provided some brief reinvigoration. 3152 metres above sea level you could just about spot the snow capped Alps and Austria far in the distance. Giles had started out his descent behind Chris but as he looked down at this stone filled terrain he knew it wouldn’t be long before Anwen would dash past as well. All her mountain experience was in full use as she soared from stone to stone down the rockiest of what should probably be defined as a cliff. Chris was way out in front at this point attempting to navigate on a foreign landscape with very few other runners around him. Away from the crowds at the top, the mountain seemed very quiet with the only sound being colliding rocks from the avalanches created by falling runners. My balance receded and tumbling over became a regular occurrence as we made our way down the mountain edge.

Eventually the rock strewn surface started to be replaced by patches of grass and your steadiness started to return as you made your way through the wooded trails into a sun soaked valley passing deserted ski run after deserted ski run. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my brother – I knew over this type of terrain he is so much quicker so I attempted to get out of his sight. I kept turning my head expecting him to fly past but luckily the mountain had taken its toll.

And suddenly our feet were pounding on a winding road into Canazei and we were giving high fives all around to the yelling crowd (including Sarah!) with the tannoy bellowing out runners’ names. The widest smiles appeared over the runners’ faces as the finish line came and went. I spent a good number of minutes trying to catch my breath, eating the most refreshing fruit, drinking the hot sweet Italian tea and shaking hands and chatting to people from all over the world. For a little while in the middle of this lively alpine town you forgot that you had ever been up a mountain.

Vertical Km

Chris Roberts – 80 – 44mins 19 secs

Scout Adkin –94 – 45 mins 22 secs

Anwen Darlington – 158 – 52 mins 29 secs

Tom Ratcliffe – 173 – 54 min 38 secs

Giles Hawking – 176 – 55 min 24 secs

Sarah Douglas – 177 – 55 min 24 secs

Sky Race

Chris Roberts – 91 – 2 hrs 38 min

Anwen Darlington – 261 – 3 hrs 1 min

Giles Hawking – 330 – 3 hrs 10 min

Tom Ratcliffe – 384 – 3 hrs 16 min

Sam Ratcliffe – 410 – 3 hrs 19 min

=====================================

— All Andalusia Ultimate Trail.

During the week Grahame Harvey undertook the La Andalus Ultimate Trail race in Spain.
This is a 5 day, 5 stage race that totals 145 miles.

========================================