Everest Trail Race by The Elements Pure Coconut Water #ETR2017 – STAGE 6 TENGBOCHE to LUKLA

Day 6 #ETR2017

On paper, today’s stage of the Everest Trail Race was mostly downhill with 3183m of descent in comparison to 2105m of ascent over the 29.5km course. Don’t be fooled though, it’s a tough day.

Leaving Tengboche the race retraces stage-5 to Phakding via a diversion at Sensa to the amazing Kumjung Valley where the runners have an incredible backdrop of Everest, Lohtse and Ama Dablam. Finally, they arrive at Namche Bazaar and re-trace stage 5 and then branch left to climb to Lukla and the finish of the 2017 ETR.

Suman Kulung had it all to fight for today, he lay 2^nd behind Luis Alberto Hernando 6-minutes and 53-seconds back. It was tough ask to take this amount of time out of one of the best trail runners in the world, Luis Alberto Hernando. But as we had seen on previous day’s, the Nepali runner can fly when going down-hill! After CP1 he had gained a lead of 4-minutes and Luis Alberto was chasing hard. At Namche Bazaar, the Spaniard lost some time after a wrong turn and tried to chase hard but the writing was on the wall and Luis Alberto knew it. He eventually eased off knowing that Suman had earned a well fought 2017 ETR victory, he placed 4^th on the stage. Jordi Gamito moved up from his usual 4^th on stage and placed 2^nd and as per usual, Sondre Amdahl placed 3^rd.

Chhechee Sherpa in reality already had the 2017 ETR sewn up on the start of the final stage, her lead of 12-minutes and 22-seconds was almost impossible to claw back on a stage with so much downhill running, something the Nepali loves! It went like clockwork, she forged away at the front and not only took the stage victory but extended her overall winning time. Ester Alves chased hard all day in the hope of a miracle and once again she placed 2^nd ahead of Elisabet Barnes who placed 3^rd.

Suman Kulung and Chhechee Sherpa are crowned the 2017 ETR champions but all credit goes to each and every finisher. At 100-miles, this race may not be the longest but it is surely one of the toughest! The combination of tough technical terrain, relentless climbing and descending and of course altitude, all combine to make the ETR a race to do!

Results Stage