Marathon des Sables 2014 #MDS2014 Images – Stage 1

Posted on April 15, 2014 by talkultra

The 29th edition of the Sultan Marathon des Sables.

STAGE 1 OUEST ERG CHEBBI / ERG ZNAIGUI 34KM

all images ©iancorless.com – all rights reserved
No reproduction or sharing please.

Marathon des Sables 2014 #MDS2014 Images – Arrival and registration

Posted on April 15, 2014 by talkultra

The 29th edition of the Sultan Marathon des Sables.

Arrival and registration for the race

all images ©iancorless.com – all rights reserved
No reproduction or sharing please.

The Coastal Challenge 2014 – Trail Magazin

Posted on April 15, 2014 by talkultra

Excellent 9-page feature on the 2014 The Coastal Challenge, Costa Rica in the current edition of Trail Magazin in Germany.

Images by iancorless.com and words by Martin Gaffuri (New Balance)

Magazine available in PDF from HERE

Places are currently available for the 11th edition of the 2015 The Coastal Challenge, once again it will prove to be an exciting and exhilarating experience for each and every participant.

UK entries HERE

The Coastal Challenge website HERE

South African Skyrunning Series kicks off with successful Ingeli Skymarathon®

Posted on April 15, 2014 by talkultra

The South African Skyrunner® Series 2014 blasted off to an exciting start with the successful staging of the Ingeli Skymarathon® this weekend.

Dubbed “the green mamba of trail running” for the several nasty “bites” of ascent the route delivered, the 42km course through the Ingeli mountain range in Kwa-Zulu Natal covered 2100m of vertical gain, making it one of the toughest races of this distance in the province.

The race was won in 3:37:19 by one of South Africa’s up and coming trail stars Lucky Miya (Saucony), who dominated the race after overtaking early leader Jock Green (Salomon) after the 9km mark. Prodigal Khumalo (Mr Price) finished in a close 2^nd place (3:42:05), followed by Lesotho Ultra Trail winner Andrew Hagan (Vibram Fivefingers) just six minutes later.

“My race strategy was to start conservatively and then pick up the pace as I needed to, depending on the competition. I realised on the first climb that I was stronger than the other guys so I pushed hard and opened a gap. The course had a good mix of steep climbs and descents, and long runnable forest sections. It’s been a dream of mine for a long time to win a skyrunning race, so I’m very excited,” said Miya.

Ladies winner Su Don-Wauchope (The North Face) ran a very strong race, leading the women’s field from the start and finishing in an impressive 5^th position overall in 4:16:29. South African ultra-distance trail running champion in 2013 Tracy Zunckel (Salomon/Race Food) finished in 2^nd place (4:35:42), followed by Erika Walker in 3^rd position, almost a full hour behind Don-Wauchope.

The ladies race was always going to be between Don-Wauchope and Zunckel, both strong climbers and both living at fairly high altitude in the foothills of the Berg region.

“I knew Tracy was going to be strong, she always is, particularly over longer distances. I was worried I had started out too fast, but I’ve been doing a lot of hill training, and felt very strong on the ups. I approached the long descent cautiously, and once I got into the forest I tried to relax and stride out. I had a great day and had legs all the way to the finish!” said an elated Don-Wauchope.

Miya’s and Don-Wauchope’s wins secure both runners entries for the 2014 Skyrunning World Championships to be held in June in Chamonix, France.

“I’m so excited to have the chance to compete in an international Skyrunning race and be able to show the world how capable I am as a runner,” said Miya.

Being part of the South African Skyrunner® Series, points were allocated to the first 40 men and 15 women finishers of the Ingeli Skymarathon® by the South African Skyrunning Association (SASA). Next up in the Skyrunner® Series 2014 will be the Matroosberg Skymarathon® in October.

Ingeli Skymarathon® race organiser Andrew Booth says the Ingeli Skymarathon® is unique.

“The Ingeli mountain has huge allure – it’s an uninhabited wilderness of grasslands, wetlands, rocks and trails, where proteas grow, and antelope and caracal roam wild. The race was an enormous success. The front end of the men’s field was particularly competitive – there was no room to slack for Lucky and he had to push hard the whole way.”

Marathon des Sables 2014 Stage 4 (The Long Day)

Posted on April 12, 2014 by talkultra

Tough, very hot and exhausting was the general consensus in bivouac. Starting with a tough ascent of a Jebel, also featured in the 2013 race, the long day was going to be brute. Dunes, salt flats; a wonderful passage of a high ridge and plenty of sand and dunes was going to be a test for all.

Al Aqra once again started from the gun and broke tradition. Instead of blowing up and loosing pace, he seemed to get faster and coverd the 82km stage in a crazy 7:14.Second place was taken by race leader, El Morabityok almost 30min later, 7:37:18. Sa placed 3rd in 7:40:19 and importantly from a UK perspective, Kendall continued his best MDS performance so far with 6th place, 8:04.

Kimballshowed her class and experience starting slowly and nce she had started to pull away the gap tinued to grow and she not only secured a stage winning performance but also (barring disaster) ran a race winning stage. Speaking after the stage, Kimball said that adjusting to the heqt in stages 1 to 3 was essential and that once settled she could run her own race on the 82km leg. Klein unfortunately seemed to have the demons of 2013 looming over head and never looked comfortable. Running to CP3 in the heqt of the day Klein looked distresed by the heat. Soldiering on, Klein finished the stage 5th in 12:06:48, almost 2hrs behind Kimballs 10:48:38.

Morrisey from Ireland finished 2nd in 11:36:10 and must be cursing the bqd luck of stage 1 when she was unwell. Pierron placed 3rd and Roux 4th.

Top Brit Julie Donovan finished a little further down the classification but still holds 5th overall.

GC with one stage to go:

Men:

El Morabity 16:53:56

Al Aqra 17:03:19

Ahanal 17:14:17

Kendall 5th 18:07:49

Ladies:

Kimball 24:11:08

Klein 25:11:00

Roux 25:38:08

Donovan 5th 28:16:19

Marathon des Sables 2014 Stage 5

Posted on April 11, 2014 by talkultra

What a day for the Brits… Morrisey won the ladies race ahead of Roux and Kimball and Kendall placed 2nd behind a flying El Mouaziz.
The final official day of the 29th Marathon des Sables came to a conclusion today over a classic marathon distance in the sands of the Sahara. From the outside looking in, it would appear that the leading ladies and men were happy with the overall standings and raced pretty much together. However, Morrisey had something to prove… had she not had a terrible first day due to illness, we may well be looking at a different set of results for the ladies GC, however, as we all know, that is racing… Morrisey pushed the pace throughout and a little like Meek in 2013 stamped her authority on the final stage taking out the win in 4:35:23. Roux from France placed 2nd, 4:52:47 and Kimball and Klein placed 3rd and 4th respectively in times of 4:53:41 and 4:54:19. Kimball looked extremely happy with her foray into a miltiday race and Klein was respectful in defeat.
El Morabity and Al Aqra ran side by side throughout the final day, both happy with 1st and 2nd places. Ahansal trailed a little behind also confident his third place was secure. However, at the front of the race, Elmouaziz used his 2:06 marathon pace to set the sand alight and take a convincing stage victory in 3:11:22. I cannot help but think that he will be back, learning curve over and ready to push the front of the race in the 30th edition. Kendall pe race told me he was going to go for it and go for it he did. Not only did he need to maintain a 1 min lead over Solaris he also had the possibiliy to chase Sa for 4th. As the day unfolded, Sa matched Kendall, however, in the latter stages, Kendall pushed and placed 2nd on the stage with a stunning run, 3:22:26 and Sa finished less than 1 min later in 3:23:12.
El Morabity, Al Aqra and Ahansal placed 5th, 6th and 7th confident that the GC would nt change.
The 29th MDS has been a tough and hot race… the hardest; maybe. Each and every runner, first to last achieved something very special in Morocco this year. To see the joy, the tears, the passion and the pain released on the final finish line is a joy to behold. Medal in hand, memories to last forever. The 29th MDS is done. A short charity stage takes place on Saturday and the the parties begin… a hotel, a shower, clean beds and plenty of food.
The MDS is quite a race and no sooner will this race be over and preparations will begin for 2015; the 30th edition.

Men

El Morabity 20:27:37
Al Aqra 20:37:09
Ahansal 20:50:58
Sa 21:24:58
Kendall 21:30:15

Ladies

Kimball 29:04:49
Klein 30:05:19
Roux 31:30:56
Pierron 32:29:47
Donovan 33:37:17

Great result for Brit ladies: 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Donovan, Leakey, Morrisey and Young

Marathon des Sables 2014 Stage 3

Posted on April 8, 2014 by talkultra

Stage 3 MDS2014
Stage 3 of the 29th edition of the MDS wil be remembered for heat and dunes. It had both in abundance! With over 20km of dunes in a 37km stage, it was always going to be tough and it was.
Ahansal and Al Aqra pushed the pace in the early stages with El Moriaty playing it cool. However, El Moriaty pushed after cp1 and once again showed his impressive form. Equally, fast man and MDS novice is showing that dunes are not slowing his 2:06 marathon pace. The two, once again placed 1 and 2, 2:58:47 and 2:59:37. Ahansal had a better day and despite pushing hard early on placed 3rd in 3:00:46. Brit, Kendall purposely had an easier day and placed 9th in 3:20:32 keeping some powder dry for tomorrows long 82km day.
Kimball from the USA finally took the reigns in the ladies ra:ce and finished 4min clear of pre race favourite, Klein; 4:24:53 to 4:28:26
Roux is proving to be the new French darling wth another third place. It is all to plaf for tomorrow and I think Kimball will come into her own on a long and tough stage.
British interest took a jump with Donovan placing 7th and Morrisey and Young pipping her to the line.

Marathon des Sables 2014 Stage 2

Posted on April 8, 2014 by talkultra

Al Aqra (previous MDS winner) went from the gun the morning and set a relentless pace that only El Moriaty could match. A third of the way into the stage they ran side by side but the pace took its toll, Al Aqra faded allowing a repeat victory in 3:13:43 for El Moriaty. Fast man, Elmouaziz but his 2:06 pace to good use and finished just over 1min back with Al Aqra taking 3rd in 3:21:11.
Ahansall could not take the pace today and finished 4th just 30 secs ahead of Brit, Danny Kendall in 3:23:05.
Klein once again provided a very familiar pattern for the ladies race with a solid stage win just 11min clear of Kimball in 4:30:08. Roux from France placed 3rd in 5:03 and Brit, Donovan placed 4th, 5:15:33.
The heat once again was relentless today with apparently 50deg recorded. The tough course and extreme temperqtures are impacting on all the racers with over 20 drop outs yesterday and more today. Stage 3 continues the format with high temperatures forecast and almost 30km of dunes….

Marathon des Sables 2014 Stage 1

Posted on April 8, 2014 by talkultra

Day 1 was a tough and exciting day in the dunes of the Sahara. Arguably one of the toughest first days on record. The sand was relentless as was the heat… mid 40s.
Rachid El Moriaty and Mohamad Ahansal used local knowledge to advantage and placed 1 and 2 on the day, 3:04:06 and 3:05:08 respectively.
2:06 marathon runner Elhouaziz used his speed to make up for navigation errors to place 3rd, 3:12:26.
Top Brit Danny Kendall, 10th in 2013 placed 5th in 3:19:40.
Laurence Klein used her experience and speed for a convincing stage victory over Nikki Kimball from the USA. However, Laurence does not look as relaxed as previous years, 4:05:37 and 4:16:33 respectively.
Julie Bryan from the USA was third 35min back and top Brit was Julie Donovan in 5th.

What camera d’ya use mate?

Posted on April 5, 2014 by talkultra

My bags are packed. Have I forgot anything? I hate that question… how many times do you need to go through your kit to make sure nothing is missing!

To be honest, I rarely unpack these days. I go to a race, come home, wash the clothes in my bag and then immediately re-pack. ‘It’s a no brainer,’ as Kevin Bacon would say.

You actually don’t need much for the desert, a mountain or a hotel. A sleeping bag, sleeping matt, shorts, t-shirts, warm jacket, warm tourers, thermal top for in the evening, a hat, a buff (maybe-2), good sunglasses and a pair of ‘goggles’ should the wind be blowing and few other small ‘essentials.’

Darn it, I forgot my cameras…

I often get asked what cameras I use? So I thought it was time to give a run through of some of the equipment I will take to a race.

I have a reputation for using Panasonic GH3 cameras. They are well built, smaller (and lighter) than a conventional DSLR and what always tipped the scales for me was my ability to run with them. They have been my tools of choice on races and trails for the past 2-years. However, just recently I had a complete overhaul of my equipment and I have moved to the Canon D6.

I’m not going to go into specs… it’s boring. But trust me, low light quality is superb, focus tracking is excellent and although considerably heavier than my ‘P’s’ the D6 are built like tanks and with the correct lenses are weather sealed; a huge bonus!

Like most travel/ sports photographers, I use two bodies with a wide to standard set up on one camera and a medium to long set up on the other.

F2.8 lenses are the norm offering low light functionality, however, they have two drawbacks; price and weight. Weight and the ability to move is essential for me and I therefore use F4 lenses – the incredible 17mm-40mm and the 70-200mm (with image stabilisation). I use two prime lenses, 50mm F1.8 and the 85mm F1.8 for portraits. Importantly, the D6 is a full frame digital camera so the lenses are ‘true’ focal length.

It’s a simple set up but importantly it works, I have flexibility and retain the ability to move quickly as and when necessary. The recent purchase of a ‘sports’ camera rucksack makes this task even easier!

I can actually access the pack without removing it from my waist allowing perfect on-the-go access. Finally, with the addition of a monopod, tripod and other small gadgets, my ‘must have’ is one flash and in many cases, two flash that I can use ‘remotely.’ By remote, I mean operated ‘off camera’ to either create effect or a more natural light.

That’s it! No real surprises, no fancy gimmicks, not even the ‘most’ expensive cameras (not by a long way). My set up is fast, functional, high quality and as I have always said, if you have all the gear and no idea, you may be better off at home!

Kit list: