The biennial Trofeo Kima is a jewel in the Skyrunning calendar. thanks to its spectacular mountain passes, brutal terrain and its ability to attract the best ultra runners in the world. Ian Corless reports from the cloud laden course and finds that it more than lives up to its reputation….
This article is available in Running Fitness dated November 2012. It also has a great article on Lizzy Hawker ‘The Queen of Ultras’
So many pictures… so little time!
Here is a selection of my favourite images to come out of the 2012 Cavalls del Vent part of the Ultra Skyrunnnig series.
Walking to the race start from our hotel, Frosty and Dakota relaxed with Kilian, Tony, Philipp and Terry behind.
The rush for the first corner in Baga
Kilian leading Tofol before Tofol retired
Dakota Jones running through the mist and rain at 2200m
Skyrunning is all about being above the cloud
Local hero and ladies winner, Nuria Picas
It was that cold Tony Krupicka wore a jacket with a hood!
Emelie Forsberg pushing hard in the early parts of the race
Dakota Jones
The day before the race, Kilian Jornet, Emelie Forsberg, Philipp Reiter and Terry Conway running to CP2 on the Cavalls del Vent course
The stunning scenery and views that we all missed on race day
Terry running on our day 1 recce
Emelie bouncing across the finish
Tony & Kilian on the finish line
Nuria triumphant
and finally a photo that sums up the sadness that we all felt, the day after the race when we all learned that during the night a female runner had passed away due to cardiac arrest induced via hypothermia. Our thoughts and best wishes go out the family.
On a day of rain, cold temperatures and intense racing, ultra running and in particular ultra Skyrunning opened a new chapter in our sport.
Despite alternativerace options available all over the world, many of the worlds best decided to head to Spain and race at the Skyrunning ‘Ultra Cavalls del Vent‘, an 84.2km race with 6098m of altitude change.
Kilian Jornet, Dakota Jones, Tony Krupicka, Tofol Castanyer, Miguel Heras, Joe Grant, Philipp Reiter, Anna Frost, Emelie Forsberg, Nuria Picas and Emma Rocca all decided to do battle in what turned out to be an incredibly testing day.
At Refugio Niu de L’Aliga the race format was starting to unfold with Kilian leading the race followed closely by Tofol and then several minutes back Miguel Heras. Dakota Jones and Philipp Reiter soon came into sight and then Tony Krupicka. Although minutes separated them all, one thing became apparent. It was cold!
Thick mist made visibility difficult and it was biting cold on hands. Kilian seemed in his element running in short sleeves but nearly all the other runners wore jackets. Including Tony!
Emelie Forsberg was the first lady to come into sight. Somewhat of a surprise… not because she didn’t have the ability but because the plan was to ease into her ‘first’ 50 miler. Frosty followed and then a very cool and relaxed looking Nuria Picas.
The cold and constant rain hit the race and the runners hard! Miguel Heras dropped, Tofol had hypothermia, Joe Grant had hypothermia and at the last count some 200+ runners have dropped from the race. Certainly those who will go into the night are in for a tough time.
Tony Krupicka moved up through the field, moved ahead of Dakota and a format was set. Kilian and Tony swapping the lead and Dakota following.
At Gresolet, Kiliian had a 2 min lead. As he passed me I asked how he felt?
“I am great, it was a little cold but now I am good. I am having fun!”
Tony approached “How you feeling Tony?”
“I’m good man, Kilian is just playing with me.. all good though!”
Some of the press with me at this point wondered if Tony would win? To be honest, no disrespect to Tony but Kilian seemed in control and was glad of company. Dakota was now some 30 min in arrears with Philipp Reiter in 4th. This order remained until the final climb when Kilian accelerated leaving Tony behind. Kilian crossed the line with a new CR of 8:42:22. Tony crossed the line in 2nd beating the old CR too with 8:49:56 and Dakota 9:26:25.
Tony was stoked at the finish and rightly so. After the best part of 2 years being out of the sport his ‘return’ now seems to be confirmed. His return is a new return with a love for Skyrunning. He said on the line “these are the races we want, vertcal gain, tough gnarly climbs and altitude. We can’t get this at home, I love it”
Dakota was happy with 3rd but said he had hoped for better and that he never felt quite on his game!
Emelie Forsberg in the ladies race pushed ahead and at one point had a 15 min lead with Frosty and Nuria chasing. However the gap was closed and over the final 2 hours a battle started. My money was on Nuria, she had told me at ‘Kima’ that this was the race she wanted and I guess it showed. In the latter stages Emelie was dropped and Nuria ran into the finish victorious in10:34:42 beating her 2011 winning time by over an hour. Frosty finished in 2nd 10:35:24 and Emelie jumped for joy in 10:39:51.
Frosty said “Everything hurts. I won’t be able to walk tomorrow. I dug deeper that I have ever had to go, I am happy for Nuria and I am happy for me”
Emelie in only her 2nd ultra and first 50 miler was elated. She told me “I felt really good and still do. My legs are not hurting but it was mind… in the latter stages when I had to fight I couldn’t focus but I am super happy”
Cavalls del Vent was an incredible day. It showed us all what is great about our sport. Wonderful courses, great running, new runners showing potential for the future, established runners confirming that they are the best, a return to form for Tony and of course immense comradeship. I am in the hotel ‘Press Room’ surrounded by all of them… Kilian on the sofa chatting, Tony and Dakota on the web, Frosty and Emelie giggling, Philipp and Terry discussing the next time to pose naked. All individual but all one.
Cloud confuses and distorts “less cloud MORE SKY”
The next event in the Ultra Skyrunning series is ‘Templiers’ in the South of France. The date is October 28th and rest assured I will be at the race to bring you images, stories and a podcast from the final race in the series.
Philipp Reiter “let’s go out for an hour… we can run an out and back”
Kilian Jornet “I would like to run up to checkpoint 2 at 2500m”
Everybody “ok, cool, lets do that!”
Kilian and Emelie get in the ‘Kilian Kar‘. Philipp, Terry and myself get in pepecar.com and then we head at breakneck speed ignoring the left and right hand side of the road and get to the Coll de Pal and 2070m.
Philipp, Terry and myself roll out of the car ready for action. Kilian emerges from the ‘Kilian Kar‘ with a secret potion…. mmmmmmmm what is it?
Kilian and Emelie get into the running straight away…. Terry follows and Philipp is feeling a little unwell; the drive I think?
Knees hurting I follow as best as I can but I know they will soon be out of sight. I put a long lens on the camera… a great tip when you can’t keep up! You look close but actually you are miles away….
In to the distance they go. Around me isolation and beautiful views. I still manage to capture some lovely images of the ‘elites’ in action. A joy to watch unfold… I will wait for them to return and shoot them in full flight!
They never did 😉 But that’s another story…
Here is Philipp Reiters download from his Suunto Ambit HERE
It’s a real busy weekend ahead and I have been so wrapped up in travel and prep for Cavalls del Vent that actually thinking about UROC – Ultra Race of Champions and Spartathlon hadn’t slipped my mind but finding the time to just provide an update was difficult! So I thought I would use the wee hours of the morning before breakfast to write something up.
I am in Baga with an hour or so before breakfast and the opportunity to head out on the Cavalls course at 0900 with Philipp Reiter, Emelie Forscberg, Terry Conway and maybe Kilian!
Terry and myself arrived yesterday and met Anna Frost’s sister, Sarah, at the airport to be good citizens and provide her with a lift. After a few comedy moments… the first being Terry deciding it was a good idea to rent a car from pepecar.com !
We hit the road and then ended up getting stuck at the ‘tolls’ by being completely in the wrong lane! Yeah Yeah, I know. I am used to the tolls in France but Spain is different. We finally managed to back up the traffic, ruin a toll gate by sticking Euro coins in a ‘card slot’ and then somehow managed to get in the correct lane after some subtle lane dodging.
We met Frosty, Dakota Jones, Philipp, Emelie and Tony K was hiding somewhere and had some chill time at a ‘secret’ Salomon holding camp (joke) 20 minutes away from the race village. Terry terrified Philipp telling him how good he is and how he was going to ‘take him down’ when it came to race day! (another joke)
An hour or so later Terry and myself finished off our journey providing Philipp and Emelie with a lift to our race hotel. We are at the foot of the mountains and dusk was just arriving!
Terry had some very unusual pre race prep. He laid out his Salomon Sense and then prepared dinner….. whoa! No way Terry. Not baby food tonight mate, we are going to the restaurant….
Dinner was pretty awesome. We met Philipp and then Emelie joined us with a new arrival at the hotel, Kilian Jornet. So, Terry had been in Spain approximately 3-4 hours and within that short space of time had met Frosty chatted with Dakota, missed Tony, chewed the fat with Philipp and Emelie and was now spending a couple of hours with Kilian over dinner as we discussed his ‘Summits of my Life’ project, talked about his recent Mont Blanc Crossing, his VO2 test the previous day (92 by the way… wow) and what his plans are at Cavalls, Raid de la Reunion and what 2013 has in store… pretty awesome!
So there you have it. We are in Cavalls, Terry is like a kid in a sweet shop and in an hour we will be on the Cavalls course seeing what lies in store for the race on Saturday.
Oh, UROC and Spartathlon…. I will be back later 😉
Total distance 84.2k Acc Altitude Change 12,180m Altitude Change 6098m
Bagà will reunite again this year the best trail running athletes of the world to celebrate the Ultra Cavalls del Vent (Salomon Nature Trails) race held in the national park Cadí-Moixero on the 29th of September.
The fourth edition of the Ultra Cavalls del Vent becomes a special date of the national and international calendar as one of the events of the Skyrunner World Series.
1000 entrants and 84.2 km of personal challenge, to test the limits of the body exceeding over 12,000 accumulated vertical meters in the privileged natural environment of the Cadi-Moixeró national park
The 2012 edition of the race is looking as though it may very well turn out to be an iconic race primarily for the inclusion of some key runners from Europe, the United States and New Zealand.
You can red the Skyrunning press release HERE
So who are the favourites?
MEN
**update 24th September Kilian Jornet now confirmed as a last minute entrant. This turns the race on it’s head a little and one has to say that despite such a quality field one can’t really bet against the ‘mountain master’. Only just last week he completed his Mont Blanc Crossing as part of his ‘Summits of my Life‘. With that ticked off as it were he obviously feels comfortable and content to race at Cavalls del Vent before heading out to Reunion Island to race against Joe Grant and Tony Krupicka at the Raid de le Reunion.
Tofol Castanyer fresh from victory at the CCC and a stunning time will certainly be one to beat on this course.
Miguel Heras has been plagued by injuries but only a couple of weeks ago placed 2nd at another mountainous Skyrunning event, Sentiero Grigne and therefore a return to form is certainly on it’s way.
Dakota Jones started off his Skyrunning account in fine form at Transvulcania La Palma. He raced Hardrock 100 with a top finish and he is now in Europe for several months. He was supporting friends at UTMB, he has been out running with Kilian Jornet and at Sentiero Grigne placed 4th overall behind Heras. The longer distance of Cavalls will suit Dakota and without a doubt he will be up at the front.
Joe Grant was second at Hardrock 100, loves the mountains, trains with Tony Krupicka and this course will suit him. However, he is planning on racing at Raid de Reunion (Diagonale des Fous) and he therefore may save a little for that.
Tony Krupicka like Joe Grant is also racing the Raid de Reunion and I was under the impression that he was running at Cavalls del Vent, however, he is not on the start list. Needless to say, if he is racing he will be up at the front. **update 24th September, Tony is now confirmed.
Philipp Reiter goes from strength to strength and performs well at every race he turns up at. He was up at the front at Trofeo Kima and just recently had a great win with Iker Karrera at the Transalpine. Philipp will be top five here!
Terry Conway is my rank outsider… needless to say I have an interest here. I was influential in getting Terry to the start line. It will no doubt be a baptism of fire. The altitude, the terrain and the field may well get to him, but, I think he will adapt and perform well. If he gets top 10 it will be an incredible result. His performance at the Lakeland 100 and beating his own course record by two hours means he is without doubt in form.
LADIES
Anna Frost can never ever be ruled out in a mountain race. However she has been injured and this is a comeback race. In true fashion though she has been out on the course training. She will go for the win, no doubt!
Nuria Picas is in fine form, always performs consistently and this is her home. She told me at Trofeo Kima that this was the A race for the year. Expect a real fight up at the front from Nuria.
Emelie Forsberg loves to run and she has all the ability needed to win this race. Her descending skills are superb and as she proved at Pikes Peak, if she is allowed some space she can push hard and take a win.
Emma Roca is local, placed top 3 at UTMB and will perform well here. On a good day she will be top 3 but in this field I see her placing just off the podium.
I will be Tweeting live from the race and uploading interviews, photos and audio as and when I can. Follow the race @talkultra or on Facebook HERE
The TAA (The African Attachment) boys once again coming up with some wonderful footage for Salomon Running TV S2 episode 08 ‘A way of life’ featuring the ISF Skyrunning race Pikes Peak and some footage of Leaville 100.
Great to hear Tony Krupicka say that the important thing is to run…. racing is a bonus.
Episode 17 is one seriously stacked show and somewhat a departure from our typical show format.
You can listen to Talk Ultra via the following methods
I have been travelling to several races and therefore it would seem ridiculous to concentrate on just one interview when I can get soundbites from so many. In some respects, this is what Talk Ultra is all about. An audio magazine bringing you up to the minute chat as it happens within the ultra world.
The show is dominated by two races. The Skyrunning Trofeo Kima (report here) and of course The North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc.
Trofeo Kima was a wonderful race and I had the honour to catch up with Kilian Jornet before the race.
After the race I chatted with Andy Symonds, Nuria Picas, Philipp Reiter and Emelie Forsberg.
I was at the UTMB at the invite of Vibram and as such I was following the race from a Vibram perspective. This allowed me to see the workings of a Pro Team from within.
In addition to this it also allowed me a great opportunity to chat with and discuss the race. In this weeks episode you can listen to four Vibram Trail Running Team members. The section of the show starts at : 00:56:10 (timings are approximate):
In addition to the above, you can read an article on Francesca Canepa HERE
You can also view a story in pictures of the UTMB from a Vibram perspective HERE
UTMB also allowed me an opportunity to catch up with 3rd place, Mike Foote, mens winner Francois D’Haene and ladies winner, Lizzy Hawker.
Hope you enjoy the show !
Kilian Jornet once again proved himself as the worlds premier mountain runner at the biennial TROFEO KIMA in the Italian Alps producing an outstanding win ahead of Brit, Tom Owens.
In the ladies race, Nuria Picas ran away from Emelie Forsberg to secure a win and a new CR by 10 mins at her first attempt at this iconic race.
A full race report will follow.
Until then feast your eyes on what I consider to be the most outstanding, impressive and frightening course I have ever seen.
IAN CORLESS 