Tag Archives: ISF

Cavalls del Vent Post Race Report

Posted on by
3

 

Ultra? Ultra emotional…

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.

Cavalls del Vent Registration

Posted on by
1

A way of life

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Transvulcania La Palma – Running Fitness UK Oct2012

Posted on by
Reply

Some more great publicity for a very special race, the 2012 Transvulcania La Palma.

Published in RUNNING FITNESS October 2012

Part of the ISF International Skyrunning Federation ULTRA series

Ultra SkyMarathon® Series

*SPAIN:  TRANSVULCANIA ULTRA MARATHON – La Palma – May 12 
USA:  Speedgoat 50K – Snowbird, Utah – July 28
ITALY:  Trofeo Kima UltraSkyMarathon® – Valmasino, Sondrio – August 26
SPAIN:  Cavalls del Vent – Cadi-Moixeró Natural Park – Pyrenees – September 29
FRANCE:  La Course des Templiers – Millau, Grands Causses – October 28

You can download the article in PDF HERE

Sierre Zinal

Posted on by
Reply

Marco De Gasperi will be at the start line of Sunday’s Course de Sierre Zinal again, defending last year’s win. Without sparring partner Kilian Jornet the race still has plenty of competition coming from Britain’s Tom Owens, Spaniards Luis Alberto Hernando and Tofol Castanyer as well as Portugal’s Cesar Costa, second last year, together with a host of super-strong contenders from various countries.

After several months layoff for health reasons, De Gasperi will again take up the challenge – minus Jornet who is training at altitude in the US for the Pikes Peak Marathon, next on the World Series calendar. De Gasperi’s time last year, 2h30’18” was just 98 seconds short of Jonathan Wyatt’s long standing record set in 2003.

Hernando, heading the World Series ranking, could possibly be feeling the strain of a very successful and intensive season’s racing, including the recent SkyGames® combined title.  Owens, ranked third, fresh from his second place at Giir di Mont, may find the race a little short for his liking, while Castanyer, Giir di Mont winner, will no doubt prefer the 31 km distance – which boasts 2,200m elevation gain.

Aiming for a podium place will also be twenty-two-year-old new entry Mattheo Jacquemoud from France together with fellow countrymen Michel Rabat, Eric Clavery, and Yann Curien, Joe Gray and John Tribbia from America, Italy’s Nicola Golinelli, Saul-Antonio Padua from Columbia, following in his father’s footsteps   Dimitris Theodorakakos, Greece, Britons Joe Symonds (brother of Andy) and Robbie Simpson…

2011Winner Oihana Kortazar

In the robust women’s field it looks like Spain and France will dominate the podium with Oihana Koratazar, last year’s winner and reigning World Series champion looking for a repeat performance.  Her time last year was 3h11’24” – still far from the incredible record of 2h54’26” set in 2008 by Czech Anna Pichrtova.  More podium promises include Nuria Picas, recent SkyGames®champion, Blanca Maria Serrano (currently ranked second) and Nuria Dominquez.

The French ladies’ line-up counts Aline Camboulives, second last year ,Celine Lafaye, third, past skyrunning world champion Corinne Favre and Maud Gobert.  Others to look out for are Russia’s Zhanna Vokueva,currently ranked third, and Italy’s new skyrunning star Silvia Serafini.

1,279 runners from 15 countries are entered, including runners from ISF Skyrunning Associations from countries as diverse as South Africa to Hong Kong, Greece and Poland together with Japan’s Dai Matsumoto who is competing in the World Series races.

The 31 km course with a total 2,200m elevation gain is favoured by runners from many different backgrounds and offers a unique panorama of five 4,000 mountains – unquestionably one of the most spectacular on the Skyrunner® World Series calendar.

Follow the race on Facebook or on Twitter

Statement from ISF re Speedgoat 50k

Posted on by
1
Marino Giacometti, ISF President, in reply to the Speedgoat issue comments:

“It’s taken a while for us to get all the feedback together but here goes:

The ISF board  conferred with the new Athletes Commission, ATRA and the organiser, Karl Meltzer and we came to the following decision:

Everyone concurs that runners must stay on the course.  However, as things stand only guidelines exist in America.  In this case there was no written regulation at Speedgoat – something Karl says he will include in the future.

On Kilian’s own admission he cut the course and ran by skyrunning rules.  It seems that possibly some of the other runners did the same.

As a race on the World Series calendar, ISF rules state that organisers’ rules must be adhered to and in the case of a dispute ISF rules will prevail.

We respect the organiser’s difficult decision and will apply a 3 minute penalty* to Kilian which means he maintains first place in the race and consequently 100 points for the Ultra Series ranking. *Penalty (6.15 COMPETITOR’S RACE CONDUCT – a) Competitors must follow the course markings on sight, go through all the checkpoints…..) and (6.16.1 A penalty from three minutes to disqualification will be applied for: c) Not following the race course signage, voluntarily or otherwise…

We believe that it’s correct to assign the record to the second runner  (Rickey) who ran the designated course.  Whether Kilian gets the prize or not is exclusively up to the organiser and we already know that decision.

I’d like to add that the majority of skyrunning races worldwide (not just in Europe) take place in parks or protected areas and generally are capped for this reason – as well as for safety reasons of course.   (The ISF rules (4.22)  and (3.13) address  these environmental issues).

Regarding the Pikes Peak precedent in 2004, the situation was different.  The rules there state clearly no switchback cutting.  The winner, Agustì Roc, was disqualified and given a 20 minute penalty which meant he dropped some places and received the relevant points for his final position.

Everyone we consulted agreed that there’s a need in the future for race organizers to publish clear, simple and written regulations and, with the new Athletes Commission, we’ll be reviewing ours as well!! A pre-race briefing should also be held to illustrate the regulations and the course to all the competitors.  We’re actually working on standardizing this for all organizers, so it should be easier for everyone all round.  Certainly it’s not easy to find a compromise but “rules are rules” and, as Anna Frost says “let’s keep it simple”!

Marino

New Horizons for the ISF

Posted on by
Reply

Another important step marks the rapidly changing face of skyrunning as the ISF takes on the 100-mile distance.

The rule was approved at the ISF AnnualGeneral Assembly which took place in Spain on July 6 during the SkyGames®.   Members representing the 22 countries in person or by proxy attended the meeting, chaired by President, Marino Giacometti.

The new Secretary General was elected in the form of skyrunner Nina Dacanay from the Philippines who no doubt will bring, among her many qualities, competence and efficiency together with a strong passion for promoting the sport.

New blood on the Management Committee includes Evgeny Kolchanov (Russia), Ian Sharman (Great Britain) and Fabio Menino (Italy) – all three runners.   In fact, key runners were elected to stand on the Athletes’ Commission, namely Anna Frost (NZL) Joe Grant (USA) together with Fabio Menino and Ian Sharman.   Their input will be invaluable in the development and strategy of the sport and to represent a voice for runners everywhere.

The athlete has always represented the number one focus for the skyrunning management and, at the beginning of the season, a seminar was held on the island of La Palma, Spain, with a view to gaining insight from the sport’s principal players – what runners really want and how they would like to see the sport develop.  “Less Cloud. More Sky” was the title, emblematic of the new horizons skyrunning aims to explore.

Running legends representing different disciplines, countries and brands attended the three-day seminar from May 14 – 16, together with a number of the most representative media outlets from four continents.

Representing the ISF were president Marino Giacometti and VPs Lauri van Houten and Dr Sergio Giulio Roi.  The superstar athletes attending were: KilianJornet, Iker Karrera, Anna Frost, Seb Chaigneau, Maud Gobert, Francois d’Haene, Thomas Lorblanchet, Florent Troillet, Gustavo Reyes, Csaba Nemeth, GiulianoCavallo and Americans Anton Krupicka, Mike Wolfe, Geoff Roes, Joe Grant, Ian Sharman, Nick Clark, Nikki Kimball, Transvulcania winner Dakota Jones and World Mountain Running champions Max King and Marco De Gasperi…..

For a new generation of runners the skyrunning past, illustrated with slides and videos, was an eye-opener. The topics examined included:  the social media phenomenon, sponsorships and the industry – how these relate to the runners – and back to the industry; why a federation was created; how it interacts with the athletes; and the federation’s spirit and values.

The feedback from runners has proven invaluable in indicating the way forward and, just two months later, in giving runners a place and a voice on the Federation’s Management Committee and Athletes’ Commission.

Thanks to the success of “Less Cloud. More Sky” another seminar is programmed for 2013.

Dolomites Sky Race

Posted on by
1

Records fall at the 2012 Dolomites Skyrace with Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg taking the respective wins in the male and female races. The Dolomites Skyrace is part of the ISF Skyrunning World Series.

The mens race:

photo by Skialper

Kilian Jornet ran 2:01:52 beating the previous course record by nearly 3 minutes. In second place some 4:39 in arrears was Alin Ionut Zinca with a finish time of 2:06:31 and third place went to Mitjia Coseweli in 2:06:58.

Brit Tom Owens finished 7th in 2:09:45

The ladies race:

To confirm the dominance of Salomon Running (they took the top three places), Emelie Forsberg ran a superb race to not only take the win but set a female course record in 2:26:00 on the dot, over 4 mins quicker than Antonella Confortola who set the record of 2:30:09 in 2008. Second place behind Emelie was Kasie Enman in 2:28:09 and in third was Mireia Miro in 2:30:08.

Previous records:

  • Mens record set in 2007 by Mitja Kosovelj 2:04:53
  • Womens Record set in 2008 by Antonella Confortola 2:30:09

The Route

The race is 22 km long (10 km uphill, 12 km downhill), the path changes from earth to gravel. The race begins and ends in Piazza Marconi, Canazei m. 1450, the maximum height of Piz Boo is 3.152 m., the uphill altitude is 1.750 m. The course is marked with flags. Refreshments are available at Passo Pordoi (2.239), Pordoi saddle (2.829 m.), Boè (2.871 m.), Pian Schiavaneis. Runners must reach Passo Pordoi in 1 hour and 5 minutes and Forcella Pordoi in 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Race Link:  DOLOMITES SKYRACE® – Canazei, Trento – July 2

Sky Games 2012

Posted on by
Reply

photo by Stephan Gripmaster

It is Olympic year! If you are a trail runner, mountain runner, mountain biker or basically just a lover of the great outdoors then the festivities that are about to unfold in London may not be exactly what lights your fire!
Imagine bringing some 2000 athletes together in one place of which, 100 are the top ranked athletes representing 25 nations. No, I’m not talking about the Olympics, I am talking about the Sky Games.

photo by Stephan Gripmaster

An international competition of high mountain sports that are the Skyrunning World Championships. Held every four years with previous editions in Italy and Andorra, 2012 sees the games held in Romanesque Ribargoza in the Spanish Pyrenees.

The ISF (International Skyrunning Federation) specifies that the games must be held in mountainous settings with a minimum height of 2000m.  In addition to altitude a solid infrastructure for athletes is essential. Transport, hotels and restaurants are all key aspects that make the Games a success, something that Lauri Van Houten (ISF Executive Director & VP) and Marino Giacometti (ISF President) are experts at.

Credit Nancy Hobbs

Typically held over one long weekend, the 2012 games have a unique format as they are to be hold over two weekends, starting on June 29th and finishing on July 8th.

In the words of Marino Giacometti “The Sky Games represent a major sports event celebrated every Olympic year. The aim of this event is to promote ‘skysports’ on an international level”.

What are the Sky Games?

The Games consist of six separate competitions with the World Title available and five open categories.

SkyMarathon is a mountain running endurance event over the classic distance of 42km.

SkyBike is a high mountain Duathlon that consists of an 11km MTB – 10km run – 10km MTB

SkyRace a 21km running mountain race

VerticalKm is an ascent race with an elevation gain of 1000m over one VerticalKm

SkySpeed is a 200m speed race where four athletes run at the same time over a vertical course

SkyRaid is a relay race exclusively reserved for selected athletes from International delegations. This is Not an open category event

Apart from single race classifications athletes can also compete in the ‘Combined‘ where three of the four Sky Games races are scored. The SkyMarathon is compulsory and only two from the other three will count.

The Sky Games have a wonderful history with some fabulous participants, in 2008, competitors in the men’s field included Kilian Jornet and August Roc. In the ladies, Anotella Confortola, Corinne Favre and Gemma Arro participated with Kilian Jornet and Anotella Confortola taking the combined titles.

The Events 2012

SkyMarthon at Romanesque Ribargoza has a elevation gain of 3000m over the 42km distance. The first two km’s are straight but they then have the sudden climb to El Col de Salinas. At 12km the first descent awaits, a drop of 600m to reach the Llauset Dam and then a climb to the El Coll de Llauset which has a height of 2900m. This section from 19 to 23km is the last and hardest climb. At the summit the descent begins to the Coll de Salinas, from here the descent continues to Ginast and then the final stretch of some 2km’s is flat to the finish at Vitaller.

SkyRace starts and finishes in Vitaller. The distance of 21km’s has an elevation gain of 1350m. From the start the runners go to Montanuy and go to the Col de Forca where they then take a path to Castanesea and then an additional path to Cap de Casseretra and Pico Comadelo. Once at the peak they face a very steep descent to Ginast which is just 2km’s away from the finish in Vitaller.

VerticalK the total distance of this event is 3km covering an altitude gain of 1000m. Starting in Barruera it crosses the village then the race increases in incline basically going directly up to the finish point some 3km away.

SkySpeed starts at Taull Church and finishes at Pla de L’Ermita. At 200m in length and a vertical gain of 100m this race is hard and fast. The race is run in heats, four competitors head to head in each heat. This is an exciting race to watch.

SkyBike is a high mountain Duathlon with three disciplines – bike:run:bike. Starting at 1435m in Laspaules the route goes south. Finally reaching an altitude of 1900m they exchange bike for run shoes. The run includes some 30-40% gradients until reaching an elevation gain of 2500m. They then descend through the mountain crest. After the completion of 10km they then exchange run shoes for bike. Returning to the finish, they must cycle on technical trail, climb up gradients of 20% and descend to the finish in Laspaules.

Combined consists of five independently scored races: SkyMarathon, SkyBike, SkySpeed, VerticalK and SkyRaid although SkyRaid does not have an ‘open’ category. SkyMarathon is compulsory but the combined winner is scored from the other three events : SkyBike, SkySpeed, VerticalK with the two best results counting. So, a pure runner would usually compete in SkySpeed and VerticalK in addition to the SkyMarathon.
This Weekend

Some events have already been run with winners announced, such as the VerticalK and SkySpeed both run on June 30th. SkyBike took place on July 1st but all attention focuses on this weekend with main event, the SkyMarathon. The SkyMarathon not only is the most significant race within the Games but also will be crucial in the outcome of the Combined male and female winners. In addition to this, SkyRace and SkyRaid will also make a great weekend of racing.
  • 7th July – 1100 – Vilas del Turbon – SkyRaid
  • 8th July – 0730 for the Women and 0800 for the Men – Vilaller – SkyMarathon
  • 8th July – 0830 – Vilaller – SkyRace
Results so far

photo by Stephan Gripmaster


SkySpeed
  1. Didier Zago
  2. Jesus de la Morena
  3. Luis Albert Hernando
  1. Deboora Cardone
  2. Oihana Kortazar
  3. Silvia Leal
VerticalK
  1. Augusti Roc 35:51
  2. Raul Garcia 36:10
  3. Nicola Golinelli 36:16
  1. Oihana Kortazar 43:59
  2. Laura Orgue 44:29
  3. Mireia Miro 44:49
SkyBike
  1. Francesc Freixer 2:10:49
  2. Jesus de la Morena 2:10:52
  3. Didier Zago 2:11:20
  1. Nuria Picas 2:33:35
  2. Yolanda Magallon 2:57:56
  3. Montserrat Martinez 3:02:31
Currently, Oihana Kortazar is looking in a strong position for the female  ‘Combined’ title (Oihana won at Zegama) and in the mens ‘Combined’ Didier Zago and Jesus de la Morena are both in contention.
For full details go to http://www.ribaorzaskygames2012.com