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The Coastal Challenge 2019 – #TCC2019 – Day 3

Posted on February 12, 2019 by talkultra

Day 3 of the 2019 kicked off at 0530 this morning and what lay ahead was a tough and challenging day of hills, technical trail, waterfalls, long dusty and stony roads and relentless beach – all intensified by Costa Rican heat and humidity.

The early trails leaving Dominical Beach take the runners into 10km’s of technical river bed. It’s all rock-hopping and slip-sliding away on the wet and greasy surface.

Nuayaca Waterfall is no doubt the highlight of the day, if not the race. The runners arrive down a small trail and the cascade greets them. They pass through and climb up a winding trail. From here on in, the terrain varies from rainforest, dusty access roads and technical trail before the beach arrives. Now the sun is high, the heat intense and it punished the runners mile after mile. A small dense rainforest is a prelude to a final section of road that leads to the finish.

Now, the heat is intense and the runners are sandwich pressed between sand and sky.

It’s a brutal day.

Pere Aurell dictated the early pace over the opening technical miles, his skyrunning background a real bonus. He pushed and pushed the pace and he opened up a considerable gap by the time of waterfall. This gap continued throughout the day until the final road section took its toll – reduced to a walk at time, Pere still finished the day first overall and first on general classification.

Jorge Paniagua was a key chaser today pulling away from Marcus Scotney. In the early-stages. Marcus didn’t look good and at the waterfall was a long way back behind the lead men and women. Post-race he complained of a damaged toe.

However, as the stage progressed and the trail became more runnable, Marcus clawed back time in in the final 6km he caught Jorge and managed to take 6-minutes from him. It was an incredible closing run.

The story of the day was the women’s race. Early on, Ida Nilsson and Ragna Debats traded blows matching each other, stride-for-stride. Pursued by Holly Page, the top-3 ladies were in for a real battle.

Ida made he move and slowly pursued the front of the race and increasingly opened a gap on Ragna. On the flat beach section, Ida lengthened her stride and does what she does best – run fast! She was now 2nd overall on the stage having caught and passed all the male runners ahead of her, with the exclusion of Pere. At the line, once again, she smashed the 2018 stage course record set by Ragna and earned herself another $250 CR stage bonus. Ida’s run in the 2019 TCC is incredible!

Ragna ran a solid race for 2nd but in the closing miles, Holly put an effort in and closed the margin to just 90-seconds.

With three stages complete, the general classification is interesting with Pere in a strong lead. Marcus is 2nd but notably, Ida is 3rd and just a handful of minutes behind. The fight for overall podium places is going to be an epic one.

Pere Aurell 5:10:55
Marcus Scotney 5:32:10
Jorge Paniagua 5:38:51

Ida Nilsson 5:20:27 (2nd on stage)
Ragna Debats 5:31:20 (3rd on stage)
Holly Page 5:32:50 (5th on stage)

Full Results HERE

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The Coastal Challenge 2019 – #TCC2019 – Day 2

Posted on February 11, 2019 by talkultra

It was a an 0400 wake up call this morning and an 0530 start. It may sound super early but believe me, the runners weren’t complaining! The advantages of an early start are simple, it gives the runners a good 2-3 hours before the heat starts to take its toll. Most had been in bed before 8pm and had maximised the time available to sleep and recover after a tough first day.

Stage 2 kicks off with a tough 39km climb and Pere Aurell was in his element as he climbed away from the rest of the field. Local runners Jorge Paniagua and Maikol Cruz chased looking really confident on the technical trail and Marcus Scotney pursued. It was early in the day for a fast pace and a long way to go, anything could happen!

Ida Nilsson today still looked incredibly strong and ran in 5th overall chased by Ragna Debats and Holly Page. Ragna looked more calm and relaxed than on day-1 and Holly complained of not feeling great.

Pere dictated the pace for the men, pushing and pushing. Could he hold on?

Behind, Marcus eventually caught the Costa Rican duo and pushed ahead confident in knowing he had gained a good chunk of time on day-1. He was now the virtual TCC 2019 leader on the road.

The course rolled up and down with a series of hard, stony and dusty access roads that connected sections of rainforest. At 16km another high point was reached, just over 700m and then it was all pretty much downhill before reading the beaches of Dominical and a flat but hot run to the finish.

Pere arrived first still looking strong and it was over 5-minutes later that Marcus arrived. The duo stayed that way all the way to the line. Looks like we may be in for an exciting battle for the overall lead in the coming days. Jorge managed to pull away from Maikol and at the line had gained an 8-minute gap.

Ida continued her dominance and once again broke the stage course record which was set by Ragna in the 2018 edition. Her run provided her a 5th place overall on the stage. Ragna finished 2nd looking more relaxed and confident but she still lost over 10-minutes to the Salomon runner. Holly finished 3rd and confirmed over the 2nd half of the stage she had felt better.

Tomorrow’s stage and 47.4km is a tough one that runs from Dominical Beach to Bahia Ballena.

Stage Results:

Pere Aurell 3:47:28
Marcus Scotney 3:53:30
Jorge Paniagua 4:00:12

Ida Nilsson 4:08:46 (5th on stage)
Ragna Debats 4:19:13
Holly Page 4:27:44

Full stage results HERE

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The Coastal Challenge 2019 – #TCC2019 – Day 1

Posted on February 11, 2019 by talkultra

It was a hot day, a seriously hot day!

Leaving San Jose at 0430, runners eventually arrived at Quepos and transferred to the beach for a 0900 start. It’s tough starting so late in the morning, particularly on the first day when there is no time to adapt. However, although temperatures were high, humidity seemed lower than in 2018.

The early flat miles ticked away and it was Marcus Scotney and Pere Aurell who had a short lead over Ida Nilsson who was matching them stride-for-stride and running just 2-3m meters behind.

Pursuing was Jorge Paniagua for the men and for the women, Ragna Debats, the 2018 champion had a slender lead over Holly Page.

A dense section of rainforest and then some fast trails to cp2 saw Marcus Scotney move ahead Ida and Pere. But Ida was running to strong and went alone to hunt Marcus down. Behind, Ragna was having a tough day in the heat and Holly moved into 2nd women.

Ida for the women was in a race of her own and finally caught Marcus at the final summit. The duo dropped to the final river crossing and it was here, Ida moved ahead and clinched the overall stage victory less than 30-seconds ahead of Marcus. Her time obliterated Anna Frosts’ stage course record by 30-minutes – incredible!

Pere Aurell was the 3rd across the line and then remarkably, Holly Page was 4th, also well under Anna Frosts’ old CR. Jorge Paniagua rounded out the men’s podium and Ragna completed the women’s.

The 2019 TCC based on day 1 is going to be an epic race!

Ida Nilsson 2 44 35
Holly Page 3 04 33
Ragna Debats 3 20 22

Marcus Scotney 2 45 11
Pere Aurell 2 53 00
Jorge Paniagua 3 13 13

Full results at www.webscorer.com

Follow the action as the race unfolds #TCC2019

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