A series of people, faces and experiences from the 2012 UTMB.
Starting at 1900 in Chamonix the race took a shorter route of 100k and remained in France covering 6000m+ of vertical gain on a very wet, snowy and cold night. These images tell the story of 15 hours following the race.
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…
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.
Ryan Sandes has just set a new record for the Fish River Canyon in Namibia.
Fish River Canyon, Namibia
Ryan had to abandon his Fish River Canyon Trail Run record attempt in 2011 due to heavy rains. The record for the 85km trail run was originally set on the 13th of July 1990 by South Africans Ronnie Muhl and Bruce Matthews – both seasoned Comrades runners – in a time of 11hrs 42min. It was then beaten by 3 Namibian locals Russell Paschke, Charlie du Toit and Coenraad Pool on the 16th of August 2003 in a time of 10hrs 54min.
Not liking to be beaten, Ryan decided he would have another go at the record in August 2012.
Charlie du Toit is quoted as saying “This canyon is not for the faint hearted and an attempt to run it should not be taken light heartedly”.
Ryan had this to say:
“I know this challenge is going to extremely tough, especially coming off the back of my running the Western States 100miler in the USA at the end of June, but I can’t wait to get back into the canyon. The record attempt will be filmed by the African Attachment / Wandering Fever so I will keep everyone posted on where and when you can watch it,”
copyright Ryan Sandes
The Fish River Hiking Trail starts at Hobas and ends 85 kilometres (53 mi) further south at Ai Ais. The trail has no facilities and hikers usually fast pack through in 3 to 5 days. Ryan completed the trail in an impressive time just sneaking under 7 hours with a time of 6:57.
Due to flash floods and high summer temperatures which frequently exceed 45°C, the hike is only open in winter. The season starts 1 May and ends 15 September (winter time in the Southern Hemisphere).
Fish River Canyon
The Fish River Canyon is located in the south of Namibia. It is the second largest canyon in the world and the largest in Africa, as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 100 miles (160 km) long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 metres deep.
The Fish River is the longest interior river in Namibia. It cuts deep into the plateau which is today dry, stony and sparsely covered with hardy drought-resistant plants. The river usually floods in late summer; the rest of the year it becomes a chain of long narrow pools. At the lower end of the Fish River Canyon, the hot springs resort of Ai-Ais is situated.
Upstream the river runs through horizontal dolomite strata. These strata formed part of the canyon about 650 million years ago when plate movement cracked the earth, the first process in the formation of the Fish River Canyon.
Lower down, a granite complex system is exposed to form a characteristic river bed that results in forms like Fingerspitze. In this area, a fault runs north-south, which accounts for the gorge-like channel and the presence of hot sulphurous springs.
You can read more about Ryan here
You may like to listen to Talk Ultra and our interview with Ryan here
The African Attachment who have documented Ryan’s career and are making a film about him can be checked out here
Information on the Fish River Canyon is available here
The fellas at The African Attachment have once again come up with some video gold for Salomon Running.
This time it features Ryan Sandes at Western States Endurance Run 100 miler.
As you know, Ryan set a super fast time and placed 2nd overall behind Timothy Allan Olson.
Great run Ryan!
This clip is some 10 months old but it is one that I go back to time and time again… it shows Kilian Jornet in flight doing what he does best; running on tough and technical terrain.
Captured at 1000 frames per second by the ‘master’ Seb Montaz this highly stylised movie not only shows Kilian at his best but also Seb at his best, mastering a camera whilst also managing to keep up with Kilian.
Is this the best running pack ever created?
Is it the most comfortable pack ever worn?
Does it fulfil and rectify all those niggles that other packs create?
Want to find out?
Read HERE
Press Release
It is with great sadness that we have learnt the death of Stéphane Brosse, in the middle of his challenge, ‘the grande traversée’ that he was sharing with Kilian.
Both loved the mountains, and knew each other for a long time sharing the same respect for one another.
‘La grande traversée’ was a project they had set up together, a challenge up to their passion and talent.
It is on the last part, just before going downhill, that the ridge they were on collapsed, taking stéphane within this spilling.
Kilian remained helpless whilst waiting for the rescue team.
All our thoughts go to Stéphane’s family in those difficult times.
We wish a lot of strength to Kilian to overcome this tragedy.
As Kilian wishes to stay with Stéphane’s family to support them, he will not be present at the Western State 100.
The Salomon Team
Anna Frost (Frosty) writes an excellent blog post here of her last time with Kilian and Stephane as they embarked on this tragic journey.
Episode 11 of Talk Ultra is now coming together… although not a Western States special it does have a big emphasis on the race.
We interview Jez Bragg from the UK who has placed 3rd and 4th in previous years. Will he move higher up the podium in 2012?
On 15 minutes of fame we speak with Greg and Dean from The African Attachment – they are currently putting together a series of short films for Salomon. At this years Western States they will follow Ryan Sandes.
In a Meltzer Moment I discuss the ‘odds’ with Karl Meltzer and he gives us his predictions for 1,2 and 3 in both the ladies and Mens races.
In Talk Training I discuss race nutrition with Marc Laithwaite and of course we will have all the news, reviews and a list of up and coming races.
Want to know how Western States started? Listen to my interview with Gordy Ainsleigh HERE. Gordy was the first person ever to run the 100 miles and the rest is history…
If you need some visual inspiration, watch this Salomon film from 2011 showing KIlian Jornet and some words from Gordy.
Episode 11 will be available on Friday 15th June here
Within minutes of recording audio with Greg and Dean from The African Attachment for episode 11 of Talk Ultra and they release the next instalment in the Salomon Running TV S2 E03 – Learning at Zegama.
This episode features Emelie Forsberg who placed 3rd at the Zegama race.
It’s a wonderful film that sums up the spirit of why we run… the passion, the bond, the learning curve and importantly the friendship.
Footage shows the severity of the Zegama course, the ability of the runners and the passion of spectators.
This is why I love running. Why I love ultra running…. enjoy!
Another great video to come out of the island of La Palma and once again filmed by the master, Seb Montaz.
It’s a who’s who of ultra running but I guess showing them in a different light… at play in the lava fields.
IAN CORLESS 