Trans D’Havet 2013 why not?

Posted on June 9, 2013 by talkultra

Why not?

Why not indeed… Trans D’Havet is waiting for you! Take advantage of the European Skyrunning Championships and enter one race, two races or all three and make a week of it in the perfect location of the Dolomites and the Veneto. Still places available!

Entry available HERE

Every two years the European Skyrunning Championships are celebrated and 2013 is no exception. The big news is the inclusion for the first time of the ultra distance. The venue is all-Italian with the Vertical Kilometer® and SkyRace® in Canazei, Dolomites on July 19 and 21, while the Ultra will take place just six days later in the nearby Veneto Region.

The Dolomites will again host two of the events in the three-year history of the Championships. The record on the unforgiving Vertical Kilometer® course just 2,1 km long, stands at 33’16” by world record holder Italian Urban Zemmer and Antonella Confortola in 39’13” back in 2008 when the course was inaugurated.

The classic Dolomites SkyRace® favoured by the world’s top runners offers a new challenge after record-breaking performances here this year by Kilian Jornet in 2h01’52”, and the three top women, Sweden’s Emelie Forsberg,American Kasie Enman and Spaniard Mireia Mirò – all under record time. Forsberg’s record stands at 2h26’00”.

The challenging and often technical course represents one of the toughest proving grounds for the relatively short distance: 22 km but with 1,750m climb to the summit of the Piz Boè which, at 3,152m altitude, towers above the start and finish of the race in Canazei.

The much anticipated Ultra is embodied by the Trans d’Havet, a point to point 80 km long with 5,500m vertical climb traversing the Piccole Dolomiti in the Veneto Region. The route, technical in stretches, includes 6 km of tunnels dating back to the First World War, created by General D’Havet, to whose name the race is dedicated.

Info:

Distance: 50 km / 62.1 miles Elevation gain: 5,500m
Elevation loss: 5,500m
5 peaks or passes at 1,600m altitude
Max altitude: 2,239m (Rifugio Fraccaroli) Pass below galleries of the first World War 8 aid stations
23h time limit
2012: Daniele Palladino (ITA) 10h58’44’’
2012: Francesca Canepa (ITA) 11h44’45’’

Francesca Canepa copyright iancorless.com

At the launch in 2012, the men’s winning time was 10h58’44”, no doubt destined to fall with the top European runners participating here in 2013.

Following on from the Dolomites SkyRace® on the 21^st, five days’ activities and fun-packed action are being organised for runners who want to stay over for the Trans d’Havet. More news on this later.

The European Skyrunning Championships are open with individual titles at stake in each discipline based on the sum of the highest points scored in two out of three events. The national title is based on the score of the first three men and one woman in all three events.

Vertical

Dolomites Vertical Kilometer®, Canazei, Trento, July 19

Sky

Dolomites SkyRace®, Canazei, Trento, July 21

Ultra

Trans d’Havet, 80k, Piovene R, Piccole Dolomiti, Vicenza – July 27

LINKS:

Trans D’Havet website HERE

Dolomites Sky Race HERE

Dolomites VK HERE

Skyrunning website HERE

2013 Calendar – Race Coverage

Posted on January 4, 2013 by talkultra

Just four days into a new year and my diary is full…. or so to speak.

2012 was an incredible year. So many new things and new opportunities. The success of Talk Ultra was incredible and in just a couple of weeks the show will be 1 year old! In addition to the podcast I diversified my photographic skills and in conjunction with writing I shifted away from working as a ‘commercial photographer’ in the advertising world (I till do some commissions) and started to concentrate on running, runners, races and the world around this.

I am extremely grateful to Skyrunning for the support and backing in providing me with the opportunity to attend so many great events. I am also extremely grateful and thankful (in no particular order) to

Of course articles and photography would mean nothing without an outlet and I would like to thank:

So what does 2013 have in store?

Here is a list of races that I will be attending as a photographer and journalist in 2013.

2013 CALENDAR

January

February

01st – 10th COSTA RICA: The Coastal Challenge. Official Race Website HERE

28th – 7th SPAIN: Lanzarote (training camp)

March

April

04th -18th MOROCCO: Marathon des Sables. Official Race Website HERE

18th – 22th TURKEY: Iznik Ultra TBC Official Race Website HERE

May

09th -17th SPAIN: Skyrunning Transvulcania Ultramarathon – 83k, La Palma. Official Race Website HERE

24th – 27th SPAIN: Skyrunning Zegama-Aizkorri. Official Race Website HERE

June

20th – 24th ANDORRA: Skyrunning Ronda dels Cims – 170k, Vallnord. Official Race Website HERE

27th -1st July FRANCE: Skyrunning KM Vertical, Chamonix & Mont-Blanc Marathon. Official Race Website HERE

July

12th -15th FRANCE: Skyrunning Ice Trail Tarentaise – 65k, Val d’Isère. Official Race Website HERE

18th – 20th ITALY: European Skyrunning Championships. Official Race Website HERE

Image courtesy of Trans D’Havet

August

23rd – 26th SWITZERLAND: Skyrunning Matterhorn Ultraks – 46k, Zermatt. Official Race Website HERE

September

22nd – 28th Sept (Race Dates) my schedule 19th to 26th USA: Grand to Grand Ultra – Official Race Website HERE

24th -01st Oct (dates tbc) USA: Skyrunning Ultra Race of Champions “UROC” -100k, Vail. Official Race Website HERE

October

10th -14th ITALY: Skyrunning Xtreme – Vertical Kilometer® & SKY RACE, Limone sul Garda. Official Race Website HERE

November

Everest Trail Race

December

European Skyrunning Championships 2013

Posted on December 15, 2012 by talkultra

Emelie Forsberg, winner 2012 Dolomites SkyRace®. © Pegaso Media

Every two years the European Skyrunning Championships are celebrated and 2013 is no exception. The big news is the inclusion for the first time of the ultra distance. The venue is all-Italian with the Vertical Kilometer® and SkyRace® in Canazei, Dolomites on July 19 and 21, while the Ultra will take place just six days later in the nearby Veneto Region.

The Dolomites will again host two of the events in the three-year history of the Championships. The record on the unforgiving Vertical Kilometer®course just 2,1 km long, stands at 33’16” by world record holder Italian Urban Zemmer and Antonella Confortola in 39’13” back in 2008 when the course was inaugurated.

The classic Dolomites SkyRace® favoured by the world’s top runners offers a new challenge after record-breaking performances here this year by Kilian Jornet in 2h01’52”, and the three top women, Sweden’s Emelie Forsberg, American Kasie Enman and Spaniard Mireia Mirò – all under record time. Forsberg’s record stands at 2h26’00”.

Trans d'Havet. ©Augusto Mia Battaglia

At the launch this year, the men’s winning time was 10h58’44”, no doubt destined to fall with the top European runners participating here in 2013.

The European Skyrunning Championships are open with individual titles at stake in each discipline and a combined title based on the sum of the highest points scored in two out of three events. The national title is based on the score of the first three men and one woman in all three events.

2013 European Skyrunning Championships

Dolomites Vertical Kilometer®, Canazei, Trento, July 19

Sky

Dolomites SkyRace®, Canazei, Trento, July 21

Ultra

Trans d’Havet, 80k, Piovene R. Piccole Dolomiti, Vicenza – July 27

Speedgoat 50K & Giir di Mont

Posted on July 31, 2012 by talkultra

Two great races – many great champions. Winners at Saturday’s Speedgoat 50k , the second World Series Ultra, were Kilian Jornet and Anna Frost. Jornet finished in 5h14’10” breaking the course record. Rickey Gates was a close second in 5h18’27” followed by Max King (5h23’10”) and Anton Krupicka (5h23’36”) 4^th in a great come-back after his long lay-off. You can read my pre-race predictions here

The result was not without controversy however as Jornet was declared winner but his record and prize-money withheld for ‘cutting switchbacks….. I will be interviewing Speedgoat Karl for a ‘Meltzer Moment’ on episode 15 of Talk Ultra so make sure you tune into the show to hear what he has to say.

Anna Frost, despite worries of not being on top form, led the race from start to finish. Kerrie Bruxvoort was second while local runners Sarah Evans and Emily Sullivan where third and fourth, respectively.

Back in Europe at Italy’s Giir di Mont, predictions aside, no-one was ready for American Kasie Enman’s triumphant win and record together with Tofol Castanyer’s great come-back in a stacked men’s field. Brit Tom Owen’s was second and Luis Alberto Hernando, third.

The men’s field was an exciting match with Rumenian Ionut Zinca leading strongly in the first part of the race, before ceding to pressure on the final ascent from Hernando, with Castanyer and Owens alternating the lead. Owens was hampered on the final downhill due to severe blisters from last week’s Dolomites SkyRace^® but managed a heroic second position.

In the women’s field it was Enman’s race from start to finish, breaking the course record and closing 14 minutes ahead of her competitors. Sweden’s Emelie Forsberg kept a steady second place throughout most of the race, to be overtaken by Silvia Serafini – Italy’s new skyrunning hope. No doubt last week’s superb record at the Dolomites SkyRace® took its toll on Forsberg who slipped down to fifth position. Oihana Kortazar finished third, not on her best form and Blanca Maria Serrano, fourth.

After the weekend’s races, the Skyrunner^®World Series ranking is lead by Luis Alberto Hernando, Kilian Jornet and Tom Owens and Emelie Forsberg, Blanca Maria Serrano and Kasie Enman.

On August 9th I will be heading out to Switzerland to report live and record some interviews at the next World Series’ race on August 12 with another star-studded line-up at the Course de Sierre Zinal in Switzerland.

Skyrunner^® World Series ranking

SkyGames – 2012 summary

Posted on July 9, 2012 by talkultra

July 8, 2012

Skyrunners worldwide celebrated their own games today with the final events of the 2012 SkyGames^®. Six skyrunning disciplines stretching over two weekends had 1,300 participants and twenty nations competing for the forty medals and 14 world titles at stake.

Host country Spain dominated throughout with a formidable contingent including no less than three skyrunning world champions in their ranks. Luis Alberto Hernando and Nuria Picas were crowned 2012 SkyGames^® World Champions in the combined category. The title was based on the highest points scored in the SkySpeed^® (100m ascent), the Vertical Kilometer^® (1,000m ascent) and the SkyMarathon^®.

Both champions clinched the title by winning the compulsory SkyMarathon^® outright today – a tough, 42 km race with a punishing 3,000m vertical climb.

The final medal count had Spain soaring ahead with 7 gold medals, 6 silver and 4 bronze, followed by France, Italy, Japan, Andorra and Venezuela.

Japan's Dai Matsumoto The ranking points, based on the best results of three men and one woman per nation, read as follows: Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Greece, Andorra, USA, Great Britain, Poland and Switzerland.

New entries we’ll no doubt be seeing more of were Alex Nichols (USA) who, in his first SkyMarathon^®, placed an excellent 6^th, and Japan’s Dai Matsumoto(6^th in the 2006 Andorra SkyGames^®) placed 2^nd in today’s SkyRace^®. Look out for him in the World Series’ races coming up soon.

The six SkyGames^® disciplines: SkySpeed, 100 metres vertical climb with a 45% incline; Vertical Kilometer, the universally popular formula, here a mere 3.5 km with a 30% incline; SkyBike – a duathlon combining mtb and skyrunning to 2,000m altitude; SkyRaid – a multi-discipline team relay; the 21 km SkyRace with 1,350m vertical climb, reserved for runners aged 16-21. The events concluded with an epic SkyMarathon reaching 3,100m altitude – valid for the combined points title.

Medal count

Spain – 7 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze
France – 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze
Italy – 1 gold, 1 bronze
Japan – 1 gold
Andorra – 1 silver
Venezuela – 1 silver

After months of preparation, an invasion of thousands, and the spectacular week-long celebrations, the people of the small towns scattered around Ribagorza Románica will return to their quiet ways, welcoming tourists to the Romanic Churches for which they are famed and, possibly, feel just a little nostalgia for the stirring sports events that have touched citizens and participants alike.

The event was sanctioned by FEDME, the Spanish Federation for Mountain Sports.

Follow the events on twitter and Facebook. Official website: www.ocisport.net for details.

Sky Games 2012

Posted on July 5, 2012 by talkultra

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

Didier Zago
Jesus de la Morena
Luis Albert Hernando

Deboora Cardone
Oihana Kortazar
Silvia Leal

VerticalK

Augusti Roc 35:51
Raul Garcia 36:10
Nicola Golinelli 36:16

Oihana Kortazar 43:59
Laura Orgue 44:29
Mireia Miro 44:49

SkyBike

Francesc Freixer 2:10:49
Jesus de la Morena 2:10:52
Didier Zago 2:11:20

Nuria Picas 2:33:35
Yolanda Magallon 2:57:56
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

A full athlete list is available here – http://www.ocisportdocs.com/~docs_prensa/skygames/skygames_list.pdf

Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/skygames2012

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/ribagorzaskygames2012

http://www.ocisport.net/skygames/