JULBO – AERO – LIGHT AS AIR!

SUMMARY

The Aero – Light as Air – is Julbo’s latest offering for trail runners and in fact, for any activity that demands performance and comfort. The Aero offers superb all round vision and outstanding ventilation via a suspended single piece lens construction.  Zebra and Zebra Light photochromic options ensure that you receive spectacular clarity of vision even under variable light levels.   These sunglasses are a delight to wear and look great to!

Julbo, is a French brand that have been making optical sports wear since 1888. Founded by Jules Baud, Julbo are recognised for innovation and sleek design for mountaineers, sailors, mountain bikers and trail runners. In fact, just any sport, work or hobby that requires protection from the sun.

Out of the Box Statistics

• Colours – Dark Blue/Blue,  Tortoise Shell Gray/Gray, Black/Red,  White/Grey, Black, Green/Blue
• Weight – 26grms
• 3D Fit Nose – ergonomically adjustable wingtips in every direction for all shape and sizes
• Full Venting – complete ventilation allowing no fogging
• Grip Tech – inserts at stem ends for comfort and hold
• Front venting – Natural front air flow due to lens shape and structure
• Air Link Temple system – shock absorbing elastomer insert for comfort and lightness

Price

Circa £90.00

Field Test

When I first saw the Julbo Aero I was immediately impressed by a couple of things, the design of the arms and the ventilation options. I was eager to get out for a run and test how they performed.

Singles lens piece – less weight!

At 26grms these shades are slightly lighter than the Venturi by 4grms and the Trail by 2grms. Now that might not sound like a lot but every little gram counts and when it’s hot and sweaty it translates to – less weight – less to slide. How has that been done?  Well the single piece lens cuts out the need for a central nose piece and the innovative Air Link Temple system means the arms have been deconstructed. Both design features provide improvements not only in weight but in overall visibility and wear-ability.

Air Link Temple

One thing that is always sure to ruin a good run is when your shades steam up…. not so with these little beauties. I’ve come to expect superior ventilation from Julbo products, but the little tweaks they have made on the Aero provide even better ventilation. The lens cut provides a gap at the top and at the sides allowing vital airflow in while you are running and importantly when you halt. One of my tests with these was on a really hot day (yes, we did have one!) climbing up and down sets of stairs, breathing heavily like I do, head down, sweat streaming, these guys performed magnificently.

Lens cut to aid airflow

These shades provide excellent all round vision and clarity, especially when moving back and forth between sunny and shaded sections on the trail where the lens reacts quickly to the differing light conditions.

At a price of £90 they are not cheap but are competitively priced with equivalent products on the market.  They come complete with crush proof travel case and cloth pouch to keep your lovely shades safe and in pristine condition.

Look out for more updates on these shades as I give them a thorough testing over the next six to nine months.

All images copyright – Ian Campbell Photography

 

LAVAREDO ULTRA TRAIL 2017 RESULTS

The Lavaredo Ultra Trail (119 kilometers and 5,850 meters of climb) took place this weekend at Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy.

Caroline Chaverot of France claimed her second victory at Lavaredo in a winning time of 14:05 and 12th overall. Chaverot now has the two fastest times including the course record of 13:40 that she set in 2015.

Fabien Antolinos of France claimed his first major victory with a stunning win in a fast time of 12:32 and only 17 minutes off the course record. He raced within himself for the first half and used that as a foundation to move strongly through the field to finish for the win.

The Dolomites

2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail Men’s and Women’s Races

After a stormy preceding night, the conditions happened to be perfectly cool and dry enough for the 11 p.m. start in the centre of Cortina for the 11th edition of the Lavaredo Ultra Trail. As the runners amassed, the music blared out and the atmosphere became euphoric as the seconds ticked by, getting ever closer to the start time.

It’s always a fast start at Lavaredo and this year was no exception, Catalan Pau Capell and a strong race favorite with his impressive streak of performances was leading it out and working together with New Zealand’s Scott Hawker as they reached Ospitale at the 18-kilometer mark. They had already created a one-minute lead on the chasing pack that included Norway’s Didrik Hermansen and American Seth Swanson.

The women’s race had already set its stage, New Zealand’s Ruth Croft and Caroline Chaverot came in to the Ospitale aid station within seconds of each other. They had already stretched the gap on Poland’s Ewa Majer and Italian Lisa Borzani to seven minutes, such was this opening frenetic pace.

Ruth Croft running toward second place at the 2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail

The race proceeds through the forested trails with a short climb to Son Forca and into Federavecchia followed by a much bigger climb to Refugio Auronzo at 48k. Still with the lead came a strong Capell but now on his own as Hawker was having stomach problems and would drop much later. Swanson topped out the climb to the refugio looking deadly and in the hunt and ready to close that 10-minute gap. Hermansen and Lithuanian Gediminas Grinius were showing their experience and had moved up to third and fourth. Race winner Antolinos was clearly in good shape as he arrived less than one minute later and only 17 minutes off the lead.

Chaverot arrived at the refugio in 5:22 elapsed with Croft three minutes later and very much looking to stay in touch and perhaps hustle Chaverot out of first place.

As it happened for both the women’s and men’s races, the strategic advantage was to significantly change at around 67k at Cimabanche. After the tough climb to Auronzo, there is a long downhill stretch and a relatively flat section in and out of Cimabanche followed by a much shorter climb and a lovely descent to 75k and Malga Ra Stua.

It was at Cimabanche that two significant things happened. Croft had been charging and was literally steps behind Chaverot at Cimabanche but that was to be the closest she would get to Chaverot who would step up the pace. Antolinos was in fifth and some 31 minutes behind leader Capell who was working hard to create a gap on Swanson. From Cimabanche to Malga Ra Stua and eventually to Col Gallina at 95k after a steep climb, Antolinos had made up those 31 minutes and was now in the lead. A superb section of running, but he did have a problem, a strong Swanson was hot on his heels and looking to close that gap.

Seth Swanson looking strong for second place

It was at Col Gallina that Capell, who arrived in third, would drop with dehydration issues. This put Italian favorite Fulvio Dapit in third ahead of Hermansen. But it was not this Norwegian that he had to fear, it was another one, Erik-Sebastian Krogvig, who had been running in seventh or eighth most of the way. By Passo Giau at 104k, Krogvig was hot on the heels of Dapit.

By the time Chaverot had reached Col Gallina, she had put 25 minutes on Croft and it was only to stretch out more as the remaining kilometers passed by.

After losing the lead to Swanson briefly over the remaining climb, Fabien Antolinos had managed to fight back to regain his lead. He came into Cortina with around a two-minute lead, leaving him the opportunity to savour the crowds cheering as he came to the finish line for his first major victory. He ran a smart race. Krogvig had also raced hard and smart and unfortunately for Dapit took the third and last place on the podium.

Fabien Antolinos on his way to winning the 2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail

The announcers called her the ‘Queen of Cortina’ and who could deny her that title, Caroline Chaverot powered her way to the finish line to claim yet another impressive victory and her second at Lavaredo. Croft had run a tough race, had tried to hustle Chaverot, but was out paced. That said, she never gave in and was rewarded with second place. Borzani ran strong all the way, holding third place from way back before Refugio Aurunzo but was unable to sustain the pace of either Chaverot or Croft.

Caroline Chaverot, 2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail Champion.

2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail Men’s Results

 

1	Fabien Antolinos (Mizuno)	12:32:34
2	Seth Swanson (The North Face)	12:34:41
3	Erik-Sebastian Krogvig	13:09:21
4	Fulvio Dapit (Crazy)	13:11:23
5	Robert Hajnal	13:24:30
6	Didrik Hermansen (Asics)	13:28:21
7	Damian Hall (inov8)	13:28:38
8	Sebastian Chaigneau (The North Face)	13:29:45
9	Andris Ronimoiss (Inov8)	13:42:48
10	Julien Chorier (Hoka One One)	13:45:32

 

Erik-Sebastian Krogvig taking third at the 2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail.

2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail Women’s Results

 

1	Caroline Chaverot (Salomon)	14:05:45
2	Ruth Croft (Scott)	14:51:36
3	Lisa Borzani (Tecnica)	15:53:49
4	Maud Gobert	16:09:30
5	Ewa Majer	16:23:33
6	Luzia Buhler	16:30:51
7	Aliza LaPierre (Salomon)	16:51:46
8	Roxane Ardiet	17:41:38
9	Jo Meek (Scott)	18:08:47
10	Vroni Heidrich	18:22:14

 

Lisa Borzani after taking third.

All images copyright – Ian Campbell Photography

This article was published on www.irunfar.com

 

 

 

 

Ultra Running News from Around the Globe

In this month’s column we bring you news from the latest rounds of the Ultra Trail World Tour  and other events as well as a selection of news from the blogs.

 

Marathon des Sables

Probably the stand out event in a busy April, the Marathon des Sables never fails to disappoint. This year’s event had some surprises in store as the six stage race unfolded. From a British perspective the performance of Thomas Evans was stunning. It must have been disconcerting for the Moroccans to see him in contention and leading stages. But of course it was a Moroccan victory and a one two by the El Morabity brothers with Rachid coming out on top of younger brother Mohamed by twenty three minutes. Abdelkader El Mouaziz dropped from the race and that opened up the podium opportunity for Evans which he grabbed with some phenomenal running.

The women’s race was controlled by Sweden’s Elisabet Barnes looking for and achieving her second MDS victory. Her margin increased daily from Nathalie Mauclair of France but Mauclair clawed back some time in the long stage that is her specialty. Barnes kept close to her in the long stage to ensure she did not drop too many minutes.  Brazil’s Fernanda Maciel claimed the final podium place but was adrift of the top two by over an hour.

The prize of top Brit was of course claimed by Thomas Evans with that impressive third place overall. Andy Symonds was a clear second from Damian Hall. On the women’s side Jennifer Hill ran strong throughout and claimed the top spot from Jessica Hook and Elizabeth Currie who were within twelve minutes of each other but a distant five hours from Hill.

Results

Men		Time
1	Rachid El Morabity	19:15:23
2	Mohamed El Morabity	19:38:21
3	Thomas Evans	19:49:33

 

Women		Time
1	Elisabet Barnes	23:16:12
2	Nathalie Mauclair	23:36:40
3	Fernanda Maciel	24:44:59

 Results – Top Brits

Men		Time
1	Thomas Evans	19:49:33
2	Andy Symonds (9th overall)	22:19:39
3	Damian Hall (15th)	24:09:43

 

Women		Time
1	Jennifer Hill (73rd overall)	29:36:50
2	Jessica Hook (182nd)	34:30:34
3	Elizabeth Currie (184th)	34:42:01

 

100 Miles of Istria

The distance 100 miles, the elevation 7,210M, the country Croatia, the first time on the UTWT, the fifth running of the event and two stand out performances by American Dylan Bowman and Italian Francecsa Canepa to win.  The organisers must also be very happy with the result from their first UTWT outing.  Bowman won by over an hour from Italian Oliviero Bosatelli.  Canape was the pre-race favourite and won with a seventy eight minute margin from Slovenian Alenka Pavc.

Results

Men		Time
1	Dylan Bowman	17:51
2	Oliviero Bosatelli	18:54
3	Paul Giblin	19:21

 

Women		Time
1	Francesa Canepa	23:34
2	Alenka Pavc	24:52
3	Ulrike Striednig	25:07

 

Patagonia Run

The Patagonia Run is a new entrant to UTWT in 2017. With a total of 8,000M vertical ascent and a distance of 145km there is plenty of time to take in the impressive landscape of the Andes mountain range. Five time winner Sergio Trecaman probably didn’t stop a lot as he only took eighteen hours to complete the course just ahead of his fellow Argentinian Jose Manuel Gasca. The women’s race was won by Adriana Vargas with who had a thirty-five minute cushion over second place Teresa Nimes of Spain.

Results

Men		Time
1	Sergio Trecaman	18:10
2	Jose Manuel Gasca	18:22
3	Gustavo Ismail	18:52

 

Women		Time
1	Adriana Vargas	21:01
2	Teresa Nimes	21:36
3	Laura Gordiola	22:59

 

Madeira Island Ultra Trail

Madeira Island is located in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal. It’s a beautiful island with spectacular cliffs and even more spectacular roads for nervous drivers. The interior is extremely mountainous and has a fabulous network of footpaths called levadas that criss-cross the island. The MIUT traverses the island from North West starting in Porto Muniz to South East in Machico with a staggering 7,100M of ascent in 115km.

Francoise D’Haene crushed the course record set last year by Zach Miller, the Frenchman recording 13:05:44 and a full forty six minutes faster showing that he is back in form. In fact, second and third placed Pau Capell and Xavier Thevernard all beat that previous course record.

Andrea Huser dominated the women’s race to claim yet another deserved victory. Her time of 16:30:47 was well short of the superbly fast time of 14:34:30 that Caroline Cheverot posted last year. Britains Beth Pascali claimed second place ahead of Italian Lisa Borzani by over an hour.

Results

Men		Time
1	Francoise D’Haene	13:05:44
2	Pau Capell	13:28:01
3	Xavier Thevenard	13:42:16

 

Women		Time
1	Andrea Huser	16:30:47
2	Beth Pascali	17:11:49
3	Lisa Borzani	18:19:10

 

Penyagolosa Trails

This is the first year that Penyagolosa has been on the UTWT. Timothy Olson joined a mainly Spanish field of four hundred plus runners who tackled the 115km and 5,500M of ascent and it was Olson who came out on top. A jubilant Olson was followed by Yeray Duran Lopez around twenty two minutes later. Remi Queral Ibanez took the final podium spot.

The women’s race was a Spanish affair with Gemma Arenas Alcazar topping the list by a mere two minutes from Maria Mercedes Pila Veracocha. Leire Martinez Herrera was third fifty minutes later.

Results

Men		Time
1	Timothy Olson	12:23:58
2	Yeray Duran Lopez	12:45:34
3	Remi Queral Ibanez	12:52:51

 

Women		Time
1	Gemma Arenas Alcazar	15:01:19
2	Maria Mercedes Pila Veracocha	15:03:42
3	Leire Martinez Herrera	15:53:43

 

Thames Path 100

This was the sixth running of this flattish 100 mile race from London to Oxford. A course record from last year of 14:09 by Craig Holgate was the target. An initial early charge by Steven Lord was thwarted as he suffered hip issues from mile 51 onwards, this opened the door for eventual winner Michael Stocks to move up. Dan Masters and Jeremy Isaac showed how a steady and conservative pace can prove the winning strategy as they were both out of podium places until roughly ninety miles.

Ladies winner Mari Mauland took another conservative approach banking the early miles and well outside the top ten overall for a good seventy or so miles. She would eventually finish in fifth overall with a fantastically fast time of 16:55. The gap to second placed Sarah Sawyer was a full four plus hours. Third placed Naomi Moss was only six minutes behind.

 

Results

Men		Time
1	Michael Stocks	14:57:53
2	Dan Masters	15:30:03
3	Jeremy Isaac	16:25:55

 

Women		Time
1	Mari Mauland	16:55:43
2	Sarah Sawyer	21:09:10
3	Naomi Moss	21:15:53

 

 

News from the blogs

Elisabet Barnes

Winner of the 2017 edition and now two time winner of Marathon des Sables, Elisabet Barnes, she offers coaching via her website www.ultra.coach . She is a multi-stage race demon and Elisabet will be at the Ultra Festival in early June so catch her there live.

Anna Frost

Anna is heading to Madeira for the Ultra Skymarathon in May, she will also be in Bhutan later in the year. You can keep up to date with Frosty and her adventures via Twitter and her Facebook page.

https://frostysfootsteps.wordpress.com/

Timothy Olson

Tim is back! A fine win at Penyagolosa has confirmed that Tim is back on form after what for him has been a quiet eighteen or so months with some less than optimal performances. Although there is no confirmation of his June /July race schedule Tim will be at Diagonal des Fous in October, how good is that!

http://www.timothyallenolson.com/

Paul Capell

Pau Capell’s ascendancy to one of the top level ultrarunners has been a marvel to observe. His win at Transgrancanaria this year must rate as his best performance to date and he followed that with a second place at last month’s Madeira Island Ultra Trail. He is stepping up to UTMB this year, his first 100 mile race, it will be interesting to see how he performs and his approach to this tough and competitive race.

You can catch all the updates via Twitter.

Dakota Jones

Dakota Jones just enjoys life. Read this post http://www.irunfar.com/2017/04/the-most-harm-principle.html from his column at www.irunfar.com . It just about sum’s up Dakota’s approach to life and racing.  He is heading off to ‘Europe for the next two months, first in Spain with @deparunner and then in France for the Maxi Race and Mont Blanc Marathon. Really though, my main goal is to learn some Spanish and French. But these races will be cool too. Stay tuned!’

Stay tuned indeed through his Twitter, Instagram and Facebook posts.

 

Up and coming races

UTWT races

Ultra-Trail Australia – May 18^th -21^st

Mozart 100 – June 17^th

Lavaredo Ultra Trail – June 23^rd

Western States 100 – June 24^th-25th

 

Sky Races

Yading Skyrun – May 2^nd

Transvulcania – May 13th

Zegama – May 28^th

 

UK Races

North Downs Way 50 – May 13^th

Grand Union Canal race – May 27^th

South Downs Way 100 – June 10^th

 

Marathon des Sables – Day 4/5 Results

El Morabity and Barnes hold on to their leads despite strong competition

It’s the long stage and time to sort the field out. It’s the most feared and probably most critical stage of this race. This year’s fourth stage was 86.2km long and with seven checkpoints it provided enough distance that any mishaps within the leading pack were going to be punished. Overall leader Rachid El Morabity won the stage by eleven minutes, but it wasn’t from a fellow Moroccan, it was from Britain’s Thomas Evans who had an outstanding stage to take second place (must be the highest placing Brit ever!). In third place Mohamed El Morabity now has a thirteen-minute gap on fourth placed Abdelaziz Baghazza. Strong contender for the podium this year was Abdelkader El Mouaziz but he dropped out at the fifth checkpoint to end his 2017 MDS campaign.

Overall Rachid El Morabity extended his lead to thirteen minutes from second place Mohamed El Morabity. Thomas Evans is now in third five minutes behind and has a forty-eight minutes lead on fourth placed Baghazza.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Rachid El Morabity	8:16:14
2nd	Thomas Evans	8:27:46
3rd	Mohamed El Morabity	8:28:33

Top Brits

Andy Symonds ran for most of the stage with fellow Brit Damian Hall and finished the stage together with less than a second splitting them. But in contrast just look at Thomas Evans time for the stage, a full two hours ahead …. what a stellar performance.

Andy Symonds lies second overall in the Top Brit table. Evans 16:33:13, Symonds 18:48:43 and Hall 20:12:56.

Place	Name	Time
5th	Thomas Evans	8:27:46
16th	Damian Hall	10:26:43
17th	Andy Symonds	10:26:44

France’s Nathalie Mauclair managed to grab 90 seconds from Sweden’s Elisabet Barnes in this long stage. Barnes remained solid and tracked Mauclair throughout the course of the stage always within two minutes. Barnes overall lead is twenty-three minutes so a similar performance tomorrow in the marathon long stage will secure victory.

Brazil’s Fernanda Maciel ran strong securing third place in the stage and overall and she has almost a two cushion to fourth place Emilie Lecomte who also finished fourth in the long stage.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Nathalie Mauclair	9:39:58	9th overall
2nd	Elisabet Barnes	9:41:16	11th overall
3rd	Fernanda Maciel	10:00:58	12th overall

Other contenders

Emilie Lecomte                         11:10:17

Melanie Rousset               11:27:03

Aziza Raji                             12:00:13

Top Brits

A solid performance in this long stage from Jennifer Hill will secure her top Brit.

Place	Name	Time
70th	Jennifer Hill	12:26:24
150th	Jessica Hook	14:25:09
182nd	Jane Keenan	14:58:23

 

Marathon des Sables – Stage 4 update

• Rachid El Morabity wins the stage in 8:16:14 and retains the overall lead
• Britain’s Thomas Evans takes second place in 8:27:46 and moves into third overall
• Mohamed El Morabity places third in 8:28:33 – second overall
• Abdelkader El Mouaziz – drops out

Marathon des Sables – Day 3 Results

El Morabity and Barnes continue upfront 

The third stage of this year’s Marathon des Sables at 31.6km had only two checkpoints. The Moroccans remained in front with overall leader Rachid El Morabity winning the stage and adding a further minute to his overall lead. Abdelaziz Baghazza stepped up to take second place in a joint time with Mohamed El Morabity.  Fourth place in the stage was taken by Abdelkader El Mouaziz dropping Britains Thomas Evans to fifth place.

Overall Rachid El Morabity has a ten minute lead over second place El Moauaziz with Mohamed El Morabity in third place by only two seconds.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Rachid El Morabity	2:33:14
2nd	Abdelaziz Baghazza	2:34:26
3rd	Mohamed El Morabity	2:34:26

Top Brits

Andy Symonds had another solid day and retains his place as second Brit behind Thomas Evans. Symonds has a sixteen minute gap to close which is achievable in tomorrow’s long stage of 86.2km. Damian Hall had a strong third day, taking third place and also third Brit overall as Andrew Fargus slipped back giving away a costly thirty minutes.

Place	Name	Time
5th	Thomas Evans	2:38:53
7th	Andy Symonds	2:44:53
14th	Damian Hall	3:12:16

Sweden’s Elisabet Barnes and 2015 MDS winner looks serene as she gained a further two minutes today to make her overall lead exactly twenty four minutes on second placed Nathalie Mauclair from France.  Brazilian Fernanda Maciel placed third today and is third overall twenty five minutes behind and with a thirty nine minutes lead on fourth placed Emilie Lecomte.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Elisabet Barnes	3:13:07	16th overall
2nd	Nathalie Mauclair	3:15:14	17th overall
3rd	Fernanda Maciel	3:27:11	29th overall

Other contenders

Melanie Rousset              3:28:02

Emilie Lecomte                         3:33:44

Aziza Raji                             3:47:23

 

Top Brits

Place	Name	Time
109th	Jennifer Hill	3:18:45
173rd	Josephine Adams	3:40:13
189th	Susannah Chan	3:43:22

 

 

Marathon des Sables – Day 2 Results

El Morabity and Barnes take control

The second stage of this year’s Marathon des Sables was 39km with three checkpoints. The trio of top Moroccan runners remained at the top although finishing this second stage in a different order with 2016 winner Rachid El Morabity taking the stage win and adding eight valuable minutes.

Thomas Evans from the UK ran the stage in fourth place to keep within a few seconds of the leaders and still well in contention of third place.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Rachid El Morabity	3:04:52
2nd	Abdelkader El Mouaziz	3:12:15
3rd	Mohamed El Morabity	3:14:31

Top Brits

Place	Name	Time
4th	Thomas Evans	3:14:35
6th	Andy Symonds	3:21:19
12th	Andrew Fargus	3:49:52

Winner in 2015 Sweden’s Elisabet Barnes continued her strong MDS challenge and eclipsed Brazilian Fernanda Maciel by over eleven minutes. Barnes now has a seventeen minutes lead overall going into tomorrow’s third stage of 31.6km.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Elisabet Barnes	3:49:04	11th overall
2nd	Fernanda Maciel	4:00:42	19th overall
3rd	Nathalie Mauclair	4:04:14	20rd overall

Other contenders :

Emilie Lecomte – 4^th             4:31:11

Aziza Raji – 5^th                    4:41:37

Melanie Rousset – 7^th    4:58:00

Top Brits

Place	Name	Time
67th	Jennifer Hill	4:45:52
114th	Josephine Adams	5:11:02
164th	Jane Keenan	5:31:31

 

Marathon des Sables – Stage 1 Results

The Marathon des Sables started for the 32^nd time on Sunday and as predicted the racing was fierce.   The first of six stages had the runners cover 30.3km, a good Sunday run!

The top three in the men’s race was a Moroccan affair but they have some British company hot on their heels.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Mohamed El Morabity	2:10:36
2nd	Rachid El Morabity	2:10:54
3rd	Abdelkader El Mouaziz	2:11:17

 

Top Brits

Place	Name	Time
4th	Thomas Evans	2:11:58
8th	Andy Symonds	2:15:46
12th	Andrew Fargus	2:23:56

 

The women’s race has opened up with previous MDS winner Elisabet Barnes leading the way by six minutes.

Place	Name	Time
1st	Elisabet Barnes	2:38:13	21st overall
2nd	Nathalie Mauclair	2:44:57	28th overall
3rd	Aziza Raji	2:54:36	43rd overall

 

Other contenders

Fernanda Maciel – 4^th         3:01:36

Emilie Lecomte – 5^th             3:03:57

Melanie Rousset – 6^th    3:04:31

 

Top Brits

Place	Name	Time
109th	Jennifer Hill	3:18:45
173rd	Josephine Adams	3:40:13
189th	Susannah Chan	3:43:22

 

Its early days in the MDS with five stages of racing left including the long stage on day 4 of 86.2km.

Marathon des Sables

Event preview

Marathon Des Sables – Kirsten Kortebein

The 32^nd edition of the fabled Marathon Des Sables is due to start in several days. The circus will be back in the desert corralling over thirteen hundred participants to cover roughly 250km over six days. MDS is a foot race where participants have to be totally self-sufficient carrying all food and mandatory equipment. But the whole event would be nothing without the support staff, one for every two participants, the 2 helicopters and 1 light aircraft, 25 buses, 4 camels and 57 medical staff, the list goes on…….  It’s a logistics exercise comparable with an army brigade making sure that there is ample water, tents and manned check-points etc.

Race preview

We are in line for some very exciting multi day desert racing at this year’s Marathon des Sables. The men’s race could be summarised as potentially a repeat performance of previous year’s but El Morabity’s gap last year was reduced to only a few minutes so it could lead to a shake up on the podium. The women’s race has all the ingredients for some very exciting racing.  There are probably five or six fighting it out for the top spot which could make every day a challenge and any slip up absolutely crucial.

The Men’s race

Top Moroccans	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012
Rachid El Morabity	1st	1st	1st
Abdelkader El Mouaziz	2nd	2nd	7th
Aziz El Akad	3rd	3rd		5th	3rd
Samir Akdar	6th	4th		8th
Salemeh Al Aqra		5th	2nd	2nd	1st
Mohamed Ahansal		11th	3rd	1st	2nd

The table above shows the top Moroccans performances over the last five years. The podium has been dominated by these guys and it would come as a huge surprise if it wasn’t the same this year.

The following guys are confirmed for this year.

Rachid El Morabity – El Morabity has got to be the one to beat having won the last three editions of the race.  Morabity’s winning gap last year was only four minutes compared to fourteen minutes the previous year, both times to El Mouaziz.  He also came second at OCC in 2016 and is entered for CCC this year.

Abdelkader El Mouaziz – El Mouaziz has a deep marathon pedigree with a 2:06 PB and having raced some of the most competitive road marathons over a decade or more, mainly London & Chicago.  He has translated that marathon speed to the rough terrain of the desert and multi day racing.  The last two years placing second to El Morabity but having a healthy gap to a third placed El Akad.

Aziz El Akad – El Akad has placed third in the last two years but will he have enough to challenge the likes of El Morabity and El Mouaziz?  The one hour gap to second at this level is substantial amount to bridge.

Samir Akhdar – A solid top five finisher but Akdar will be looking to make the podium for the first time.

Andy Symonds – Symonds has got to be the top non Moroccan at this year’s event. He has lots of talent, fast and excels on mountain courses. How will he fare in the desert against some of the best multi day racers in the world?  It certainly will be interesting to track his progress.

Tsuyoshi Kaburaki – Kaburaki has tons of mountain racing pedigree earned at UTMB, Hardrock, & Western States, although a few years ago. He placed second last year at Ultra Fiord Patagonia.  A top ten finish would be a good result.

Marco Olmo – Olmo has raced MDS many times and has won the various age categories from M55, M60 and now M65 for the last three years.  Who else can beat the Italian Olmo?

 

Women’s Race

Nathalie Mauclair – Second at last year’s MDS, Mauclair will undoubtedly be seeking the top spot this year, especially as last year’s winner Sedykh is not competing. Her closest rivals are likely to be 2015 winner Elisabet Barnes and Brazilian Fernanda Maciel. Mauclair has won Diagonal des Fous twice and UTMB during 2013 to 2015, by comparison 2016 was a much quieter racing year for her.

Elisabet Barnes – Winner of MDS in 2015, last year’s race did not go to plan and she missed out on the podium. Since then she has placed second at the Grand to Grand ultra and a fourth place at this year’s The Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica.  Barnes will be looking to regain that top spot for sure!

Fernanda Maciel – A tough competitor who regularly places top five or podium at some of the world’s toughest mountain races.  Last year placed third at MDS.  Maciel will surely be looking to move further up the podium this year.

Emilie Lecomte – In 2016 Lecomte raced the Grand to Grand ultra a similar multi stage race in the US and won. She also placed third at the Madeira Island Ultra Trail.  Lecomte seems to excel on the tough gnarly courses like Diagonal des Fous and UTMB. How will she perform on the fabled dunes at MDS?

Melanie Rousset – A recent third place at Transgrancanaria will surely boost Rousset’s confidence coming into MDS.  She has placed sixth, fifth and fourth at Diagonal des Fous in recent year’s.  It will be interesting how she tackles multi day desert racing.

Ester Alves – Alves has recent experience of multi day racing at The Coastal Challenge placing third. She won the Madeira Island Ultra Trail in 2015

Federica Boifava – Italian Boifava has won a lot of races many of them in the marathon to 80km range. It will be exciting to see how she performs in multi day desert racing. Likely to place highly if she doesn’t go off to fast in the early stages.

Moroccans

Aziza Raji – Top Moroccan in 2016 placing fifth.

Meryem Mahfoud – Second at Nomads Run 60km 2017.

Houda Taoufiq Mabileau – Third at Nomads Run 60km 2017.

Touda Didi – Tenth at MDS in 2011.

Ultrarunning News from Around the Globe

In this month’s column we bring you news from the opening rounds of the Ultra Trail World Tour and the latest UTWT standings, as well as a selection of news from the blogs.

Vibram Hong Kong 100

The opening round of the 2017 Ultra Trail World Tour in Hong Kong had improved conditions with some milder temperatures and rain. Yanqiao Yan from China captured the win but a decent margin of twenty six minutes over Italian Daniel Jung. Sage Canaday was the top American in third place. Other notable finishers in this early season head to head were Didrik Hermansen 4^th, Tim Tollefson 5^th, Seth Swanson 6^th and Julien Chorier 10^th.

Nuria Picas returned to her winning ways in dominant fashion with an emphatic victory over China’s Linming Chen by some thirty five minutes and in the process besting the old course record by over forty minutes.
New Zealand athlete and Hong Kong based Marie McNaughton took third place in what appears to be her fastest time on this course.

 

 

 

Vibram Hong Kong 100

Men		Time
1	Yanqiao Yun	09:35:11
2	Daniel Jung	10:01:35
3	Sage Canaday	10:03:50

 

Women		Time
1	Nuria Picas-Albets	11:18:57
2	Linming Chen	11:53:47
3	Maria McNaughton	12:26:19

Tarawera Ultramarathon

American Jim Walmsley cruised to victory unchallenged in an incredibly fast record time of 7:23 leading from virtually the get go. Walmsley was more than forty five minutes ahead of second placed Jonas Buud who is no slouch when it comes to fast trails.

The final spot on the podium was for New Zealand’s Sam McCutcheon. Other notable finishers in this hotly contested race in New Zealand were Gediminas Grinius in 5th, Matt Flaherty 7^th and Michael Wardian 8^th.

In a similar vein the women’s race was won by leading from the front, Camille Herron beating second place Magdalena Boulet by around twenty four minutes. It was a narrow margin for third placed Cecilia Flori who was only ninety seconds behind Boulet. Fiona Hayvice who won last year in 10:34 finished sixth in 10:06 such was the step up in competition this year. Fernanda Maciel took 7^th and Sophie Grant 10^th.

Tarawera Ultramarathon 102km

Men		Time
1	Jim Walmsley	07:23:32
2	Jonas Buud	08:10:58
3	Sam McCutcheon	08:12:35

 

Women		Time
1	Camille Herron	08:56:00
2	Magdelena Boulet	09:20:13
3	Cecilia Flori	09:21:42

Transgrancanaria

Trangsrancanaria is the first UTWT race of the season in Europe with a distance of 125km and with 8,000 metres of ascent it is a serious early season challenge. The runners traverse from the north of the island to the south and the massed crowds on the beach of Maspalomas.

This year’s men’s winner was a richly deserved Pau Capell in a fast time of 13:21 beating Didrik Hermansen’s winning time from 2016 by a huge twenty minutes. Lithuanian Vaidas Zlabys placed second fourteen minutes later with Hermansen settling for third place this year.

Other top ten finishers included Diego Pazos 8^th, Andy Symonds 9^th and Timothy Olson 10^th.

The women’s race was dominated by Spain’s Azara Garcia in her first race of over 100 kilometres. A challenging last 40 kilometres where she had difficulty eating and drinking made the closing efforts more intriguing but Garcia still managed to eclipse second place Andrea Huser by over forty five minutes. In third place was Melanie Rousset less than fifteen minutes behind.

Other top ten finishers Ildiko Wermescher 5^th, Juliette Blanchette 7^th, Lisa Borzani 8^th and Manuela Vilaseca 10^th.

Transgrancanaria

Men		Time
1	Pau Capell	13:21:03
2	Vaidas Zlabys	13:35:38
3	Didrik Hermansen	13:50:06

 

Women		Time
1	Azara Garcia	16:25:20
2	Andrea Huser	17:15:45
3	Melanie Rousset	17:30:40

 

News from the blogs

Kilian Jornet

In the continuing adventure ‘Summits of My life’ Jornet recently announced he will once again go back to Everest. On his return he has a full bag of trail racing, Marathon du Mont Blanc, Hardrock and UTMB amongst others. Somewhere in all this racing he will travel to the UK to take on the famous Bob Graham Round.

http://www.kilianjornet.cat/en/blog/2017-calendar/ 

Manuela Vilaseca

Brazilian ultra runner and mountain biker, Manuela “Manu’ Vilaseca trains hard and invariably finishes top ten in some of the tougher mountain races such as UTMB and Transgrancanaria. ‘Catch me if you can’ is Manu’s catch phrase!   More regular updates on her athlete Facebook page.

http://manuvilaseca.com/site/

Andrea Huser

Find out more about Andrea Huser on her Facebook page.  Swiss athlete Huser loves the mountains. Looks like this year she will spend some time in the US in preparation for Western States at the end of June.

Francesca Canepa

Italian Francesca Canepa looks like she is heading to Croatia to compete in the 100 miles of Istria a UTWT event. Checkout her Facebook page to keep up to date.

Gediminas Grinius

Lithuanian athlete Gediminas Grinius came on the scene about two years ago at Lavaredo Ultra Trail and has continually impressed showing it was not a fluke performance. I like his mantra ‘Time is Time’ so don’t look for his blog which is not regularly updated but check out his Facebook page for updates. He is currently running in the US.

Mike Wardian

Does he really need an introduction… Mike races practically every weekend and sometimes both days or indeed in the morning and then in the evening. He is scheduled to run Western States at the end of June and then Hardrock three weeks later. Even with MW’s prodigious racing calibre that is a tall ask…. bring it on!!

http://mikewardian.com

UTWT Standings

Here is a recap on scoring for UTWT events. These are points awarded to the winner of the various category races.

Three rounds of this year’s Ultra Trail World Tour have been raced, Vibram Hong Kong 100 (Pro), Tarawera Ultramarathon (Pro) and Transgrancanaria (Series).

 

Place	Series with Bonus	Series	Pro	Challenger
1st	1300	1000	700	400
2nd	1124	865	605	346
3rd	1021	785	550	314
4th	948	729	510	292
5th	891	685	480	274

Leading the way after three races are Didrik Hermansen with 1,295 points and Azara Garcia with 1,000 points. Transgrancanaria as a Series race commands more points than the Pro races (Vibram HK and Tarawera). Critically, later on in the season Marathon des Sables and UTMB are the only two Series with Bonus races and could prove crucial to who wins the 2017 UTWT.

 

Up and coming races

Marathon des Sables – April 7th-17th

100 Miles of Istria – April 7th-9th

Patagonia Run 2017 – 145k – April 7th-8th

Madeira Island Ultra Trail – April 22^nd

Penyagolosa Trails – April 22^nd

Thames Path 100 – April 29^th – 30th