Anna Frost

Transvulcania Press Release

TRANSVULCANIA. ANTICIPATION RUNNING SKY-HIGH
– two days to the race of the century

Transvulcania Ultra Marathon, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain – May 12, 2012

La Palma, May 10, 2012
The Transvulcania Ultra Marathon nears and months of anticipation will come to an end on May 12 on the Spanish island of La Palma where the world’s ultra running legends will gather for what looks like being the race of thecentury.

Anticipation and speculation, because never before has such a deep élite field lined up at an ultra. On race day, follow the race live on our Facebook page!

The entry list reads like a who’s who of ultra running, with top European and American legends among the favourites. Hotly tipped are Spain’s Iker Karera, (last year’s winner with Miguel Heras) and superstar Kilian Jornet, straight out of a winning ski-mountaineering season and looking stronger than ever. Britain’s Andy Symonds is looking good for the podium and so is Frenchman Sebastien Chaigneau, after winning the Transgrancaria earlier this year.

The strong American contingent is headed by Mike Wolfe, Goeff Roes and Dakota Jones. British “ex pats” living in the US are Joe Grant and Ian Sharman, each offering different qualities: Grant with a mountain background and Sharman blessed with speed….Anton Krupicka’s insistent shin problem and Rickey Gates’ hamstring injury will probably mean they won’t be in racing shape.

The women’s outright favourite is New Zealand’s Anna “Frosty” Frost, who has been on the island training for weeks and is in good shape. Look out too for IAU Trail World Champion Maud Gobert and Corinne Favre, past Skyrunning World Champion, both from France; Americans Darcy Africa, 2011 Hard-Rock 100; Nikki Kimball, 3rd 2011Western States 100 and 2007 TNF Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®; Kasia Zajac from Poland, Zugspitz Super Trail 2011. Spain’s Monica Aguilera last year’s winner, will be competing again in this super strong women’s field. Her time last year: 10h0’. The men’s time to beat 7h32’ by Miguel Heras.

The mammoth line-up continues with top French runners: François D’Haëne, Thomas Lorblanchet, Yann Curien.; Csaba Németh, Hungary; Florent Troillet, Switzerland; Gustavo Reyes, Argentina; Giuliano Cavallo, Italy; Philipp Reiter, Germany.

The strong international team participation includes major industry players:
Adidas, Arc’teryx, Asics, Montrail, New Balance, Pearl Izumi, Platinum Sigvaris, Salomon, The North Face.

The 500 runners from 22 nations face a daunting 8,525m ascent and descent over the 83 km course which starts at sea level on the Atlantic coast and travels along the island’s backbone to the summit of the volcano at 2,423m before descending back to the sea and finishing in the town of Los Llanos where the streets will be lined with the applause of thousands of spectators.

From sea to sky, the Transvulcania Ultra Marathon perfectly embodies the skyrunning philosophy and unquestionably represents one of the most spectacular of the 20 races on the 2012 Skyrunner® World Series.

Follow the race live on our Facebook page on Saturday! See http://www.skyrunning.com and Twitterr for race report. Race website http://www.transvulcania.com

Transvulcania is here!

I have been waiting for this trip to come around… when I was asked to go to the Canaries and report on this race, little did I know at the early stages that this race would be so ‘stacked’. It is easier to say who won’t be at the race!

The course is a brute. It has some 8500m of climbing and ascent over 83km’s on trail and tracks within a volcanic setting. Based on La Palma the race will pretty much take over the whole island.

So who will be toeing the line?

The ultra king and I guess pre race favourite Kilian Jornet heads up the elite field but don’t get me wrong. Nothing will be guaranteed in this race. Previous UTMB winners Iker Karrera and Seb Chaigneau will be next to the Spaniard. From America we have a who’s who of ultra running with Mike Wolfe, Geoff Roes, Anton Krupicka, Dakota Jones and Ricky Gates. From the UK we have Andy Symonds. All these guys excel in the mountains and in addition to this premier list we have the female contingent that includes Anna Frost, Darcy Africa, Kasia Zajac, Nikki Kimball and Maud Gobert.

It really is a stellar field and it is set up to be ‘the race of the year’!

Last years winner, Miguel Heras, set a stunning course record in a shade over 7.5 hours, his time was 7:32:13. With this line up pushing each other, will the CR go?

In addition to the elite field some 500 other runners will line up against the best of the best to do battle over a course that will test each runners legs to the limit. Starting at sea level the high point of the race is 2423m at the Islands Volcano. Covering a total ascent and decent of 8500m the race will finish at sea level in the town of Los Llanos.

This will be a race to watch and follow.

Follow on http://www.skyrunning.com and check out the race website at http://www.transvulcania.com. The Twitter feed may also be a great source of information, go here

Zegama – Skyrunning

A star-studded world class entry list is announced by the Zegama-Aizkorri Maratòn, one of the most popular skyrunning events – valid for the Skyrunner® World Series champion title. 

 The line-up stars last year’s winners, Kilian Jornet and 2011 Skyrunning World Champion, Oihana Kortazar, both from Spain; Britain’s Tom Owens, just 30” behind Jornet last year;  and, at his first SkyMarathon attempt, America’s Max King, 2011 World Mountain Running Champion.

 Americans getting their first taste of the SkyMarathon and European style racing will also include: Rickey Gates, Mount Washington Road Race 2011; and ultra distance specialists, Nick Clark, Joe Grant,  Dakota Jones, Anton Krupicka and Mike Wolfe.  Two Briton’s living in the US, Nick Clark and Ian Sharman, will give the shorter, more technical Zegama race a crack.

The extraordinary line-up continues with top French runners:  Michel Rabat among the favourites, Thierry Breuil, Sebastien Chaigneau, Erik Clavery, François  d’Haene, Michel Lannes, Thomas Lorblanchet; also Csaba Németh, Hungary; Florent Troillet, Switzerland; Gustavo Reyes, Argentina.  Look out for new entry, Greek Dimitris Theodorakakos, who willtest his skills in this exceptionally strong field.

Many of the international runners heading for Zegama in Spain’s Basque Country will have competed in the Transvulcania Ultra Marathon just one week before – a short recovery time for most, but an irresistible challenge to race the 42 km course with a gruelling 5,472m vertical ascent and descent…

Favourites in the women’s field are led by last year’s winner, Oihana Kortazar, running on home ground, followed by fellow countrywoman, Mireia Mirò.  “Fresh” from the Transvulcania Ultra Marathon, New Zealand’s Anna Frost, American long distance specialist Nikki Kimball and Maud Gobert fromFrance will compete.  Also from France, Corinne Favre, past Skyrunning World Champion; Russian Zhanna Vokueva and Sweden’s Emelie Forsberg complete the élite women’s line-up.

This incredible field world class runners look set to deliver plenty of action and perhaps take a shot at the long standing records:  3h54’18“ by Briton, Rob Jebb (2005) and 4h38’19“ by Italian, Emanuela Brizio (2009).

 

Major industry players are represented with strong international teams including:

Adidas, Arc’teryx, Asics, Innov8, Montrail, New Balance, Pearl Izumi, Salomon, The North Face.

One of the key factors that have world-class runners coming back year after year to Zegama is the enthusiastic participation of 8,000 spectators along the course, cheering every single runner every single step along the way.

Follow news and updates on www.skyrunning.com and on Facebook and Twitter.  Race website: www.zegama-aizkorri.net

Time doesn’t stand still…

Well, the launch of Talk Ultra happened on Friday 27th Jan and one week later we have had over 5500 downloads.

Needless to say, both Ian and myself are completely blown away with the response.

This though is just the start. It has taken me months of work to get the show released, but now it is released we have to go through the process every two weeks.

Episode 1 had a few editing issues that I was aware of but we didnt have the software to solve them! Or should I say the combination of knowledge and software… To this end I spent 20 hours yesterday going through some new software and bringing my knowledge base to the correct level. My editing now has gone a little slower as it takes a while to get used to the shortcuts and to edit intuitively. The good news is though we have some significant sound improvements over episode 1.

Don’t get me wrong. Episode 1 was very satisfying but those little errors do irritate. I want the production levels to be the best!

This week we have topped the iTunes charts for sports and recreation podcasts and have had a top 10 placing in ALL podcast. Impressive and very satisfying.

Moving forward we have some great interviews coming up. Last night I interviewed David Horton, 1am for me – 8pm for him. Podcasting brings a whole new level of ‘endurance’ to ultra. Not only do I need to run long, I also seem to sleep less. C’est la vie… David Horton is a legend and his interview will be in episode 4.

In episode 2 we have the creator of Western States 100 miler, Gordy Ainsleigh. Gordy is a real character and has some great stories to tell. Boy can he talk….. 😉

Episode 3 will have New Zealand runner Anna Frost. Anna had a fantastic season in 2011 and over the winter months has been doing some really impressive challenges. Sponsored by Salomon, she is part of one of the top ultra teams. They have a very impressive line up in Sandes, Jornet and Heras amongst others.

Importantly, all our shows have Speedgoat Karl Meltzer doing a ‘Meltzer Moment’. Karl has won 31 100 mile races in his career and he is still at the top of his game. We have given Karl a free reign and in each show he will talk about the Good, Bad & Ugly of the ultra world.

Eventually, I will get to write up about some of my recent racing and training.

Look forward lot your feedback on Talk Ultra.

Keep running….. ian