Anton Krupicka

Transvulcania La Palma Race Report

Transvulcania La Palma – International Skyrunning Federation

May 12th 2012

It was billed as the race of the decade and the 2012 Transvulcania La Palma race did not disappoint.

The International Skyrunning Federation had assembled one of the best mens field ever. It was a who’s who of ultra running; Kilian Jornet, Iker Karrera, Andy Symonds, Geoff Roes, Dakota Jones, Rickey Gates, Sebastien Chaigneau, Mike Wolfe, Francoise D’Haene, Casbeth Nemeth and in the women’s race, Anna Frost, Nikki Kimball, Darcy Africa, Corinne Favre and Nuria Picas.

From the perspective of an ultra running fan and a journalist, this was a race to be involved in. The first race held in 2009 had a main objective, to use the hiking paths that linked the island and fulfill the needs of the ever growing demand for long distance events. Starting at the Faro de Fuencaliente (lighthouse) the course follows the GR131/ GR130 route going up the Ruta des los Volcanes in the Cumber Nature Park making a total distance of 83km and a total elevation of 8525m. It borders the Caldera de Taburiente National Park and goes down to Puerto dee Tazacorte before rising up slightly to the finish in Los Llanos de Aridane.

The race literally climbs some 53km fro sea level reaching the highest point on the course at 2426m and then drops down to sea level with a decent that the runners literally explained as ‘crazy’! The terrain is volcanic with black loose ash that moves under the feet, rutted and rocky terrain and of course the heat.

Leaving the start in pitch black at 0600hrs a stream of white headlamps moved towards the lighthouse, turned left and then headed up single track leaving a glow of flashing red lights in its wake. The early morning temperatures already gave us a sign that a hot day lay ahead.

Kilian Jornet, Dakota Jones, Andy Symonds made the initial running pushing up the trail. In the ladies race Anna Frost headed first up the trail and set a pace that showed she meant business.

The course climbed up from sea level to Las Deseadas and then dropped down to Refugio De El Pilar and then slowly climbed its way up to the high point of the course at Roque De Los Muchachos before a drop of some 20km to Tazacorte and the final kick in the tail to Los Llanos.

Kilian and Dakota forged ahead on the trail followed by Andy Symonds. Behind them Francoise D’Haene, Iker Karrera chased but the two guys up front looked strong.

In the women’s race Anna Frost, ‘Frosty’ as she is affectionately known pushed ahead at a pace that was leaving the other women in her wake but also most of the men. She was pursued by Nuria Picas, Nikki Kimball, Darcy Africa and Corinne Favre.

In the mens race, some pre race favourites were not having a great day, Mike Wolfe said after the race that ‘it just wasn’t happening’ but he did hold on for 14th overall . Geoff Roes said that he ‘felt like he was running in marshmallow’ and Sebastien Chaigneau complained of lower back pain and stomach issues. The latter two dropped from the race at Roque de los Muchachos.

 

Ultimately, Frosty dominated the women’s race and broke the course record by an incredible 1hr 45mins to record a time of 8:11:30. Her run and effort also secured her a place of 13th overall ahead of notable names such as Mike Wolfe, Ian Sharman, Gustavo Reyes and Csaba Nemeth. Second and third went to Nuria Picas in 8:51:59 and Nikki Kimball in 9:10:00 respectively. Nikki was stoked by her run saying that it was the first run in 4 years that she had gone without knee pain. The emotion was clear to see in her eyes.

The mens race eventually became a real nail biter. At the highest point of the race we had a perfect long distance view allowing us to see the runners approach from kilometers away. It was incredible to watch as first Kilian appeared and then Dakota locked head to head, foot strike to foot strike in battle. Snaking up and down the trail they approached us, went through the feed and left but then suddenly Andy Symonds from the UK was in sight closing the gap. At the summit he told us ‘I feel good, lets bring it on’. He left with arms outstretched like a plane and jumped gazelle like on to the tough and technical decent to Tazacorte.

Waiting at the finish for the arrival of the runners it was party time. The whole town was out. It was like a stage finish of the The Tour de France or a section of the London Marathon course.

News came in that Andy Symonds had caught both Kilian and Andy on the decent and gone past them… apparently Kilian had followed and Dakota said after the race that he thought that was it and that ‘well, third will be good’.

But in Tazacorte Kilian was in trouble, maybe struggling from the heat, maybe struggling from dehydration or maybe just not on form after months of skiing. Andy was now in battle with Dakota but as he said immediately after the race ‘I just wasn’t strong enough, Dakota pulled away and I couldn’t keep up’. Dakota crossed the line in 6:59:07 smashing the old course record set in 2011 by Miguel Heras of 7:32:12.

Andy arrived just 90 seconds later in 7:00:34 and Kilian arrived in 7:09:53. As he crossed the line his legs went from underneath him and he lay flat with exhaustion. Medics rushed to his aid and the crowd started to chant “Kilian, Kilian, Kilian” it was quite a moment and one that emphasized the importance of Kilian not only to the running community but to Spain alone. He later re emerged to speak to the crowd and assured them he was okay and thanked them for the support. He is a true ambassador.

Was the Transvulcania La Palma the race of the decade? Well from where I was on the course and at the finish, it sure was! However,  I do think it is a start of a new era in ultra running and I can only hope that what I witnessed on the Island of La Palma will be repeated time and time again. It’s a day and a race `I will never forget. Incredible. But in just a few days time we will be in Zegama… lets see what unfolds in the Pyrenees.

Mens Results

  1. Dakota Jones – Montrail – 6:59:07
  2. Andy Symonds – Salomon – 7:00:34
  3. Kilian Jornet – salomon – 7:09:53
  4. Francoise D’Haene – salomon – 7:23:40
  5. Iker Karrera – Salomon – 7:38:58

Women’s Results

  1. Anna Frost – Salomon – 8:11:30
  2. Nuria Picas – Icebug – 8:51:59
  3. Nikki Kimball – The North Face – 9:10:00
  4. Darcy Africa – Pearl Izumi – 9:17:35
  5. Uxue Azpeitia – 9:21:11

Transvulcania La Palma – Day 2

The day has been a whirlwind of media frenzy… just imagine it, a race that has been on the calendar for several years suddenly is transformed by Skyrunning with an invitation to the worlds best ultra runners. The race is literally a who is who of ultra running and funnily enough, even some runners are out in the Canaries and are not racing; Anton Krupicka being one of them!

This morning, Marcus Warner from Ultra168 and myself went out for an hours run. This was after just literally a few hours sleep and long long days of travelling, meetings, press conferences and photo shoots.

At 0900 we returned back to the hotel to meet up for a group run. As planned, the run assembled… Kilian Jornet, Sebastien Chaigneau, Andy Symonds, Anna Frost and the list goes on. What an opportunity. Run with the best and luckily they had an 80k the next day, so, the pace was manageable. Everybody had a camera, film crews everywhere, cars following us and then you had people like myself sprinting up the road to take photos and then sprinting to catch up.

What impresses me is the media personality that is Kilian. So generous of his time, so media savvy and a great ambassador. He is just coming off the ski season and I guess he may well not be run fit but nobody is discussing that. His talent is without question.

But the other impressive thing is the Salomon machine behind him, Greg Vollet team manager is a consummate professional. Understated, quiet, thoughtful but a great tactician. The support that the other Salomon staff bring is also incredible. It makes the other sponsored runners and teams seem almost like amateurs and I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. Salomon are forging a new direction for the sport and are leading the way. The product development, constant tweaking to equipment and understanding the needs of each runner is inspiring to watch… you see hand grips being adjusted to fit by product development guy, Serge Chapuis. You also see new clothing being distributed to the runners for the race – featherweight windproof jackets that weigh 3oz’s. They get tested on the trail, the runners feedback, it gets tweaked and adjusted and then at some point it hits the shelves.

In comparison I bumped into Anton Krupicka, Geoff Roes, Joe Grant, Mike Wolfe and Dakota Jones in a group outside the press room at 11am. They have all just slept for 12 hours after long travelling days. They are relaxed and casual. On the suggestion of Bryon Powell from iRunFar we hold an impromptu round table with Bryon, Marcus and myself asking questions – you can listen to this here

This group of Americans are the established hierarchy of ultra running and they ‘just want to run’. They are very much free spirits who love each others company, who love running the trail and love running in new places. But they have no backing at the race… they are self sufficient and adapting to new surroundings. They are relaxed and unworried. We press them about the future of running and how it will change. They all acknowledge that change is coming and that the sport is getting bigger. Certainly they can see that Skyrunning are pushing a new frontier… they quite rightly say that although the Transvulcania La Palma is being pushed as the race of the decade, they also say; yep! this is one incredible field but so is Western States this year, then UTMB… however, the Transvulcania has the most stacked field I have seen for some time and the media frenzy reflects this!

A group photo taken at midday posted to Facebook took minutes and minutes to ‘tag’ it had so many ‘names’ in it.

An afternoon of relaxation by the runners was compensated for by the media room being a frantic place of editing, writing, Tweeting and Facebooking. This is the world we live in now. We can get the news and the stories out pretty much immediately, well, almost immediately! The wifi at the hotel is under serious stress and what should take 5 mins can take an hour. It’s frustrating but the patient and determined profit.

I actually managed to edit and put together a last minute podcast to give the listeners and the curious an opportunity to hear what the American contingent had to say pre race. Yes the audio may not be perfect but that isn’t the point… between us, and by us I mean Bryon Powell, Marcus Warner and James Hallett from GoTrail means that we have come together to cover the english speaking segment of the World – Marcus representing Australia, Bryon America, James South Africa and obviously myself for the UK. It’s a great step and one I have loved being involved in.

This collaboration will become even more important for tomorrow, race day! It turns out that it is impossible to cover the whole race as the course is so demanding. Apparently it can take 2-3 hours to reach the high point! Therefore we have split ourselves over the course to bring together our feeds and provide a feed of how the race unfolds.

Finally, in the early evening, Greg Vollet from Salomon assembled his runners and gave them a motivational talk with audio/ video demonstration. From the side lines the American runners looked on with mixed emotions. For them it is just running but I also think they also had some envy of what the Salomon runners received and the attention that they receive. Nikki Kimball certainly wouldn’t mind that level of attention.

I could go on and say how we had a good laugh at how Anton and Geoff took the mickey out of Anna Frost on how heavy her ‘fuel belt’ was… or I could try to explain how Anton gets 10 gels, a space blanket and 500ml bottle in those little shorts that he wears.

Enjoy the race!

 

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

Transvulcania Ultra Marathon Race 2012

Breaking news….. I have been asked to go out to the Canaries in May in what is going to be a ‘dream’ 10 days. I will be reporting on the Transvulcania Ultra Marathon and then flying to Spain to report on Zegama.

As an introduction, here is the official press release which has been released today, March 20th

THE RACE OF THE CENTURY

Ultra running legends announced. Transvulcania rolls out the red carpet

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

Never in the history of endurance sport has such a number of world-class runners gathered together at a single event. After weeks of anticipation, the International Skyrunning Federation announces the final line-up of the Transvulcania Ultra Marathon, valid for the Skyrunner® World Series ranking and first of the five Ultra Series races.

The star-studded entry list reads as follows: the three winners of the 2011 TNF Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®, Spaniards Kilian Jornet, Iker Karrera and Frenchman Sebastien Chaigneau; Americans Mike Wolfe, 2011 TNF Endurance Challenge 50M Championship and 2nd Western States 100; Geoff Roes, 2010 Western States 100 and 2011 Ultra Race of Champions; Anton Krupicka, 2nd 2010 Western States 100; Dakota Jones, 2nd 2011 Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run and 2nd 2011 TNF Endurance Challenge 50M Championship; Rickey Gates, 2011 Canadian Death Race; France’s Erik Clavery, IAU Trail World Champion; Britain’s Andy Symonds, La Course de Templiers 2011.

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

The glittering women’s field counts 2011 TNF Endurance Challenge 50M Championship winner, Anna Frost from New Zealand; IAU Trail World Champion Maud Gobert 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.

With such strong competition, the 7h32’13” race record set last year by Spaniard Miguel Heras could take a beating. The question is, by whom?

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

The 500 runners 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.

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. Given the VIP entry list, it could be nothing less than the race of the century.

Follow news and updates on http://www.skyrunning.com and on Facebook and Twitter. Race website http://www.transvulcania.com

ULTRA SKYMARATHON®SERIES

*SPAIN:TRANSVULCANIA ULTRA MARATHON, LA PALMA – MAY 12
USA: Speedgoat 50K, Snowbird, Utah – July 28
ITALY: Trofeo Kima UltraSkyMarathon®, Valmasino, Sondrio – August 26
SPAIN: Cavalls del Vent, Cadi-Moixeró Natural Park, Pyrenees – September 29
FRANCE: La Course des Templiers, Millau, Grands Causses – October 28

Ultra SkyMarathon®Series champion titles are awarded to competitors with the highest points based on the sum of the three best results.
Ranking points in the final races will be increased by 20%.
Ranking points breakdown: 100-88-78-72-68-66-64-62-60-58-56-54-52-50-48-46-44-42-40.