Sky's the limit for Rob and Ricky
Rob digs in on Aizkorri
Rob Hope is good with a pen, well a virtual pen anyway. He is also a pretty decent mountain runner. The 2008 British Fell Champion is well on his way to once again retaining his title this year, and to keep himself sharp he is also mixing it with the world’s best in Europe this summer…
In a fantastic post-Sky race blog, Rob describes what it’s like on these Euroexcursions to raid the prizes and bring them back to the UK. As you’ll see its not all running!
It’s amazing that two days coaching can turn a SAAB Salomon Outdoor Team young pretender into a world beater – well that’s what I’m claiming!
Ricky and I decided to take up the challenge of the 1st European leg of the World Skyrunning Series in Zegama, Euskadi, north west Spain, which Rob Jebb advised me was a “proper man’s race”.
We arrived in the small village and were instantly greeted with a warm welcome from members of the organising committee, which was surprising as we’d kept then waiting for hours whilst trying to find the place. Anyway, they took us to our accommodation, which was a great little hotel directly below the start/finish area adjacent to the village square.
The Brits arrive
After a couple of short reccy runs on the course over the next couple of days we found ourselves with some spare time and realised that San Sebastian was only 45 minutes drive north of where we were staying, so we headed there for some relaxation and essential pre-race activities including ice cream eating, parkour and surfing in that order.
That shop name is an Omen for Ricky!
Back at the hotel for a big feed on the eve of the race the tension was obviously too much for Ricky as he sheepishly retreated back upstairs to redecorate the bathroom with mixed salad and spaghetti (I think the vinegarette was too much for his sensitive stomach). He then had to spend the remainder of the evening scoffing ZipVit bars to try to take some energy on board.
Ricky just can't stop climbing...
We awoke on race day to cloudy skies and misty hills but the village was already alive with colour, large crowds and Europop! The 26 miles race with 5500m+ of ascending and descending was underway at 9am and we quickly climbed up into the local forests along muddy paths and tracks. After about 8km we encountered our first major drinks station, a massive crowd and thunderous applause. We both progressed well along the course and headed up the major climb to the summit of Aizkorri.
Towards the summit we burst through cloud onto sun drenched limestone crags and more Tour de France style crowds. At this point Ricky and I were in a group of four just 2 minutes adrift of the leading three.
It was lucky 13 for Ricky
The upper sections of the course included some very technical limestone rocky sections which are fairly uncommon in most European mountain running races other than the sky running events. The rocks were also incredibly slippery after earlier rainfall. We both wore Salomon Speedcross 2 running shoes, which on a mixed terrain of this nature and over the long distance performed admirably with a good balance of cushioning and traction and were suitably lightweight.
As we approached 3 hours I started to tire but Ricky had a surge of energy and gradually pulled through the field over the next 10km or so to catch the leaders on the final descent to the finish. Given the gap the leaders held early on it was a fantastic victory and I was reasonably satisfied with 7th place over a distance I don’t typically revel in.
Following the race I seemed to spend most of my time being Ricky’s public relations officer/agent with all the requests for TV interviews and autograph hunters coming thick and fast and I think Ricky particularly enjoyed photos with the little old ladies. One of my main duties was translating Ricky’s Cumbrian dialect into English prior to me conversing with the locals in finest ‘Spanglish’ so that they could understand what he was trying to say.
After the extravagant presentation ceremony typical of many European races it was time to hit the town with many of the other runners, locals and organising committee, and later some ‘warm down’ dancing to more classic Europop (the continent really does need to sort this out). All in all it was a great trip and wholly recommended.
