Cavalls in the words of the protagonists
Amigos Kilian and Tony
This weekend’s big European ultra in the Spanish Pyrenees was one of joy and pain. Joy for those lucky enough to make it round (only 200 did so), and perhaps win some prizes, and then the pain and sadness that befalls an event when a runner passes away…
All of these things, and more, happened at Cavalls del Vent this weekend and the sadness that seemed to shroud all after learning of the death of a female competitor from hypothermia, was also a prompt for unity and sharing of grief by the tight mountain and trail running community, as the scheduled prize giving was replaced with a respectful minutes silence.
Time is a great healer and no doubt questions will be posed as to what lessons can be learned, if any. But now is not that time, it’s a time for reflection and a showing of respect to the family and loved ones of that runner who has fallen.
Of course, in time, the event will also be remembered for some of the fiercest racing that we have seen in a Skyrace in 2012 – in both the men’s and women’s events. For the record the men’s 1.2.3 was Kilian Jornet, Anton Krupicka and Dakota Jones, with Kilian and Anton going inside the course record in horrendous conditions.
On the ladies’ side the race was classic, with first Emelie Forsberg, Frosty and Nuria Picas exchanging the lead. The win went to Picas, with Frost second and Forsberg third and all within 6 minutes of each other. It was nothing short of a phenomenal race, especially when we also consider that all three finished inside the top 10 overall!
A report from the ISF is here.
Nuria Picas (centre) atop the women's podium
The coverage from a Twitterati and Facebook standpoint was nothing short of awesome. Ian Corless was seemingly everywhere with his camera and online posts, you could have been there.
And then, the phenomena of the blog kicked in as the the athletes involved at the sharp-end got cleaned up, fed and online. From a ‘how the race unfolded’ perspective my vote goes to this superb report by Tony Krupicka. The writing is crisp, full of clarity and descriptive to the minor detail of gel consumption and major detail of inner feelings as he pounded up and down the climbs of this 84km Spanish beast.
Then there is the lively and highly engaging scribe of fellow top 3er Dakota Jones. I never fail to raise a smile or chuckle when Dakota gets on the qwerty, and his thoughts on CdV pay homage to the event, the organisers and his quite obvious love for mountains and European mountain races.
And finally, this poignant post from Frosty – says its all.
Respect to all out there this weekend…
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simon Oct 2, 01:23 PM
In 4th place, 21 year old Manuel Merillas. Remember the name. Those who have seen him training in the mountains north of Leon will know what I’m talking about…