My friend Andy who was organising the medical support for this 230km ultratrail in southern Spain managed to persuade me to enter the event back in December last year. Little did I know at the time that my competition would include 10 times winner of the Marathon des Sables and 2:16 marathon runner Lahcen Ahansal from Morocco (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahcen_Ahansal).
The furthest I have ever run in a single event before is the 65 miles involved in the Scottish Islands Peaks race, so 230km was a big step up to say the least. Add to that 35-43 degree heat and I was assured to be in for a new experience - at least I was used to the hills!
The event is organised by Englishman Paul Bateson who emigrated to Spain about 15 years ago. This was only the event's second year, but already it is gathering momentum and organisational finesse. It is held in the Pionente Granadino region of Andalucia, between the cities of Granada and Malaga (http://www.alandalus-ut.com/).
Each stage takes you from one Andalucian village to another with your kit carried between. There are water stations every 10k or so but you have to carry your own nutritional supplies for the day. The stages varied in length from 34km to 61km and the routes were very undulating, taking us over high mountain paths and through breathtakingly beautiful valleys. Each course is marked fully so navigational skills ought not to be needed.
I demonstrated my relative ignorance of this type of racing at the beginning of day 1 by trying to see if I could break Lachen in the first 10k, which climbed 1000m out of the start village of Loja. The wily Moroccan stuck close to me and promptly left me behind in the ensuing 27k of descent/flat running. We had arrived at the summit 16 minutes clear of the chasing pack in 1 hour 4 minutes.
I had learnt my lesson and in the following stages settled into a much more sensible pace at the beginning, judging my reserves and pushing on towards the end when able.
The 61km stage 4 was the longest and hardest single run of my life, held in baking heat and soaring humidity. Some competitors lost 6 kilograms (i.e. 6 litres of fluid during the day).
A little mishap with the route marking on the final stage saw myself and Lahcen run about 3km in the wrong direction, forcing me to work extra hard to try and secure my second place in the overall standings ahead of Widy Grego from Guadeloupe.
I ran the race in Inov-8 F-lite 301s. I can see myself doing more ultramarathons in the future. A fine way to see a beautiful part of Spain. Full results and reports are available on the race's website http://www.alandalus-ut.com/.
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