What a week! We set off last Thursday afternoon on our flight to Girona, Spain. We had heard reports of snowless hills but were unconcerned. For me I hoped it meant the race was over-with quicker than in snow. Niall and Finn were set for the 11k along with Barry, who we were staying with. Kevin, Bronagh, Tara, Karen, Grainne and Greg were entered for the 23k and myself and Tony for the 51k. The first couple of days were spent relaxing in Perpigan and registering with the organisers.
It was an early start on race day, getting up at 5 and heading for the hills in Barry's van. There was the usual chaos at the start which was handily located in a gymnasium. Although we were due to head off at 8am there was a half hour delay for speeches etc., which caused much irritation as the nerves took over!
Then we were finally off! The 3 distances started together from a track and stayed on an icy trail together for a few kilometres. By the time we separated the sun was out and I was feeling quite warm already. The course took us off on some open mountain trails for a while till we regrouped again at the top of a cable-car section. this was the first really severed downhill and lasted about a kilometre. I was finding the ice very tricky and parts of it were starting to melt which meant mud as well as ice under foot. This wasn't my favourite section and it meant I was very slow descending. As soon as it levelled out onto trail I felt better but as soon as I picked up some speed I tripped on a root of a tree and badly hurt my hand. The French were so encouraging, every time I fell someone would ask if you were ok. They would offer a hand going across icy/ muddy sections. I think at one stage Karen got offered a hat to keep her warm, which turned out to be her own!
Luckily enough my hand wasn't too sore and I continued on to what was more and more icy sections and unfortunately rocky steep sections which had to be scaled with your hands and feet. I was finding this difficult (constantly in fear of falling) with the big lump on my hand and at one stage wanted to just give up! There was even a roped section we had to swing down! At this stage I was in 4th position of the women.
By the time I hit the 30k mark I felt better though. I decided it was time to start fighting back and lucky for me after one more tough climb there was lots of running could be done. There was lovely foresty zig-zagging sections which allowed for much greater speed and my spirits were really lifted to be finally moving quickly through the kilometres. We eventually got onto the Nordic ski tracks and although they were completely iced over I felt much happier to be climbing upwards with small steps. A few more kilometres of this and I was catching lots of people, many of whom were walking at this stage. Moving quickly through muddy forest trails and with about 5k to go I reached the woman in second position, Corinne. She appeared to be limping badly and struggling. We exchanged some words and she said she was ok. The last couple of kilometres included running up a ski slope, which last year I had to walk up at the end of 32k, but this year I was flying! I couldn't believe how quickly then that the finish arrived. I crossed the line in 6 hours 40 minutes, about 20 minutes behind the first woman. I really enjoyed the last 20k!
I was eager to find out how the others had done, and how they had coped with the conditions. Bronagh had been badly bruised and Kevin had gone off course! The results were pretty spectacular. Finn had won the 11k. Niall was 3rd. Not sure of Barry's position. Bronagh and Karen were 2nd and 3rd in the 23k with Tara not far behind. Grainne and Greg had good runs also in the 23k. I'm sure Kevin was very disappointed, it's so frustrating going wrong, and especially if you've travelled a long was for a race it's a real shame not to finish. Tony finished strongly in 8 hours, finding like me the treacherous ice and rocks difficult but the finish runnable.
When I analysed my splits it confirmed that I had been moving much more quickly in the last couple of hours. After about 4 hours I was in 64th postion. The split that they call the 'retour' had me at the 12th fastest for that section. I finished in 42nd overall.
The next couple of days were spent skiing, which I was really unsteady at! I was petrified of falling but I suppose that was from all the falling during the race. Grace and Hannah also got to ski the day of the race which was thanks to Barry for looking after them. So they got three full days skiing overall and were experts by the end of it! The Clonliffe ladies ski team were ably assisted by Irish instructor Niall!
We stayed with Barry and Sharon for the week again this year in Villefranche de Conflent. We couldn't have been looked after better. Barry drove us around everywhere and saw to everything. Even at night time he was ferrying us around when he could have been at home with his family. We couldn't thank him enough for everything. Their home is so stunningly beautiful it's a real privilege to stay there. It looks like something from a fairytale!
I've put up photos
here.
