With the exception of ultra marathons with early starts/late finishes, I’d never really done any night racing so I was looking forward to this evening trail race on the snow trails of the southern French Alps. I had some eye surgery at the beginning of the year which meant I had to take it easy on physical exercise for a…
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Category: Race Reports
Race Report: Trail Gapen’cimes 2015 – 55km
I almost didn’t get to run this race. As you may or may not know, the French insist on seeing a signed medical certificate from your doctor before allowing you to race. Every year I go to my GP, she checks my pulse and blood pressure and then signs my note. It lasts for a year and I can supply…
Race Report: Trail de la Traversée des Aiguilles
The skyline above my village is recognisable by the distinctive shape of the Col des Aiguilles, the pass that connects the La Jarjatte valley with the Dévoluy range of mountains. It’s this col that gives the name to last Sunday’s race so this race felt pretty local to me. Unfortunately, despite just being a few KMs as the crow flies,…
Race Report: Trail des Balcons de Châteauvieux
When: Sunday, 17th August 2015Where: Châteauvieux, Haute-Alpes (05), France Another Challenge Trails 05 race – this time south of Gap in the hills around the lovely village of Châteauvieux. I didn’t see many old castles, but then I was too busy running up and down steep hills to pay much attention. There’s a writeup from the race organisers (in…
Race Report: Trail des Passerelles du Monteynard 2015
South of Grenoble lies Lac de Monteynard-Avignonet, a huge artificial lake created in 1961 after EDF dammed the Drac river to create a hydro-electric power station. Long and narrow, and bordered on all sides by mountains, it’s great leisure destination and popular for kite and windsurfing. In 2007, two Himalayan-style suspension bridges, or passerelles, were constructed to give an awe-inspiring, if vertiginous…
Race Report: Trail EDF Rousset
Where: Lac de Serre-Ponçon, Haute-Alpes (05), France When: Sunday 7th June 2015 It was a wonder I ever made it to the start line of the Trail EDF Rousset, since I’d managed to add it to my training calendar for the wrong week, expecting it to be the following weekend. Luckily my wife noticed and reminded me which is a…
Race Report: 2nd Trail des Cimes du Buëch
Where: La Faurie, Haute-Alpes (05), France When: Sunday 24th May 2015 The Trail des Cimes du Buech is a short trail race now into it’s second year. I ran the first event last year and was pleased to place 6th, but lining up on the start line this year I realised that word had got round, and some serious competition had…
Race Report: Marlborough Downs Challenge
Where: Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK When: Sunday 10th April, 2015 We’re on holiday in the UK at the moment, down in Oxfordshire so I looked around for a race nearby and found one – the 33 mile Marlborough Downs Challenge. The Race The Marlborough Downs Challenge started in 2003, and comprises of a 33 mile ‘ultra’ route and a shorter 20 miler course…
Race Report: La Bombarde 2015 – 10km
I only run one flat, competitive 10km race per year, and it’s this one – La Bombarde. Organised by Club Athlétique Veynois, where they have a whole weekend of racing starting on Saturday with a straight up vertical race of Montée d’Oule, and culminating with the 10km on Sunday. This year was the 9th edition and saw 193 runners compete in an event which was…
Race Report: Trail des Contreforts de Piolit, Haute-Alpes, France
After my first race a couple of weeks ago in snow and fog, I was looking forward to a drier and brighter run in the southern Alps, and last Sunday’s Trail des Contreforts de Piolit didn’t disappoint. The race was 17km of pretty much straight up then straight down racing along the foothills (the contreforts) of Le Piolit in the Haute-Alpes of southern…