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, it was nearly an hour as the Volvo drives, such are the vagaries of Alpine roads. Still, being able to leave the house at 7.30am felt like a lie in compared to some other races I’ve had to get up at an ungodly hour for.

At only 16km, the Trail de la Traversée des Aiguilles was the shortest in the Challenge Trails 05 series, but with almost 1,000m of vertical it wasn’t going to be easy. Despite autumn being underway in the Alps, it was a beautiful weekend and Sunday morning was perfect for racing, with cool temperatures (that soon warmed up when the sun came out) and dry conditions.

A sea of cloud in the valley below in Dévoluy, taken from the Col du Festre, warming up before the start of the race
A sea of cloud in the valley below in Dévoluy, taken from the Col du Festre, warming up before the start of the race

 

The bib number collection was inside a small cafe on the Col du Festre, which was pretty crowded but had the added advantage that they served a great espresso. Pretty soon we were ready to start, and all 120 runners were off.

I’d had a couple of days off during the week while I recovered from a cold, and during my first run back on Friday I felt knackered and really struggled on the hills, so took it easy on Saturday. I had the illusion of feeling fresh, but pretty soon had to dial it back in.

The route climbed first to the Cabin de Rama, a refuge I had passed before on a training run so the early trails were familiar. Soon however, we headed up to the Col des Aiguilles where after some great running in the lower, flatter sections, it soon got very steep.

The flatter sections heading towards the col - the running here was fast and fun
The flatter sections heading towards the col – the running here was fast and fun

 

With the Col in site, the race leaders were starting to descend back down into the valley towards the rest of us. Despite running flat out on technical ground, most of them were full of encouragement to those of us slogging up the steep slope with cries of “Allez-allez!” and the odd “bravo!” chucked in for good measure.

The cairn marking the top of the Col, and the border between the Drome and Haute-Alpes departements. When I got to the top, I could see my house down the other side, just 4km away, but still had 9km to run to complete the race.
The cairn marking the top of the Col, and the border between the Drome and Haute-Alpes departements. When I got to the top, I could see my house down the other side, just 4km away, but still had 9km to run to complete the race.

 

At the top of the Col, a marshall marked out race number to prove we’d made it – a quick glug of water from the drinks table (fair play to the marshalls for dragging water up to the top – even a 4×4 couldn’t get up there) and it was time to descend.

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This was probably when I should have put my iPhone away and not worried about trying to get some pictures. It doesn’t look too steep in the picture above but behind the guy in blue climbing upwards, it drops away quite steeply (which is why you can’t see the lines of other runnres). I overcooked it a little bit and had to stop myself running away out of control.

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After the Col there was another steep climb but some nice traverses in between. Back at the Cabine du Rama we retraced our steps a little bit, and I got lost at one point, leaving the trail after I missed a marker, and it was only when I saw another runner up above that I realised I’d gone wrong. I climbed up the side of the hill to rejoin the trail, managing to fall flat on my face in the process and defiitely lost one, maybe two places that I wasn’t able to make up.

A couple of KMs before the end, the race routed into and through a barn which was full of lambs
A couple of KMs before the end, the race routed into and through a barn which was full of lambs

 

Anyhow, I got myself back to the finish in just under 2 hours – 31st place.

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