Grossglockner Ultra Trail – Conquering the Austrian Alps in our first trail relay

Grossglockner Ultra Trail is a race that goes around Austria’s highest peak, Grossglockner (3798m), through the National Park Hohe Tauern. And it’s one of the few trail events that have a long distance team relay race. Of course that’s what Andrei and I went for. 

It’s a relatively “young” race, the 2019 edition being the 5th one so far.

We signed up for the 110k race, the longest one, but split in two: Andrei would do the first leg, 60k with 4500m elevation, while I’d do the second, 50k with about 2000m elevation. The 50k segment was exactly the route of the official Kalser Tauern Trail race of the event. 

Citește mai mult

Transylvania 50k: preparing my first ultra

With only one month left before the start of Transylvania 100k event I thought about sharing some things about how I’m preparing the 50k race, which I consider to be my first ultramarathon.

Technically, everything longer than a marathon falls into the ultra definition. However, the mad people in the trail running world who run long distances say that nothing under 60k counts as an ultra. I won’t go for the extremes, so let’s say 50k is somewhere in between.

Citește mai mult

Marathon 3200 – Cracking Romania’s toughest mountain marathon

What is it that makes your heart beat fast, your mind wander and your feet dance nervously?

What is it that brings hundreds of runners each year at the start of Marathon 7500, for the last 10 years?

It’s probably a mix between the beauty of Bucegi mountains, the difficulty of the team races, and the people that write the story. And especially about that one person that you team up with.

Citește mai mult

Transylvania 20k – See you next time, Dracula

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans”

 

That’s how I feel now looking back at my plans before Transylvania 100k, a beautiful race in Bucegi Mountains, Romania, where I really was looking forward to run my first 50k. The competition has different distances, from 20k up to 100k, and I had been thinking for a long time to do the first longer than marathon distance. Citește mai mult