A GREAT DAY FOR LUIS ALBERTO HERNANDO & ADIDAS
The top three men from last year are the top three this year just in a different order!
It was a thrilling race to watch as Luis Alberto Hernando and Kilian Jornet battled it out for the win with Luis Alberto edging out Kilian to finally close out a long tough day by a 6 minute margin finishing in 6:55:41 and 7:01:34 respectively. Sage Canaday worked hard all day, thinking of quitting at Roque de Los Muchachos, but knowing hanging on would give him another podium finish, and at that point in the race he had an 8 minute lead over fourth placed Tofol Castanyer, so tough it out he did to finish in 7:11:39.
At Roque de Los Muchachos, which is about 57km in to race, I had the top five men as follows:
- Luis Alberto Hernando & Kilian Jornet 5hr 02mins – Running and walking together keeping a steady pace throughout. Kilian checking behind and looking like Luis was the pacesetter.
- Sage Canaday 5hr 08mins – Working hard up the climb.
- Tofol Castanyer 5hr 16mins – Steady and solid climbing.
- Tom Owens 5hr 17mins – Looking very strong.
From Roque de Los Muchachos there is a 20km or so drop down along a ridge to Puerto de Tazacorte before a final climb and a 1km drag through the streets of Los Llanos and a fanfare finish.
The top four men stayed the same from Roque de Los Muchachos. Tom Owens had a super strong run but suffered from some cramping that made him drop from 5th to 6th. Sage Canaday’s lead over fourth extended to 12 mins over Tofol.
Results – Men
Luis Alberto Hernando 6:55:41
Kilian Jornet 7:01:34
Sage Canaday 7:11:39
Tofol Castanyer 7:23:56
Stefan Hugenschmidt 7:27:10
A STONKING WIN & COURSE RECORD BY ANNA FROST
The women’s race was just as exciting with Salomon athlete Anna Frost returning to top form to take out the win in a super fast time of 8:10:41 over second placed Maite Mayura Elizonda in 8:20:29. Anna sure loves this island, the people and this course!
Third place for the second year running was Uxue Fraile who must have had a tough last 21km as she dropped 5 minutes over second place from Roque de Los Muchachos or was because the first two were really flying!
At Roque de Los Muchachos Frost was strong and climbing well doing very little walking. She had 6 minutes on Elizonda who had a 23 minute lead on Fraile. That was to become 10 minutes and 28 minutes respectively.
Unfortunately Emelie Forsberg had to drop very early due to a severe hand injury from a fall at the start in Fuencaliente. I am sure it would have been a great race between the two F’s – Forsberg and Frost – and it would have been very exciting to see them both dice it out. Emelie’s time of 8:13:22 from when she won here last year would not have been fast enough so she would have had to be in really strong form to fight for the win. I am not sure that that would have happened by the look of how strong Frost was today.
Frost’s course record from 2012 of 8:11:30 was bettered by just under one minute on a course that has had a slight change adding about two minutes so maybe a comparable time of 8:08:41 is reasonable. That just shows that Anna is back on top form and fully recovered from her health issues of 2013 and looking to challenge for top honour’s this year. Can’t wait to see how she performs for the rest of 2014!
All images copyright : Ian Campbell – Photography
RACE PREVIEW
Transvulcania The dates for your diary are May 8, Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer®, and May 10, Transvulcania Ultramarathon.
Race Details
The Ultramarathon presents a daunting 8,525m ascent and descent over the 83 km course, which starts at sea level on the Atlantic coast and travels along the island’s backbone to the summit of the volcano at 2,423m before descending again to the sea and finishing in the town of Los Llanos. The records to beat are: 6h54’09” Kilian Jornet (2013) and 8h11’31” Anna Frost (2012).
Men’s Field | |
Kilian Jornet | Salomon |
Dakota Jones | Montrail |
Sage Canaday | Hoka One One |
Tim Olson | The North Face |
Luis Alberto Hernando | Adidas |
Tofol Castanyer | Salomon |
Jordi Bes | FEEC |
Xavier Thevenard | The North Face |
Patrick Bringer | Sigvaris Sports |
Martin Gafurri | New Balance |
Sylvain Couchaud | Mizuno |
Philip Reiter | Salomon |
Florian Neuschwander | |
Tom Owens | Salomon |
Ricky Lightfoot | Salomon |
Stuart Air | Scott Sports |
Robbie Britton | INOV8 |
Giuliano Cavallo | Salomon |
Fulvio Dapit | Crazy Idea |
Dyland Bowman | Pearl Izumi |
Jason Schlarb | Altura |
David Laney | Nike Trail Team |
Ryan Ghelfi | Nike Trail Team |
Ty Draney | Patagonia |
Luke Nelson | Patagonia |
Women’s Field | |
Emelie Forsberg | Salomon |
Anna Frost | Salomon |
Nuria Picas | Buff |
Emma Roca | Buff |
Uxue Fraile | Vibram |
Silvia Serafini | Salamon |
Federica Boifava | Alpstation Trail Team |
Alessandra Carlini | |
Aurelia Truel | |
Maud Gobert | |
Krissy Moehl | Patagonia |
Jodee Adams Moore | Scott Sports |
Cassie Scallon | Salomon |
Hiroko Suzuki | Salomon |
The Vertical Kilometer® ascends the steep cliff face from the sea front at Tazacorte for 6.6 km single track with a 40% incline before settling into a “flatter” final section to finish at 1,160m altitude. The overall incline averages 30%.
Men’s Field | Women’s Field |
Urban Zemmer | Laura Orgue |
Marco Facchinelli | Emelie Forsberg |
Marco Moletto | Anna Frost |
Nejc Kuhar | Silvia Serafini |
Nadir Mague | Antonella Confortola |
Bernard Dematteis | Elisa Desco |
Martin Dematteis | |
Oscar Casal | |
Marc Casal | |
Agusti Roc | |
Kilian Jornet |