Javier Castillo and Aydee Soto, Winners of the Most Epic TMCdC
Press Release / 16.06.2015
May 15th. The Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls 2015 got underway this morning with the start of the north coast races.
Scottish athlete Casey Morgan clearly won the Trail Menorca Costa Nord-TMCN (100 km and 1.796 m of positive ascent) with a time of 8 hours 57 minutes 18 seconds, followed by Olivier Turon (2nd) and Rodrigo 'Morath' Borrego (3rd). In the female category, the winner was Sasha Roig from Ibiza with a time of 10:47:45.
The Plaça dels Pins in Ciutadella filled with color minutes before 8 o´clock for the combined start of the 121 participants of the TMCN and the 61 TMCdC participants. Just before the start a group of 6 local Menorca breed horse riders demonstrated their abilities by making the horses jump to the beat of the music and welcoming the runners in the island. The animals came one by one at the start line holding themselves in a spectacular way on their back legs and formed a corridor when athletes took the start.
The weather forecast predicted a warm day with winds from the north, the famous Tramuntana, that promised to cool down the participants. Nevertheless, the runners could celebrate that the temperature weren´t as high as expected and moreover, clouds didn´t take too long to cover the north coast of the island, refreshing even more the climate and leaving a brief shower past midday.
All of the 180 athletes left Ciutadella with a smile and full of hopes to cover the historic trail of Camí de Cavalls, surrounding the island in its perimeter towards the north. Casy Morgan took the lead from minute one. At the first checkpoint, in Cala Morell (km 20), the Scott was already in the lead, together with the Frenchman Olivier Turon. They were already 4 minutes clear of Rodrigo 'Morath' Borrego and Pau Bestard.
From Cala Morell, whilst Casey Morgan kept opening the gap, the main change in the ranking involved Olivier Turon, who at mid race had lost more than 20 minutes and two positions, at Cala Tirant (km 53). These were taken by Rodrigo 'Morath' Borrego (second at that point) and Pau Bestard. From there he would make a relentless comeback which took him to the second place overall.
Start of the Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls (185 km)
At midday, the fastest runners took the start of the longest race, the Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls – the TMCdC (185km & 2.86m of elevation gain). At the time of writing the best had covered a third of the race, at Arenal d'es Castell (km 63). There, Ramón García controlled the race, with a time of 6 hours and 6 minutes, demonstrating his experience from last year when he finished fourth.
His closest pursuers, Javier Castillo and Gonzalo Pedroche, were 12 minutes behind. All in all it is still too early, as there are still lots of kilometres to cover and a long night ahead of them and the expected arrival will take place around 8 in the morning of 16th of May.
Biel Martínez and Emma Roca win the Trekking Costa Nord
Finally, the last race taking place this Friday has been the Trekking Costa Nord-TCN (32 km, 415m of elevation gain). With a start in Addaia and finish in Es Castell, victory was taken by Biel Martínez in the male category and Emma Roca in the female. (The Catalan athlete who is also organizing her scientific SUMMIT project about how long distance running affects the participants metabolism.)
Javier Castillo And Aydee Soto, Winners Of The Most Epic Tmcdc
May 16th - The Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls 2015 has had an outcome that would have been unthinkable yesterday afternoon. At that time Ramón Garcia led the race and the weather forecast showed some stability, despite some showers around Friday noon. Nevertheless, at nightfall, clouds where closing in and turned to black, hitting the island with series of violent storms and a big drop in temperatures.
Night put the participants to the test, who had to endure the most epic TMCdC so far. Many didn´t make it, and had to drop out at some aid/food stations, victims of the effort and climatic conditions. Some showed early signs of hypothermia and were treated by the medical and support teams. Thanks to their good practice further risks were avoided.
One who did not make it was Ramón García. He led the race until Binibèquer where he was 7 minutes clear of Javier Castillo, then second. At the next checkpoint, in Cala En Porter (km 129) he was already behind both Javier Castillo and Gonzalo Pedroche, and decided to pull out.
Javier Castillo continued his comeback jumping into the first position for the rest of the race. It was almost midnight when passing through Cala En Porter and from there to Ciutadella. He literally flew over the south coast of Menorca running across some of the most appreciated beaches in the island: Son Bou, Binigaus, Cala Mitjana, Cala Galdana, Cala Macarella, Cala Turqueta, Son Saura... Neither the rain or the wind were obstacles to stop his progression as the race kilometres accumulated. It was an incredible performance on the last stage between Cap d'Artrutx and Ciutadella: almost 12 km in under 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Behind, Gonzalo Pedroche lost second place. In Cap d'Artrutx it was Eugeni Roselló and Miguel Ángel Caldentey behind Castillo (who was already a finisher at that time). Both shared the race from Es Castell (km 100) and together passed Pedroche to reach the pódium. In the end, Eugeni Roselló stepped on the gas to reach the finish line in second place (23:38:13 and 23:38:41). Gonzalo Pedroche also completed the track in less than 24 hours (23:54:48).
Female International Winner
In the female race, the Peruvian athlete Aydee Soto won the race on her first participation at the Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls. Her main rival was Vanesa Ruiz, 2014, in fact, she was leading the race during the first half and it wasn´t until the checkpoint in Es Castell (km 100), when she was forced to withdraw. That circumstance cleared the way for Aydee Soto, who kept strong and determined at covering all the remaining perimeter of the South Coast until reaching Ciutadella and took a deserved victory with a time of : 28:12:29.
Pau Garriga and Elisabeth Barnes, The Fastest In The Costa Sud
Once the winners of the race that gives name to the Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls were known, the two races around the South Coast took center stage: the Trail Menorca Costa Sud (85 km and 1.124 metres of elevation gain) and the Trekking Costa Sud (55 km and 529 metres of elevation gain).
The day started with some rain and in an unpleasant way, after the stormy night the participants and the TMCdC survivors had to cope with. With all that, and as the day went on, clouds were disappearing and the wind took a break allowing for a wonderful afternoon with blue skies.
In this context, TMCS crowned local athlete Pau Garriga with a chrono of 8:04:53 dominating the race from start to end. He was joined at the podium by Joan Manel Barceló from Mallorca (less than 4 minutes advantage) and also from Menorca, Toni Gomila, completing a Balearic podium at 25 minutes from the winner.
In Female category Swedish racer Elisabeth Barnes won the race, with a time of 9:02:30 taking her to the 7th place in the overall ranking. Austrian Dany Moehle (10:19:59) and Elena Vera from Mallorca (11:25:35) completed the podium.
Also three balearic runners topped the TCS, headed by Miquel Pons (3:56:47) from Mallorca and followed by Moisès Garcia (3:59:40) and Josep Jansà (4:02:12) both from Mallorca as well. Amongst the girls this time victory went to Mallorca runner Montserrat Peñarroya (5:28:38), followed by Maria Cristina Pons (5:32:33) and Begoña Canet (5:34:49) from Menorca.
The Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls will bring the curtains down tomorrow. There will be still some runners arriving at the finish line in Ciutadella during the night. At midday the awards ceremony will take place at the Sala Multifuncional de Ciutadella.
An Emotional Awards Ceremony Puts The End To The Tmcdc 2015
17/05/15. The Sala Multifuncional of Ciutadella hosted the closing act and awards ceremony of the Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls 2015 at midday this Sunday 17th of May. A few hours before the finish line had closed without major incidence and leaving a good general impression shared by the participants and the organization.
It will not be easy to forget the extraordinary moments lived in a race that provides the best views of the island of Menorca. An epic test, of 185 km distance and 2.863 meters of ascent, has won a space amongst the most prominent races in the national calendar. The bad times will not be forgotten either, caused by the violent storms and strong winds that hit the island during the night of the race and triggered a high dropout rate. In fact, just 60 out of the 129 participants of the longest distance race reached the finish line (46,5 %).
A very lively award ceremony show, attracted a major public presence and packed out the Sala Multifuncional of Ciutadella. It served to give tribute to the winners of all categories and races of the Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls. The most cheered where the absolute category winners of the TMCdC, Javier Castillo from Barcelona and the Peruvian Aydee Soto.
It is also worth highlighting the work carried out under the Summit Project http://www.emmaroca.com/en/tesis/ by Emma Roca with the support of Clinica Juaneda. During the tests at the race researchers detected a serious arrhythmia in one participant who was not allowed to take the start and was sent to Hospital in Mallorca. “A life has been saved “, declared a moved Emma Roca when receiving the award as winner of the Trekking Costa Nord (32 km).
Happy by the recognitions received, the organizers have set to work towards an even better Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls next year.
Results: At www.elitechip.net you will find the official race results.
TMCdC (185 km)
Men
1. Javier Castillo - 21:43.41
2. Eugeni Roselló - 24:38:13
3. Miguel Ángel Caldentey - 24:38:41
4. Gonzalo Pedroche - 24:54:48
5. Ismael Marqués - 25:22:20
Female
1. Aydee Soto - 29:12:29
2. Gabriela Molina - 33:21:44
3. Maria Greco - 37:20:24
TMCN (100 km)
Men
1. Casey Morgan - 8:57:18
2. Olivier Turon - 9:50:15
3. Rodrigo 'Morath' Borrego - 10:06:36
Female
1. Sasha Roig - 12:43:18
2. Eloisa Orell - 13:25:04
3. Margalida Ramon - 13:50:54
TMCS (85 km)
Men
1. Pau Garriga - 8:04:53
2. Joan Manel Barceló - 8:08:35
3. Toni Gomila - 8:30:12
Female
1. Elisabet Barnes - 9:02:30
2. Dany Moehle - 10:19:59
3. Elena Vera - 11:25:35
TCN (32 km)
Men
1. Biel Martínez - 2:29:19
2. Ramon Sedano - 2:30:36
3. David Guiamet - 2:37:56
Female
1. Emma Roca - 2:45:45
2. Dori Garcia - 3:12:19
3. Margalida Capó - 3:24:42
TCS (55 km)
Men
1. Miquel Pons - 3:56:47
2. Moisès Garcia - 3:59:40
3. Josep Jansà - 4:02:12
Female
1. Montserrat Peñarroya - 5:28:38
2. Maria Cristina Pons - 5:32:33
3. Begoña Canet - 5:34:49
